SOUND PROJECTIONS
AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE
EDITOR: KOFI NATAMBU
FALL, 2015
VOLUME TWO NUMBER ONE
AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE
EDITOR: KOFI NATAMBU
FALL, 2015
VOLUME TWO NUMBER ONE
Featuring the Musics and Aesthetic Visions of:
October 10-16
DIZZY GILLESPIE
October 17-23
LESTER YOUNG
October 24-30
TIA FULLER
October 31-November 6
ROSCOE MITCHELL
November 7-13
MAX ROACH
November 14-20
DINAH WASHINGTON
November 21-27
BUDDY GUY
November 28-December 4
JOE HENDERSON
December 5-11
HENRY THREADGILL
December 12-18
MUDDY WATERS
December 19-25
B.B. KING
December 26-January 1
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/10995900/Laura-Mvula-interview-the-supply-teacher-turned-reluctant-star.html
Laura Mvula interview: the supply teacher turned reluctant star
Prince plays her album before his shows and the critics love he. So why is the singer-songwriter Laura Mvula so tortured by her newfound fame?
The classically trained singer-songwriter Laura Mvula Photo: LINDA BROWNLEE
by Stephanie Rafanelli
03 Aug 2014
The Telegraph
“I loves you, Porgy/Don’t let him take me/Don’t let him handle me/And drive me mad…” Nina Simone’s doleful contralto floats from a stereo in a London studio. The mood is strangely solemn for a photo-shoot, and so is its subject. Laura Mvula is blinkered by an abundant, corkscrew-curl Afro – extensions fixed to the crown of her head, still partly shaved beneath. The singer, classically trained pianist and composer, who just two years ago was working as a music supply teacher in Birmingham, is not the typical bouncy, eager new star. For a 28-year-old, she has a rather stately presence, enhanced by a dignified profile, arched brows and Cleopatra-worthy eyeliner.
“I think we all have too much to say in our society,” she tells me later, on the studio roof terrace. “We are constantly encouraged to be vocal, have an opinion through Facebook or Twitter. It’s out of control. We all need to shut up and be quiet for a bit.” Mvula talks slowly and deliberately, her intonation tinged with the flat notes of Midlands suburbia. She considers each of my questions at length, her eyes shut, only speaking when she has formulated an answer in its entirety. There are long silences: she’s not the kind of girl to fill in gaps in conversation. “I spend a lot of time listening to interviews with Miles Davis and Nina Simone. Her answers sound like poems, sermons.”
On a laptop she plays me a version of Green Garden from her latest album – a rearrangement of her 2013 debut “Sing To The Moon”, performed with the Metropole, the celebrated Dutch jazz orchestra. Then she surprises me with an anecdote about her recent American tour: “When I told them I was going to play at the Proms with the Metropole this summer, they all thought it was my school ball. ‘You’re having a prom?’” She lets out a throaty laugh.
If it’s hard to get the measure of Mvula, it’s perhaps because we have become accustomed to a musical landscape awash with neatly definable, cookie-cutter acts who pout, pose and post it all on Twitter. It wasn’t until Mvula released “Sing To The Moon” in March last year – originally written on her laptop when teaching, after graduating from the Birmingham Conservatoire with a degree in composition – that we were reminded what we’d been missing: someone who sings their own tune.
WATCH: Behind the scenes at the Abbey Road recording of "Laura Mvula with the Metropole Orkest"
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Her complex orchestral arrangements of layered vocals, sparse piano, strings and brass flourishes in freeform jazz structures, awoke even the most jaded critics from musical ennui. “Sing To The Moon” showed influences from Björk, gospel, The Beach Boys and Broadway to The Carpenters and Gershwin. The Telegraph called it “one of the most striking and original debuts from any British artist in many a year”. She has been nominated for three Brits, the Mercury Prize, an Ivor Novello and won two Mobos including Best Female Act (beating Jessie J and Rita Ora).
Mvula’s outlook on all this lies somewhere between measured and tortured. Her poise belies a sensitive nature plagued by self-doubt – in early interviews, she was critical of her singing voice. With a church-choir background, she was first and foremost a communal singer, and has struggled with being thrust into the spotlight in an X Factor culture increasingly focused on strutting-peacock solo artists. Her first gig was at the 2012 iTunes Festival in front of 3,000 people.
Laura Mvula performing at the Love Supreme Jazz Festival in July (GETTY)
Initially, she suffered stage fright and an acute fear of being alone, which she describes now as monophobia, a sensation captured in her song Is There Anybody Out There? She sought help through the controversial Lightning Process, a treatment programme intended for sufferers of conditions such as chronic fatigue. Developed by the osteopath Phil Parker, it claims to inhibit the adrenalin cycle that causes a stress response. “Every time I stepped on stage, it was this ultimate moment,” says Mvula. She pauses. “Life is complicated. I’m complicated. One day I will be free of this anxiety, but things take time to work through. I’m less hard on myself now. I’ve experienced deep changes, even in the last six months, simply through the momentum of everything.”
She is helped by the presence on stage of her brother James, 27, who plays cello, and her sister, Dionne, 24, on violin, who form part of her five-strong band. “Without them, I wouldn’t be making music,” she says. Then there is the devotion of Prince, whom she supported last year: “On Twitter he said he wakes up to Green Garden every morning. He plays my album before and after shows. It’s the highest praise. It sends me a very clear message. It’s very grounding, like feeling loved.” Both artists are Christian. I bring this up, but after a minute-long hesitation, false eyelashes quivering, she refuses to expand.
It was Mvula’s love of communal music that led her to work with the Metropole, known for historic collaborations with Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie. Together, they will perform “Sing To The Moon”, rearranged by the orchestra’s English chief-conductor Jules Buckley, at the Royal Albert Hall on 19 August, a prospect that fills her with joy and pain. “I was so moved by his arrangements. But it’s tough emotionally for me to sing such personal songs again.”
The cover of her latest album, a rearrangement of her debut, 'Sing
“Sing To The Moon” was originally written in the aftermath of her parents’ separation in 2007, and her fragility and confusion are plain. She plays me the new orchestral version of her song Father, Father, about her estrangement from her father, with its distressing repetitions of “Father, Father, why you let me go?” “The song became more of itself. It was pretty devastating. It’s already so heartbreaking. It was a real outpouring for me. Now the emotional level is even higher. Diamonds was about my friend who died of a brain tumour. Tears come when I listen to these new songs, but it’s a different kind of weeping. I’m happier to give myself room to feel that overwhelming pain, yearning and chaos. It’s been a big two-year journey.”
Mvula, born Laura Douglas, grew up in Kings Heath, Birmingham, the daughter of St Kitts-born Paula, a teacher, and Elford, a council worker whose family hails from Jamaica. The household was immersed in music. “My mum liked Diana Ross, so we’d clean the house to her. My dad was into Etta James, Miles Davis, The Carpenters. Saturday mornings were orchestra rehearsal. Sundays were gospel and church music.” Elford played piano and, aged eight, Laura began too, along with violin lessons. The three children accompanied their father at the local Pentecostal church when he was Worship Leader. Stage fright was there from the start: after her first church solo aged 10, Mvula was so frightened by the applause that she erupted into tears.
Mvula was always more at ease when performing as a group. As teens, Laura, James and Dionne founded the Douglas String Trio, managed by Elford, playing weddings and conferences. “My band now is basically the Douglas String Trio, only the venues are better,” she says. “And I’ve been demoted to vocals and piano, because I’m crap at violin.” In 2005, Mvula joined her aunt’s a cappella group Black Voices: emboldened by this, she formed the neo-soul outfit Judyshouse. By this time Mvula was at the Birmingham Conservatoire, where she was intimidated by the establishment and other students, embarrassed by her own compositions. After graduation, she felt lost, unable to find her footing in the music world. She directed a number of choirs, worked on reception at the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and taught in schools for a few years.
Laura Mvula with her sister Dionne, and her brother James (GETTY)
It was her husband, the Zambian-born baritone Themba Mvula, whom she met at the Conservatoire and married in 2009, who encouraged her to channel her sense of loss into music as a form of therapy. “It was a very intense period. I left college, my parents separated, I’d just got married. I think the anxiety had a lot to do with all those things. Music is a vessel through which I express pain. But it’s a thread running throughout my life.” She emailed the demos to two producers for feedback in 2012, one of whom went on to produce the album.
