TuneLab
Leaving Laurel - Live from Two Countries
Some live sets are for dancing; others, like this Leaving Laurel performance, are for disappearing into. 'Live from Two Countries' is a passport to a specific, bittersweet headspace we all secretly cherish. The vibe is cloistered and intimate, like listening in on a private studio session across a crackling internet connection. This is electronica with a heavy heart, sitting in the 120.5 BPM range but feeling timeless. The harmonic language is deeply minor, centred overwhelmingly on the 10B key, which lends the entire performance a consistent, aching beauty.
The energy is squarely in the mid-range (66.42% average), meaning every piano chord, every gauzy synth pad, and every melancholic melody is pushed to the fore in a lush, detailed wash. It's less a mix and more a composed suite. The selections are beautifully esoteric. It begins with the haunting simplicity of Low's 'My son'. Xenophobe & Jon Claeys' 'Dream Is Destiny' is a shimmering, progressive house gem, and Johan Agebjörn's 'Will They Forgive Us' is a dose of pure, nostalgic synth-pop.
The inclusion of a Mozart piano sonata rendition is the kind of bravely sentimental left-turn that defines the Leaving Laurel ethos. Their own 'Winter in the Woods' is, of course, a masterpiece of wistful atmosphere. The journey meanders from that sparse opener, through various shades of melodic sadness and hope, before concluding with the strangely fitting, lo-fi charm of 'kompa pasión'.