In the intervening years, the meanings of Mvula’s songs have shifted for her. Green Garden, about Birmingham’s parks, is tinged with nostalgia for the normality of her old life. That’s Alright – “I will never be what you want/Because my skin ain’t light/And my body ain’t tight” – has become a defiant anthem in the face of the celebrity circus. “Celebrity is so rampant in our culture. I loathe it. We are driven by this weird world that’s so complex, yet has no substance. I stumbled across something on the internet recently that said I’d chosen the wrong dress and my figure was all wrong. It would upset anyone. But what’s most upsetting is that it exists. Seeing that changed me. I just pray I won’t be damaged by it.
“I think I’m a feminist,” she continues. “I think a lot about body image and the ideal we’re subconsciously nurtured to aspire to. With That’s Alright I wanted to express that I’m tired of being made to feel I lack because of what society projects on to me.” For not being white, or light-skinned? “For whatever. I don’t even think society knows anymore. It’s just that you’re not ‘right’. I want to exist in a headspace where I’m free of those chains. I want to encourage everyone to be free.”
She was proud to appear with Alek Wek, Helen Mirren, Tracey Emin and Rita Ora in Marks & Spencer’s recent campaign. “There is something empowering about celebrating the diversity of one another, that fights against the big, ugly beast. If I can make music that promotes that, I will for the rest of my life.”
Mvula is also campaigning to “beat down narrowness” in music. She is one of the ambassadors of the BBC’s Ten Pieces initiative, in which primary-school children across the country will be asked to respond creatively to 10 classical compositions. “When I was teaching, if I asked the kids about their ambitions 70 or 80 per cent would say Britain’s Got Talent or X Factor,” she says with a grimace. “I have nothing against the shows, but when kids think they have only one option it upsets me. Children have all sorts of creative abilities that are nothing to do with singing into a microphone. There’s so much scope in music. But it’s all about pushing people on to platforms at lightning speed.” She laughs raucously when I suggest she could be a judge on The Voice: “Maybe… I’m ruling nothing out.”
The hurtling momentum of her own career is something she is now pushing against. “I’m not in a rush. I won’t write another album until I’m ready. I want to savour each day. I may not even be here in five months,” she says, sighing at her own “doom and gloom”. She and Themba are flat hunting in London and he has promised to take her to Zambia at some stage. (“I can imagine myself living in Africa in years to come.”) She likes the idea of writing in the Caribbean. “It’s my culture, my identity. It’s in my music somewhere. The warm and the sea and the green and the mountains and the music and the spirit…”
"Laura Mvula with the Metropole Orkest" is out on 11 August.
To read more articles from Stella Magazine, visit telegraph.co.uk/stella.
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Features
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/laura-mvula-i-dont-think-im-good-at-being-a-pop-star-its-making-me-too-paranoid-9129575.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/laura-mvula-i-dont-think-im-good-at-being-a-pop-star-its-making-me-too-paranoid-9129575.html
Laura Mvula: 'I don't think I'm good at being a pop star. It's making me too paranoid'
The singer-songwriter, nominated for two Brit Awards this
week, opens up about the crippling anxiety that she was forced to
confront on becoming a pop star – and is finally learning to overcome.
Plus, we predict this year’s Brits winner
Laura Mvula opens up about the crippling anxiety that she was forced to confront on becoming a pop star
Photo: Jim Naughten
On stage in Los Angeles recently, midway through her set, Laura Mvula was coming to the end of "Father, Father", a bewitchingly melancholic song from her Mercury- and now Brit-nominated album Sing to the Moon. It's a quiet, fragile song that deals with the fall-out from her parents' divorce, and towards its conclusion in LA, Mvula whispered the words, "Father please don't let me go/Father Father, why you let me go?" and the venue fell into an awed hush.
"But then," she says now, "all of a sudden, from somewhere in the crowd, somebody shouted out: 'YOU UNDERSTAND ME!' He really bellowed it! Everybody laughed, but with empathy, you know? With understanding." She smiles at the recollection. "I suppose it reminded me that, through songs, we can all understand each other. And that's nice, isn't it? Though it can make things a little awkward, too…"
Mvula is telling me this story a long way from America's West Coast, on a cold January afternoon in the private room of a hip diner in Hoxton, east London, while sucking a fruit smoothie through a straw. In the flesh, she is striking: her face is perfectly oval, her eyes wide, her lashes as long as ski slopes. Her teeth, when she smiles, are as white as piano keys.
She sits opposite me, far too upright on a leather sofa she refuses to relax into. But if she is reluctant to get too comfortable here, then it is at least with good reason: I am a stranger, and the things she is telling me now will end up in print, here, for people to read and comment on; it is as if the things she says are somehow of greater import now that she is "famous" than they were when she wasn't. This unsettles her greatly.
For the past year, the 27-year-old from Birmingham has been tagged "the new Adele", but this is misleading as their only similarities, really, are a shared gender and career choice. Mvula's music is far stranger, rich and complex in arrangements that hint at her classical training, and full of a haunting otherworldliness that recalls, at least in spirit, the exotica of Björk and the freeform musings of jazz. Sing to the Moon has, perhaps unexpectedly, captured the public's imagination, and since its release in March last year has shifted more than 100,000 copies.
"But then," she says now, "all of a sudden, from somewhere in the crowd, somebody shouted out: 'YOU UNDERSTAND ME!' He really bellowed it! Everybody laughed, but with empathy, you know? With understanding." She smiles at the recollection. "I suppose it reminded me that, through songs, we can all understand each other. And that's nice, isn't it? Though it can make things a little awkward, too…"
Mvula is telling me this story a long way from America's West Coast, on a cold January afternoon in the private room of a hip diner in Hoxton, east London, while sucking a fruit smoothie through a straw. In the flesh, she is striking: her face is perfectly oval, her eyes wide, her lashes as long as ski slopes. Her teeth, when she smiles, are as white as piano keys.
She sits opposite me, far too upright on a leather sofa she refuses to relax into. But if she is reluctant to get too comfortable here, then it is at least with good reason: I am a stranger, and the things she is telling me now will end up in print, here, for people to read and comment on; it is as if the things she says are somehow of greater import now that she is "famous" than they were when she wasn't. This unsettles her greatly.
For the past year, the 27-year-old from Birmingham has been tagged "the new Adele", but this is misleading as their only similarities, really, are a shared gender and career choice. Mvula's music is far stranger, rich and complex in arrangements that hint at her classical training, and full of a haunting otherworldliness that recalls, at least in spirit, the exotica of Björk and the freeform musings of jazz. Sing to the Moon has, perhaps unexpectedly, captured the public's imagination, and since its release in March last year has shifted more than 100,000 copies.
Mvula, in concert at London's Shepherd's Bush Empire last October, now forces herself to watch her TV appearances (Rex Features)
Eighteen months ago, Mvula was still a receptionist at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), but now she is someone who regularly has to be fitted into dresses appropriate for awards ceremonies, and finds herself in the disquieting position of having to write thank-you speeches in the event her name is called out at one of them. It wasn't at the Mercury Prize award ceremony last October (that went to James Blake), but she is hotly tipped to win at least one of her two Brit nominations (Breakthrough Act, Female Solo Artist) on Wednesday night.
It's all gone to her head, of course, though in a fundamentally different manner than it does for so many of her peers. In conversation, she speaks regularly of losing the plot, and "hanging on for dear life". And though she is warm and bubbly, you sense it's an effort, largely because she tells you it is. "I'm still very shy, and very private," she says. In an ideal world, she'd remain so, for the spotlight is blinding her.
Taking a deep breath, she explains: "Being a pop star is something I don't think I'm very good at. I'm worried it's making me too paranoid, because all of a sudden, life has become this constant assessment. When you put something out there and people get to hear it, then those people react to it, socially, culturally.
"Nowadays, whenever I sit down with someone, or I see someone I haven't seen for a long time, or even if I'm in the toilet in a restaurant, people want to stop and talk about me. They tell me either that they love my stuff or, quite possibly – and this has happened, at least once – that they don't. They want to know about my hairstyle, or what I'm wearing, who I'm wearing. I didn't even know that was a question until a year ago: who are you wearing? It's a very strange existence. The internal mind gets cluttered. It starts to over-analyse everything, and that is a very… pressurising thing."
Laura Mvula has always existed around music. Her mother, a teacher, and father, a social worker, loved jazz and classical, and filled the house with both, encouraging their children to become musically creative themselves. There were piano lessons, violin lessons; Laura, her brother James and sister Dionne sang in the church choir, and then formed a band, the Douglas String Trio (Mvula is Laura's married name), playing at weddings and birthday parties in the greater Birmingham area.
"I'm sure we were awful in the beginning," she laughs, "but we did improve, slowly. The constant practice was hard, though, especially because we were dealing with puberty, and stuff. But then my dad always said that music was a discipline before it became a pleasure. He was right about that."
She went on to study composition at university, but had little idea what to do with her degree once she'd attained it. At her mother's encouragement, she fell into supply teaching ("Not so much teaching as crowd control; the children were a nightmare"), then ended up working at the CBSO's front desk.
On her husband's encouragement – he is a Zambian-born classical baritone – she recorded her own music and posted her songs on the music-streaming website SoundCloud, requesting advice and feedback. One producer responded ecstatically, and she suddenly found herself with management and a record contract. Success duly, and rapidly, followed. If her husband has handled this change in fortunes well, his wife has struggled with it.
The
gradual easing of Mvula's anxiety means that she is beginning to enjoy
life as a pop star, and perhaps even embrace it (Jim Naughten)
For many years now, Mvula has suffered with an asphyxiating anxiety. "It's been difficult," she says quietly. As with most sufferers, she did her best to ignore it, and plough on. But it was in becoming a pop star that she felt she must at last confront it. She came across something called the Lightning Process, a three-day training programme created by a British osteopath called Phil Parker. The process claims to help people retrain "negative brain patterns" by breaking the "adrenaline loop" that keeps the nervous system's stress responses unhealthily high. Though it is not without its critics, the treatment has been successfully used by sufferers of stress, depression and other auto-immune conditions. Esther Rantzen, whose daughter suffered with chronic fatigue, has publicly praised it, as have several athletes.
"Oh, it helped me enormously," Mvula says. "It encouraged me to access a part of my brain that had been very flustered for a long time. I got into the habit of filtering out all the good in my life, focusing on only the negative. I'm not sure why I did it, but it's a pretty depressing state."
Her anxiety led to a condition called monophobia, a fear of being alone. Solitude would only exacerbate her anxiety.
"To be honest with you, I've been pretty secretive about all this," she says hesitantly. "I don't know why. Perhaps I'm embarrassed? But then, no. I've been giving this a lot of thought recently, and I don't think being embarrassed helps. What I learnt with Phil Parker was that my anxiety was my body's way of trying to protect me, to look after me. So the impulse was coming from a good place, but overall it wasn't being helpful."
Until recently, she refused to watch herself on TV or read back any interviews, for fear, she says, "I might find something out about myself that could destroy me." But, mindful of her Lightning Process instruction, she is now challenging this. After singing on The Jonathan Ross Show recently, she forced herself to watch it. And her reaction? "Um, I was pleasantly surprised."
This gradual easing of her anxiety means that she is beginning to enjoy life as a pop star, and perhaps even embrace it. This year she will see at least two major musical ambitions fulfilled, both of which she tells me about before realising she shouldn't, because they are not ready for public consumption just yet, and there are rules in this industry about when she can reveal things and when she can't. So instead, eyes luminous, she says: "The opportunities that have been coming my way are just amazing."
This week, because of the Brits, she will be a pop star to the hilt. She's got the dress, and is likely working on a speech, just in case. Would she like to win?
"Oh!" she says, bringing a hand up to her mouth. "I'd be profoundly surprised if I did, to be honest." She falls silent now, for almost a full minute. "But, yes, yes of course. I'd love to win, I think."
'Sing to the Moon' is out now. Laura Mvula appears at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival on 1 May as its artist in residence. The Brit Awards will be broadcast live on ITV on Wednesday.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/sing-to-the-moon-20130708
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/sing-to-the-moon-20130708
Laura Mvula
Columbia
by Caryn Ganz July 8, 2013
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
There's no shortage of conservatory-trained female British soul vocalists (see Adele and Amy Winehouse — and that's just the As), but rest assured you haven't heard an album remotely like Laura Mvula's debut. The 26-year-old Birmingham Conservatoire grad fuses jazzy melodics, pop balladry, orchestral flourishes and pleading gospel to astonishing effect — her immaculately crafted LP sounds like Jill Scott, Feist, Tune-Yards and a 1940s film score simultaneously cranking on a vintage gramophone. Mvula's twin muses are love and nature, and she probes their uncertainty and possibilities via theatrical character studies ("She") and doo-wop-charged rave-ups ("Green Garden"). "Is there anybody out there?" she sings on an especially anguished number. There surely will be now.
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook
Studio Sessions
Laura Mvula On World Cafe
August 26, 2013
by David Dye
Laura Mvula
Laura Mvula On World Cafe
August 26, 2013
by David Dye
Laura Mvula
Laura Mvula Courtesy of the artist
AUDIO: <iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/195891535/195470897" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
Set List:
"Like The Morning Dew"
"She"
"Sing To The Moon"
"Green Garden"
U.K. singer Laura Mvula has been well-served by her conservatory training, which helped her uncover her own unique sound: Mvula's first full-length album, Sing to the Moon, blends classic pop, jazz and soul.
With help from producer Steve Brown, Mvula's choral-like arrangements are wonderfully layered and complex. In this installment of World Cafe, the singer performs live with her band and talks to host David Dye about how she separates her roles as a songwriter and a performer.
Watch Laura Mvula Get Comfortable With Stardom on ‘Kimmel’
Speaking to SPIN recently, U.K. singer Laura Mvula admitted, “I cringe a
little when people say I am a ‘pop star.'” The neo-soulstress’ recent
debut…
Laura Mvula Tells the Tale of a Lifetime in Touching ‘She’ Video
We knew we had to get to know recent This Is Happening star Laura
Mvula after she appeared before our eyes via that lush and
inviting “Green Garden”…
Laura Mvula, ‘Sing to the Moon’ (RCA Victor)
Sing to the Moon begins with a florid blossom of vocal harmonies, of
many Laura Mvulas, the English singer’s flawless voice multi-tracked
heaven-high: “Our love…
Laura Mvula: U.K. Soul Singer Shuns Diva Buzz, Spreads Love the Family Way
Who: Laura Mvula, the U.K.’s latest diva export, was shortlisted for the
career-making BRIT Awards before she’d even released a proper album.
The buzz-crazed English…
Watch Laura Mvula’s Lush and Inviting ‘Green Garden’ Video
One last video before you head off for the weekend: Laura Mvula is a
British soul singer who releases her debut album Sing to the…
http://www.axs.com/genius-talent-laura-mvula-wows-crowds-at-her-new-orleans-jazz-fest-deb-10547
'Genius' talent Laura Mvula wows crowds at her New Orleans Jazz Fest debut
Jason Toney - AXS Contributor
By Jason Toney
AXS Contributor
Apr 26, 2014
'Genius' talent Laura Mvula wows crowds at her New Orleans Jazz Fest debut
Jason Toney - AXS Contributor
By Jason Toney
AXS Contributor
Apr 26, 2014
Outside of her appearance in Indio at Coachella earlier this month, Laura Mvula and her stunning British band have been playing smaller venues throughout their spring tour through North America. Yesterday afternoon, they took the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival's main stage and quickly won over the large, assembled crowd.
Opening with "Like the Morning Dew" after a funky intro to bring out the band, Ms. Mvula revealed that this is her first time in New Orleans—not a bad place to be to ring in her 28th year (her birthday was April 23). The Acura Stage and its booming sound was a wonderful place to showcase highlights from her debut album, "Sing to the Moon."
Alternating between her piano and the mic at center stage, the mixture of strings and harmonies with lush arrangements and infectious personality served her and the audience well. As she wrapped up her set with more uptempo fare, we saw late-comers smiling, clapping and jogging toward those up front so they could join in the revelry.
Jazz Fest producer Quint Davis introduced Laura Mvula as genius talent. We're inclined to agree.
Read more on the all-AXS Jazz Fest Guide.
Laura Mvula: The Next UK Sensation?
Let's All Swoon Now Together 1...2...3...
Name: Laura Mvula
Where She’s From: Birmingham, United Kingdom
When She Started: 2012
Genre: Baroque Soul (Disclaimer: I just made that up)
Most Similar: Adele
Sounds Like: The Fleet Foxes and Nina Simone had a secret, synthesizer-playing love-child.
For the majority of her song “She,” singer and composer Laura Mvula
doesn’t have a whole lot going on. There’s a flighty synthesizer,
twinkling here and there like fireflies. Then, for a moment, a dense
chord from a chorus of singers. And up-close and personal, Mvula’s big
voice right up in your brain, channeling some serious Nina Simone, her
soulful inflections contrasting richly with the demure, almost-barren
sonic backdrop.
It’s the kind of song that sticks with you, striking in how different
it is from just about everything else. A song that moves at its own,
pensive pace, almost as if slowing down time itself for its duration.
The UK has no shortage of talented lady singers – for every Amy or
Adele, it seems a dozen more fantastic young artists are waiting in the
wings. Nonetheless, it looks like Laura Mvula might seriously have a
shot at something big. The 26-year-old classical conservatory graduate
from Birmingham has become the recipient of a lot of buzz, generating
enthusiastic posts from places like Pitchfork, Fader, and The Guardian
with each leak off her debut EP (just out earlier this week).
And it’s not just the cool-kid press that’s seeing something special.
Mvula has already inked a deal with RCA and is hard at work recording
an album in New York’s famed Electric Lady studios, with Adele producer
Tom Elmhirst behind the board.
Meanwhile, as we await Mvula’s glorious phoenix-like ascent, check
out the brand-spankin’-new video for “She,” shot in South Africa,
below. And for something extra special, there’s this stripped-down live performance video from HUNGER TV, which got me personally hooked in the first place.
http://www.npr.org/2013/05/15/184189010/laura-mvulas-velvet-moon-is-a-revelation
AUDIO: <iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/184189010/184261880" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
The very first notes on Laura Mvula's new album feel like a powerful invocation. You're not sure for what, but the moment is awesome — with an emphasis on awe.
On paper, Sing to the Moon may seem like yet another album by a young, big-throated British singer, but it sounds like practically nothing else out there. It's not exactly pop or soul or jazz; it's all those things, yet it transcends those things. Over the course of the album, you might be swept into the intimacy of an after-hours speakeasy ("Father, Father"), thrust onto the stage of an old-time cabaret ("Make Me Lovely") or clapping along at a Manchester all-nighter ("Green Garden").
The album's baroque, velvet textures and atmospheric ambiance perfectly complement the lush, smoky curls of Mvula's voice. But even more mesmerizing is the way this former choir director sublimely weaves her band mates' voices with her own, helping to make seven people sound like 70.
Perhaps befitting a songwriter in her mid-20s, Mvula mostly probes the complexities of love sought, fought, won and lost. But she wraps these familiar themes with enough mystery and metaphor to make Sing to the Moon feel deeply romantic while avoiding the boilerplate cliches of dime-store romances.
Very little on Sing to the Moon sounds like it's overtly designed for commercial appeal; there are no over-the-top diva ballads or fist-pumping club beats. Instead, Mvula and her group produce a debut that's ambitiously distinct and confident, as if they'd perfected their sound years ago but only now decided to share it with everyone else. What begins like an invocation ends up feeling like a revelation.
THE MUSIC OF LAURA MVULA: AN EXTENSIVE VIDEO OVERVIEW, A CROSS SECTION OF RECORDINGS, MUSICAL ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY, PLUS VARIOUS INTERVIEWS WITH MS. MVULA:
Laura Mvula - "Green Garden":
http://www.npr.org/event/music/195516413/laura-mvula-tiny-desk-concert
VIDEO: <iframe width="600" height="338" src="http://www.npr.org/templates/event/embeddedVideo.php?storyId=195516413&mediaId=195543330" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
NPR
July 01, 2013by Stephen Thompson • Listen to Laura Mvula's terrific full-length debut, Sing to the Moon, and you'll hear soulful pop music in Technicolor. The U.K. singer's sonic ambition is boundless: Her intricately layered songs straddle genres, locations and eras in ways that sound entirely original.
Squeezing that sound behind Bob Boilen's desk is no tiny task, as she acknowledges partway through this three-song set in the NPR Music offices. Mvula faces the challenge by seizing an opportunity to showcase her most intimate material; with the help of a small string section, she forgoes some of her flashier songs ("Like the Morning Dew," "Green Garden") in favor of Sing to the Moon's most brooding ballads.
The result shines a spotlight squarely on Mvula's lovely voice and elegant songwriting — both of which are sturdy enough to withstand being stripped of accoutrements. Soak up this performance, then treat yourself to Sing to the Moon if you haven't already. It's one of the best debut albums in a year full of great ones.
Set List:
"Father, Father"
"Diamonds"
"She"
Credits
Producer: Bob Boilen; Editor: Gabriella Garcia-Pardo; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Videographers: Denise DeBelius, Gabriella Garcia-Pardo, Marie McGrory; photo by Marie McGrory/NPR
Laura Mvula's official music video for 'Green Garden'. Click to listen to Laura Mvula on Spotify:
http://smarturl.it/LauraMSpotify?IQid...
More from Laura Mvula:
'That's Alright': https://youtu.be/hYjHixQ9Ns4
'She': https://youtu.be/3J7DbO56QOI
'Can't Live With The World': https://youtu.be/TbGK-dwFWqo
Lyrics:
Take me outside, sit in the green garden
Nobody out there, but it's okay now,
bath in the sunlight, don't mind if rain falls,
take me outside, sit in the green garden,
Uh ah, uh ah uh,
Uh ah, uh ah uh
And I'll fly on the wings of a butterfly
high as a tree top and down again
putting my bag down, taking my shoes off
walk in the carpet of green velvet
Dance in my garden like we used to,
Uh ah, uh ah uh
Dance in my garden like we used to,
Uh ah, uh ah uh
Take me outside, sit in the green garden
nobody out there, but it's okay now,
bath in the sunlight, don't mind if rain falls,
take me out, sit in the green garden
I'll go, wherever you go, wherever you take me, I'll go
I'll go, wherever you go, wherever you take me, I'll go
Laura Mvula - "Can't Live with the World”:
Taken from the album 'Sing To The Moon', available from Amazon: http://po.st/rAejxG // iTunes: http://po.st/2hYcWm // Laura's Store: http://po.st/z4U7QV For more information on Laura, please visit:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lauramvulamusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lauramvula
Official Website: http://www.lauramvula.com
Music video by POWSTER directed by James Swindells.
Music video by Laura Mvula performing Can't Live With The World. (C) 2012 Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited
Laura Mvula - "Sing To The Moon":
'Sing To The Moon' is taken from Laura's homonymous debut album.
1/2 Nina Simone & Me with Laura Mvula - Secret Knowledge:
First broadcast: May 2015.
Episode 17/17 Over half a century since she first performed her songs, Nina Simone is more popular than ever. From Sinnerman to Mississippi Goddam, Feeling Good to My Baby Just Cares for Me, she is an artist with an extraordinary songbook that mixes jazz, blues, soul and even classical.
British soul singer Laura Mvula travels to New York to celebrate the Nina songs that mean most to her and explore their musical roots. Performing with a Harlem gospel choir, uncovering the influence of Nina's classical training and meeting Simone's long-time guitarist Al Shackman, Laura presents a personal tribute to the genius of her musical hero.
2/2 Nina Simone & Me with Laura Mvula - Secret Knowledge:
Episode 17/17 Over half a century since she first performed her songs, Nina Simone is more popular than ever. From Sinnerman to Mississippi Goddam, Feeling Good to My Baby Just Cares for Me, she is an artist with an extraordinary songbook that mixes jazz, blues, soul and even classical.
British soul singer Laura Mvula travels to New York to celebrate the Nina songs that mean most to her and explore their musical roots. Performing with a Harlem gospel choir, uncovering the influence of Nina's classical training and meeting Simone's long-time guitarist Al Shackman, Laura presents a personal tribute to the genius of her musical hero.
http://www.npr.org/2013/05/15/184189010/laura-mvulas-velvet-moon-is-a-revelation
Laura Mvula's Velvet 'Moon' Is A Revelation
AUDIO: <iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/184189010/184261880" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
The very first notes on Laura Mvula's new album feel like a powerful invocation. You're not sure for what, but the moment is awesome — with an emphasis on awe.
On paper, Sing to the Moon may seem like yet another album by a young, big-throated British singer, but it sounds like practically nothing else out there. It's not exactly pop or soul or jazz; it's all those things, yet it transcends those things. Over the course of the album, you might be swept into the intimacy of an after-hours speakeasy ("Father, Father"), thrust onto the stage of an old-time cabaret ("Make Me Lovely") or clapping along at a Manchester all-nighter ("Green Garden").
The album's baroque, velvet textures and atmospheric ambiance perfectly complement the lush, smoky curls of Mvula's voice. But even more mesmerizing is the way this former choir director sublimely weaves her band mates' voices with her own, helping to make seven people sound like 70.
Perhaps befitting a songwriter in her mid-20s, Mvula mostly probes the complexities of love sought, fought, won and lost. But she wraps these familiar themes with enough mystery and metaphor to make Sing to the Moon feel deeply romantic while avoiding the boilerplate cliches of dime-store romances.
Very little on Sing to the Moon sounds like it's overtly designed for commercial appeal; there are no over-the-top diva ballads or fist-pumping club beats. Instead, Mvula and her group produce a debut that's ambitiously distinct and confident, as if they'd perfected their sound years ago but only now decided to share it with everyone else. What begins like an invocation ends up feeling like a revelation.
Featured Artist:
THE MUSIC OF LAURA MVULA: AN EXTENSIVE VIDEO OVERVIEW, A CROSS SECTION OF RECORDINGS, MUSICAL ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY, PLUS VARIOUS INTERVIEWS WITH MS. MVULA:
Laura Mvula - "Green Garden":
http://www.npr.org/event/music/195516413/laura-mvula-tiny-desk-concert
VIDEO: <iframe width="600" height="338" src="http://www.npr.org/templates/event/embeddedVideo.php?storyId=195516413&mediaId=195543330" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
NPR
Tiny Desk
Laura Mvula
• Listen to Laura Mvula's terrific full-length debut, Sing to the Moon,
and you'll hear soulful pop music in Technicolor. The U.K. singer's
sonic ambition is boundless: Her intricately layered songs straddle
genres, locations and eras in ways that sound entirely original.
Squeezing that sound behind Bob Boilen's desk is no tiny task, as she acknowledges partway through this three-song set in the NPR Music offices. Mvula faces the challenge by seizing an opportunity to showcase her most intimate material; with the help of a small string section, she forgoes some of her flashier songs ("Like the Morning Dew," "Green Garden") in favor of Sing to the Moon's most brooding ballads.
The result shines a spotlight squarely on Mvula's lovely voice and elegant songwriting — both of which are sturdy enough to withstand being stripped of accoutrements. Soak up this performance, then treat yourself to Sing to the Moon if you haven't already. It's one of the best debut albums in a year full of great ones.
Squeezing that sound behind Bob Boilen's desk is no tiny task, as she acknowledges partway through this three-song set in the NPR Music offices. Mvula faces the challenge by seizing an opportunity to showcase her most intimate material; with the help of a small string section, she forgoes some of her flashier songs ("Like the Morning Dew," "Green Garden") in favor of Sing to the Moon's most brooding ballads.
The result shines a spotlight squarely on Mvula's lovely voice and elegant songwriting — both of which are sturdy enough to withstand being stripped of accoutrements. Soak up this performance, then treat yourself to Sing to the Moon if you haven't already. It's one of the best debut albums in a year full of great ones.
Set List:
- "Father, Father"
- "Diamonds"
- "She"
Credits
Producer: Bob Boilen; Editor: Gabriella Garcia-Pardo; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Videographers: Denise DeBelius, Gabriella Garcia-Pardo, Marie McGrory; photo by Marie McGrory/NPRJuly 01, 2013by Stephen Thompson • Listen to Laura Mvula's terrific full-length debut, Sing to the Moon, and you'll hear soulful pop music in Technicolor. The U.K. singer's sonic ambition is boundless: Her intricately layered songs straddle genres, locations and eras in ways that sound entirely original.
Squeezing that sound behind Bob Boilen's desk is no tiny task, as she acknowledges partway through this three-song set in the NPR Music offices. Mvula faces the challenge by seizing an opportunity to showcase her most intimate material; with the help of a small string section, she forgoes some of her flashier songs ("Like the Morning Dew," "Green Garden") in favor of Sing to the Moon's most brooding ballads.
The result shines a spotlight squarely on Mvula's lovely voice and elegant songwriting — both of which are sturdy enough to withstand being stripped of accoutrements. Soak up this performance, then treat yourself to Sing to the Moon if you haven't already. It's one of the best debut albums in a year full of great ones.
Set List:
"Father, Father"
"Diamonds"
"She"
Credits
Producer: Bob Boilen; Editor: Gabriella Garcia-Pardo; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Videographers: Denise DeBelius, Gabriella Garcia-Pardo, Marie McGrory; photo by Marie McGrory/NPR
Laura Mvula's official music video for 'Green Garden'. Click to listen to Laura Mvula on Spotify:
http://smarturl.it/LauraMSpotify?IQid...
More from Laura Mvula:
'That's Alright': https://youtu.be/hYjHixQ9Ns4
'She': https://youtu.be/3J7DbO56QOI
'Can't Live With The World': https://youtu.be/TbGK-dwFWqo
Lyrics:
Take me outside, sit in the green garden
Nobody out there, but it's okay now,
bath in the sunlight, don't mind if rain falls,
take me outside, sit in the green garden,
Uh ah, uh ah uh,
Uh ah, uh ah uh
And I'll fly on the wings of a butterfly
high as a tree top and down again
putting my bag down, taking my shoes off
walk in the carpet of green velvet
Dance in my garden like we used to,
Uh ah, uh ah uh
Dance in my garden like we used to,
Uh ah, uh ah uh
Take me outside, sit in the green garden
nobody out there, but it's okay now,
bath in the sunlight, don't mind if rain falls,
take me out, sit in the green garden
I'll go, wherever you go, wherever you take me, I'll go
I'll go, wherever you go, wherever you take me, I'll go
Laura Mvula - "Can't Live with the World”:
Taken from the album 'Sing To The Moon', available from Amazon: http://po.st/rAejxG // iTunes: http://po.st/2hYcWm // Laura's Store: http://po.st/z4U7QV For more information on Laura, please visit:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lauramvulamusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lauramvula
Official Website: http://www.lauramvula.com
Music video by POWSTER directed by James Swindells.
Music video by Laura Mvula performing Can't Live With The World. (C) 2012 Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited
Laura Mvula - "Sing To The Moon":
'Sing To The Moon' is taken from Laura's homonymous debut album.
Laura Mvula - "She":
1/2 Nina Simone & Me with Laura Mvula - Secret Knowledge:
First broadcast: May 2015.
Episode 17/17 Over half a century since she first performed her songs, Nina Simone is more popular than ever. From Sinnerman to Mississippi Goddam, Feeling Good to My Baby Just Cares for Me, she is an artist with an extraordinary songbook that mixes jazz, blues, soul and even classical.
British soul singer Laura Mvula travels to New York to celebrate the Nina songs that mean most to her and explore their musical roots. Performing with a Harlem gospel choir, uncovering the influence of Nina's classical training and meeting Simone's long-time guitarist Al Shackman, Laura presents a personal tribute to the genius of her musical hero.
2/2 Nina Simone & Me with Laura Mvula - Secret Knowledge:
Episode 17/17 Over half a century since she first performed her songs, Nina Simone is more popular than ever. From Sinnerman to Mississippi Goddam, Feeling Good to My Baby Just Cares for Me, she is an artist with an extraordinary songbook that mixes jazz, blues, soul and even classical.
British soul singer Laura Mvula travels to New York to celebrate the Nina songs that mean most to her and explore their musical roots. Performing with a Harlem gospel choir, uncovering the influence of Nina's classical training and meeting Simone's long-time guitarist Al Shackman, Laura presents a personal tribute to the genius of her musical hero.
http://www.npr.org/2013/05/19/184852705/laura-mvula-a-soulful-voice-that-once-answered-phones
Music
Music Interviews
Laura Mvula: A Soulful Voice That Once Answered Phones
May 19, 2013
NPR
AUDIO: <iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/184852705/185247471" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
Less than two years ago, Laura Mvula was a receptionist honing her phone-answering skills at a music organization in Birmingham, England. Now, she's got a record deal and critical acclaim, and she's touring the U.S. with her debut album, Sing To The Moon.
She even stopped at NPR last week to record a Tiny Desk Concert.
After the show, Mvula spoke with Rachel Martin, host of Weekend Edition Sunday, about how much of a whirlwind the last couple of years have been and how she approaches her music and audience.
Laura Mvula's debut is ambitiously confident, as if she and her band had perfected their sound years ago.
Interview Highlights
On her musical family:
"We were the kind of household where you couldn't have TV in your room. So, when my dad said I could have his keyboard in my bedroom, that was like, 'Whoa, this is another level.' I remember, that was the first time I wrote something and I got his ghetto blaster and I recorded it on tape. I rushed down ... and he played it in the car. I remember my [brothers] laughing, but my dad really loved it, and I think that gave me confidence."
On her favorite instrument to play:
"Well, I am by no means a pianist, I think that's safe to say, but the piano, for me ... it gave me what I needed, and gives me what I need, to write a song. I think playing or improvising on the piano is where I feel most liberated and sort of less conscious of all of my insecurities or inadequacies."
On her voice:
"When I used to think about singing, I used to think that if people sung well, [there] was a very sort of basic criteria [and] vocal gymnastic. How much power does the voice have? So I struggled a lot. If anybody asked me to sing anything, I was happy to sing in a group, but please don't ask me to sing solo. I think when I started writing songs, my voice just became another tool. It wasn't something that I was going to try desperately to try and woo a listener [with]. As long as I'm using my voice in a way that helps people understand what I'm trying to say, then I feel like I'm doing all right."
On the intimacy of doing a Tiny Desk Concert:
"I don't think I always look in people's faces. I think, especially when I'm doing my more intimate songs, that are more personal, I always think it's a bit accusing if I stare in someone's face when I'm singing quite a personal lyric. I kind of like people to feel that they have their own private space and not have me invade it with my eyes."
Laura Mvula - "That's alright" - Nobel Peace Prize Live Concert—Oslo, Norway 2014:
“That’s Alright"
(Lyrics and Music by Laura Mvula):
I will never be what you want
And that's alright
Cause my skin ain't light
And my body ain't tight
And that's alright
But if I might
I’m gonna stand and fight
I will never be what you want
And that's alright
I play my own damn tune
Shine like the moon
And very soon
I'll soon fly over you
And whatchu gonna do
When I fly over you
Who made you the center of the universe?
Who made you the center of the universe?
Who made you the centre of the universe?
Who made you the centre of the universe?
And every morning when I wake up I pray for you
And then I pray for me
That soon you'll see
How love can be
A love that will set you free
what's it gonna be
See the beauty in you
Who made you the center of the universe?
Who made you the center of the universe?
Who made you the center of the universe?
Who made you the center of the universe?
I will never be what you want
And that's alright
Cause my skin ain't light
And my body ain't tight
I will never be what you want
And that's alright
Cause my skin ain't light
And that's alright
Tell me who made you the center of the universe?
Who made you the center of the universe?
Who made you the center of the universe?
Who made you the center of the universe?
Who made you the center of the Universe?
Laura Mvula - "Diamonds" (Live at WFUV):
Music
Music Interviews
Laura Mvula: A Soulful Voice That Once Answered Phones
May 19, 2013
NPR
AUDIO: <iframe src="http://www.npr.org/player/embed/184852705/185247471" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
Less than two years ago, Laura Mvula was a receptionist honing her phone-answering skills at a music organization in Birmingham, England. Now, she's got a record deal and critical acclaim, and she's touring the U.S. with her debut album, Sing To The Moon.
She even stopped at NPR last week to record a Tiny Desk Concert.
After the show, Mvula spoke with Rachel Martin, host of Weekend Edition Sunday, about how much of a whirlwind the last couple of years have been and how she approaches her music and audience.
Laura Mvula's debut is ambitiously confident, as if she and her band had perfected their sound years ago.
Interview Highlights
On her musical family:
"We were the kind of household where you couldn't have TV in your room. So, when my dad said I could have his keyboard in my bedroom, that was like, 'Whoa, this is another level.' I remember, that was the first time I wrote something and I got his ghetto blaster and I recorded it on tape. I rushed down ... and he played it in the car. I remember my [brothers] laughing, but my dad really loved it, and I think that gave me confidence."
On her favorite instrument to play:
"Well, I am by no means a pianist, I think that's safe to say, but the piano, for me ... it gave me what I needed, and gives me what I need, to write a song. I think playing or improvising on the piano is where I feel most liberated and sort of less conscious of all of my insecurities or inadequacies."
On her voice:
"When I used to think about singing, I used to think that if people sung well, [there] was a very sort of basic criteria [and] vocal gymnastic. How much power does the voice have? So I struggled a lot. If anybody asked me to sing anything, I was happy to sing in a group, but please don't ask me to sing solo. I think when I started writing songs, my voice just became another tool. It wasn't something that I was going to try desperately to try and woo a listener [with]. As long as I'm using my voice in a way that helps people understand what I'm trying to say, then I feel like I'm doing all right."
On the intimacy of doing a Tiny Desk Concert:
"I don't think I always look in people's faces. I think, especially when I'm doing my more intimate songs, that are more personal, I always think it's a bit accusing if I stare in someone's face when I'm singing quite a personal lyric. I kind of like people to feel that they have their own private space and not have me invade it with my eyes."
Laura Mvula - "That's alright" - Nobel Peace Prize Live Concert—Oslo, Norway 2014:
“That’s Alright"
(Lyrics and Music by Laura Mvula):
I will never be what you want
And that's alright
Cause my skin ain't light
And my body ain't tight
And that's alright
But if I might
I’m gonna stand and fight
I will never be what you want
And that's alright
I play my own damn tune
Shine like the moon
And very soon
I'll soon fly over you
And whatchu gonna do
When I fly over you
Who made you the center of the universe?
Who made you the center of the universe?
Who made you the centre of the universe?
Who made you the centre of the universe?
And every morning when I wake up I pray for you
And then I pray for me
That soon you'll see
How love can be
A love that will set you free
what's it gonna be
See the beauty in you
Who made you the center of the universe?
Who made you the center of the universe?
Who made you the center of the universe?
Who made you the center of the universe?
I will never be what you want
And that's alright
Cause my skin ain't light
And my body ain't tight
I will never be what you want
And that's alright
Cause my skin ain't light
And that's alright
Tell me who made you the center of the universe?
Who made you the center of the universe?
Who made you the center of the universe?
Who made you the center of the universe?
Who made you the center of the Universe?
Laura Mvula - Nobu Unplugged - Interview
March 2013:
We
caught up with the wonderful Laura Mvula before her live set at Nobu
Unplugged. We speak about Laura's time at SXSW festival, what it's like
having her brother & sister in her band and how much she enjoyed
shooting the music video for Green Garden. Plus Sarah's got a little
confession to make about her choice of dress!
Nicely backed by Jacob Banks sound checking! March 2013 Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/NobuUnplugged. Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NobuUnplugged A Kode Media Production www.kodemedia.co.uk
Nicely backed by Jacob Banks sound checking! March 2013 Follow us on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/NobuUnplugged. Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NobuUnplugged A Kode Media Production www.kodemedia.co.uk
Laura Mvula & Esperanza Spalding at the BBC Proms 2014:
A
triumphant night at the BBC Proms 2014 with Laura Mvula & Esperanza
Spalding delivering an amazing performance with the Jules Buckley's
orchestra
Laura Mvula sings Mj's "Human Nature" at the BBC Proms 2014:
Laura Mvula - "Green Garden" / Nina Simone's "See Line Woman":
KUTX presents Laura Mvula live from Studio 1A. Recorded April 22th 2014.
*
Laura Mvula - Cheltenham Jazz Festival 2014:
Go
behind the scenes with Henry Westons cider at the 2014 Cheltenham Jazz
Festival! Exclusive videos and live performances by star performers and
emerging artists.
Described by the Telegraph as 'the transcendent voice of 2013', Laura Mvula exploded onto the international music scene with her debut album Sing to the Moon. As this year's Jazz Festival Artist in Residence, she joined us backstage at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival for an exclusive performance with Henry Westons...
Described by the Telegraph as 'the transcendent voice of 2013', Laura Mvula exploded onto the international music scene with her debut album Sing to the Moon. As this year's Jazz Festival Artist in Residence, she joined us backstage at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival for an exclusive performance with Henry Westons...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzmMVcZ3U7Y
Laura Mvula - "Sing to the moon" - Nobel Peace Prize Concert Oslo, Norway 2014
Laura Mvula - "Diamonds" (Live at WFUV):
Laura Mvula performs "Diamonds" live in Studio A. Recorded April 19th, 2013
Laura Mvula "Make Me Lovely"
From her critically acclaimed debut album, "Sing to the Moon":
Laura Mvula - Green Garden + See-Line Woman (traditional) - Live at Royal Albert Hall 3
BBC Late Night Prom - August 19th 2014 with Metropole Orkest:
Laura Mvula - Encore - Human Nature + Make Me Lovely - Live at Royal Albert Hall 4
BBC Late Night Prom - August 19th 2014 with Metropole Orkest:
Laura Mvula Interview - Musical Collaborations & Inspirations:
Laura Mvula with Metropole Orkest conducted by Jules Buckley at Abbey Road Studios
by #LauraMvula
1/12 videos:
Laura Mvula
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Laura Mvula | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Laura Douglas | |
| Born | April 23, 1986 Birmingham, England | |
| Genres | Soul, jazz | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer–songwriter, musician | |
| Years active | 2012–present | |
| Labels | RCA | |
| Website | www | |
Laura Mvula (née Douglas;[1] born 23 April 1986[2]) is a British soul singer-songwriter from Birmingham. Her debut album Sing to the Moon was released on 4 March 2013, with an orchestral re-recording released on 11 August 2014.
Contents
Early and personal life
Mvula grew up in the Birmingham suburbs of Selly Park and Kings Heath with two younger siblings, and was influenced by the girl band Eternal. Her mother is from St. Kitt's and her father is from Jamaica. In 2005, Mvula sang with Black Voices, an a cappella group set up by her aunt.[3][4] In 2008, she formed a jazz/neo-soul group called Judyshouse, singing lead vocals and writing material for the band.[5] Laura was Director of the Lichfield Community Gospel Choir, founded by Black Voices and Lichfield Festival in 2009.[6] She has also previously directed the Alvechurch Community Choir.[7] Laura graduated from the Birmingham Conservatoire at the Birmingham City University with a degree in composition.[8][9] While she was working as a supply teacher in a Birmingham secondary school, she started writing songs on her laptop.[8] She was working as a receptionist when she sent out two demos to several people in the music industry. One of them, Steve Brown, heard the songs and sent them to his manager Kwame Kwaten who would become Laura's manager.[3][9] In a podcast for The Daily Telegraph, Mvula admitted to suffering from "crippling stage fright".[10]
Career
2012–14: Sing to the Moon
Main article: Sing to the Moon
After several showcases, Laura Mvula was signed by Colin Barlow to Sony subsidiary RCA.[9] She released her debut extended play, She, on 16 November 2012. The title track, "She" is the first song Mvula ever wrote.[11] Her debut studio album, Sing to the Moon, was released on 4 March 2013.[9][12] She worked on the album with producer Steve Brown[13][14] and mix engineer Tom Elmhirst.[15] Paul Lester from The Guardian described her music as "gospeldelia", calling it a new musical genre.[1] The album was preceded by the single "Green Garden".[9] The song is an elegy to her home in Kings Heath.[3] On 6 December 2012, Mvula was shortlisted for the Critics' Choice award at the 2013 BRIT Awards.[16] On 9 December, she was nominated for the BBC's Sound of 2013 poll, and finished in fourth position.[17] On 1 February 2013, she gave her first live TV performance on The Graham Norton Show on BBC One, singing "Green Garden".[18] Mvula stated her influences include Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill.[19]
Sing to the Moon reached number 9 on the UK Albums Chart and
within the top 100 in seven other countries and has so far reached 173
in the US Billboard 200 In October 2013, Mvula won awards for best
female act and best R&B or soul artist at the 2013 MOBO Awards.[20]
In March 2014, Mvula re-recorded an orchestral version of her debut album Sing to the Moon in collaboration with the Metropole Orkest, conducted by Jules Buckley. This was released on 23 June 2014 as a high quality download via Bowers & Wilkins' Society of Sound[21] and on CD on 11 August 2014.[22][23] On 19 August 2014, Mvula performed with the Metropole Orkest at the Albert Hall as part of the 2014 BBC Proms Season, supported by Esperanza Spalding and ElectricVocals.
Discography
Studio albums
| Title | Details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [24] | AUS [25] | BEL [26] | DEN [27] | FRA [28] | IRE [29] | NL [30] | NZ [31] | SWI [32] | US [33] | |||
| Sing to the Moon |
|
9 | 33 | 26 | 40 | 93 | 15 | 11 | 16 | 15 | 173 | |
| Laura Mvula with Metropole Orkest conducted by Jules Buckley at Abbey Road Studios[35] |
|
61 | – | 184 | – | – | – | 97 | – | – | – | – |
Extended plays
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| iTunes Festival: London 2012 |
|
| She |
|
Singles
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [24] | BEL [26] | DEN [27] | IRE [29] | JAP [36] | NL [30] | ||||||||||||
| "She" | 2012 | – | – | – | – | – | — | Sing to the Moon | |||||||||
| "Like the Morning Dew" | – | – | – | – | – | — | |||||||||||
| "Green Garden" | 2013 | 31 | 3[A] | 40 | 50 | 46 | 74 | ||||||||||
| "That's Alright" | – | 52[A] | – | – | – | — | |||||||||||
| "—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||||||
Music videos
| Title | Year | Director(s) |
|---|---|---|
| "Green Garden" | 2013 | Wendy Morgan |
| "That's Alright" | ||
| "She" | Alex Southam |
Awards and nominations
| Year | Organisation | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | BRIT Awards | Critics' Choice Award[16] | Nominated |
| BBC | Sound of 2013[17] | Nominated[A] | |
| Barclaycard | Mercury Prize (Sing to the Moon)[37] | Nominated | |
| MOBO Awards | Best Female Act[38] | Won | |
| Best R&B/Soul Act | Won | ||
| Best Album (Sing to the Moon) | Nominated | ||
| Urban Music Awards | Artist of the Year[39] | Nominated | |
| Best Female Act | Won | ||
| Best Newcomer | Nominated | ||
| Q Awards | Best New Act[40] | Nominated | |
| 2014 | Brit Awards | British Breakthrough Act[41] | Nominated |
| British Female Solo Artist[41] | Nominated | ||
| NAACP Image Award | Outstanding World Music Album[42] | Nominated | |
| Ivor Novello Awards | Album Award[43] | Nominated | |
| BET Awards | Best International Act: UK[44] | Nominated |
- A^ Fourth place
Concert tours
- Sing to the Moon Tour (2013–2014)
Laura Mvula performing at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 11th 2014
References
Notes
A ^
Did not appear in the official Belgian Ultratop 50 charts, but rather
in the bubbling under Ultratip charts. Added 50 position to actual
Ultratip position.
Sources
Lester, Paul (31 December 2012). "Ones to watch in 2013: Laura Mvula". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 1 February 2013.
"'Genius' talent Laura Mvula wows crowds at her New Orleans Jazz Fest debut". axs.com. Implied birthdate contradicts "Laura Mvula swings soul in a fresh direction, and it's a classical gas". NYDailyNews.com. May 17, 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
Jones, Alison (22 February 2013). "Birmingham singer songwriter Laura Mvula singled out to be music's next big star". Birmingham Post (Trinity Mirror). Retrieved 22 February 2013.
"Black voices".
"judyshouse".
"lichfield choir".
"alvechurch community choir".
"Laura Mvula to support Jessie Ware on tour". counteract-magazine.com. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
Cosyns, Poppy. "Brit Awards nominee Laura Mvula: Everything’s gone at 110mph". The Sun (London: News Group Newspapers). Retrieved 22 February 2013.
Louisa Poocock, "Laura Mvula: 'I still suffer from stage fright. I'm terrified I'll be found out’", The Telegraph, 14 March 2013.
Bedian, Knar (9 April 2014). "Honesty Is Their Policy: PHOX And Laura Mvula". Sound of Boston. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
"Sing to the Moon out now". lauramvula.com.
Alexis Petridis, "Laura Mvula: Sing to the Moon – review", The Guardian, 28 February 2013.
Neil McCormick, "Laura Mvula, Sing To the Moon, CD review", The Telegraph, 1 March 2013.
MacKay, Emily (5 March 2013). "Album Mixing for Sing to the Moon". The Independent (London).
"Brits Critics' Choice tips three new acts for 2013". BBC. 6 December 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
"Sound of 2013 Profile: Laura Mvula". BBC. 10 December 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
"Laura Mvula performs 'Green Garden' live on Graham Norton". The British Blacklist. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
Lachno, James (29 November 2012). "influences". The Daily Telegraph (London).
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/21/2013-mobo-awards-laura-mvula
"Laura Mvula on recording an orchestral version of her debut album – audio interview". Q the Music. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
"Laura Mvula with Metropole Orkest conducted by Jules Buckley at Abbey Road Studios (Live)". Amazon. Retrieved 25 June 2014.>
"Laura Mvula with Metropole Orkest at Abbey Road Studios". Retrieved 25 June 2014.
"Laura Mvula > UK Charts". Officialcharts.com/. Official Charts Company.
Hung, Steffen. "Discography Laura Mvula". Australian Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
Hung, Steffen. "Discografie Laura Mvula". Belgium (Flanders) Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
Hung, Steffen. "Discography Laura Mvula". Danish Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
Hung, Steffen. "Discography Laura Mvula". French Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
Peak positions for Ireland:
For all except noted: Hung, Steffen. "Discography Laura Mvula". Irish Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
For "Green Garden": "Chart Archive > Irish Singles > Week Ending 14 March 2013". IRMA. 14 March 2013.
Hung, Steffen. "Discografie Laura Mvula". Dutch Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
Hung, Steffen. "Discography Laura Mvula". New Zealand Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
Hung, Steffen. "Discographie Laura Mvula". Swiss Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
"Laura Mvula – Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media.
http://www.bpi.co.uk/certified-awards.aspx
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1/277-8148386-8197326?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=laura%20mvula&sprefix=laura+mv%2Caps&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Alaura%20mvula
"Laura Mvula – Chart History: Japan Hot 100". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media.
http://www.mercuryprize.com/aoty/shortlist.php
http://www.mobo.com/news-blogs/mobo-awards-2013-nominations-list-revealed
http://urbanmusicawards.net/2013/11/fuse-odg-laura-mvula-naughty-boy-bruno-mars-avicii-diplo-ghetts-win-big-at-the-11th-annual-urban-music-awards-2013/
http://news.qthemusic.com/2013/09/david_bowie_arctic_monkeys_daf.html
http://www.brits.co.uk/nominees
http://www.naacpimageawards.net/nominees/recording/
http://theivors.com/awards.htm
"Beyonce & Jay Z Lead 2014 BET Awards". Billboard. 26 January 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Laura Mvula.
Official website
Sources
Lester, Paul (31 December 2012). "Ones to watch in 2013: Laura Mvula". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 1 February 2013.
"'Genius' talent Laura Mvula wows crowds at her New Orleans Jazz Fest debut". axs.com. Implied birthdate contradicts "Laura Mvula swings soul in a fresh direction, and it's a classical gas". NYDailyNews.com. May 17, 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2015.
Jones, Alison (22 February 2013). "Birmingham singer songwriter Laura Mvula singled out to be music's next big star". Birmingham Post (Trinity Mirror). Retrieved 22 February 2013.
"Black voices".
"judyshouse".
"lichfield choir".
"alvechurch community choir".
"Laura Mvula to support Jessie Ware on tour". counteract-magazine.com. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
Cosyns, Poppy. "Brit Awards nominee Laura Mvula: Everything’s gone at 110mph". The Sun (London: News Group Newspapers). Retrieved 22 February 2013.
Louisa Poocock, "Laura Mvula: 'I still suffer from stage fright. I'm terrified I'll be found out’", The Telegraph, 14 March 2013.
Bedian, Knar (9 April 2014). "Honesty Is Their Policy: PHOX And Laura Mvula". Sound of Boston. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
"Sing to the Moon out now". lauramvula.com.
Alexis Petridis, "Laura Mvula: Sing to the Moon – review", The Guardian, 28 February 2013.
Neil McCormick, "Laura Mvula, Sing To the Moon, CD review", The Telegraph, 1 March 2013.
MacKay, Emily (5 March 2013). "Album Mixing for Sing to the Moon". The Independent (London).
"Brits Critics' Choice tips three new acts for 2013". BBC. 6 December 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
"Sound of 2013 Profile: Laura Mvula". BBC. 10 December 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
"Laura Mvula performs 'Green Garden' live on Graham Norton". The British Blacklist. Retrieved 10 February 2013.
Lachno, James (29 November 2012). "influences". The Daily Telegraph (London).
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/21/2013-mobo-awards-laura-mvula
"Laura Mvula on recording an orchestral version of her debut album – audio interview". Q the Music. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
"Laura Mvula with Metropole Orkest conducted by Jules Buckley at Abbey Road Studios (Live)". Amazon. Retrieved 25 June 2014.>
"Laura Mvula with Metropole Orkest at Abbey Road Studios". Retrieved 25 June 2014.
"Laura Mvula > UK Charts". Officialcharts.com/. Official Charts Company.
Hung, Steffen. "Discography Laura Mvula". Australian Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
Hung, Steffen. "Discografie Laura Mvula". Belgium (Flanders) Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
Hung, Steffen. "Discography Laura Mvula". Danish Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
Hung, Steffen. "Discography Laura Mvula". French Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
Peak positions for Ireland:
For all except noted: Hung, Steffen. "Discography Laura Mvula". Irish Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
For "Green Garden": "Chart Archive > Irish Singles > Week Ending 14 March 2013". IRMA. 14 March 2013.
Hung, Steffen. "Discografie Laura Mvula". Dutch Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
Hung, Steffen. "Discography Laura Mvula". New Zealand Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
Hung, Steffen. "Discographie Laura Mvula". Swiss Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
"Laura Mvula – Chart History: Billboard 200". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media.
http://www.bpi.co.uk/certified-awards.aspx
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1/277-8148386-8197326?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=laura%20mvula&sprefix=laura+mv%2Caps&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Alaura%20mvula
"Laura Mvula – Chart History: Japan Hot 100". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media.
http://www.mercuryprize.com/aoty/shortlist.php
http://www.mobo.com/news-blogs/mobo-awards-2013-nominations-list-revealed
http://urbanmusicawards.net/2013/11/fuse-odg-laura-mvula-naughty-boy-bruno-mars-avicii-diplo-ghetts-win-big-at-the-11th-annual-urban-music-awards-2013/
http://news.qthemusic.com/2013/09/david_bowie_arctic_monkeys_daf.html
http://www.brits.co.uk/nominees
http://www.naacpimageawards.net/nominees/recording/
http://theivors.com/awards.htm
"Beyonce & Jay Z Lead 2014 BET Awards". Billboard. 26 January 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Laura Mvula.
Official website
