Track By Track: Laura BCR – Initial

As the founder of On Board Music Laura BCR has worked tirelessly over many years to help push and propel an array of talented artists and musicians into prominence. She’s one of the hardest working in electronic music and has superb taste to match, regular listeners to her Rinse FM shows will be able to attest to this. 

When it comes to production and her own music, Laura has previously released material as part of compilations on her own record label. However, last month marked the beginning of a bold new chapter in her musical career as she released her first full length EP on Utrecht based record label Something Happening Somewhere. Released both digitally and on tape the EP is titled “Initial” and features a collection of heavy hitting, heads down techno for the discerning dancer and the late night wanderer. It’s deep, pensive stuff. 

We invited Laura to talk us through her first full length release…

“The first idea behind Initial is to start a story and help the imagination of the listeners to dive deeply into their thoughts. Sounds are references that call extra representations and help to create forms. This EP can be listened while walking, chilling, driving, dancing in a middle of nowhere. I really wanted to give the possibility to everyone to create their own stories & forms while listening to the music.”

Mute

This intro is a mix of pads, quite emotional, created between a Micro Korg and my FM synthesizer. It’s weird, with no beats with voices that are coming in & out. A good start to prepare the listeners to the chapter. Kind of a cache cache with the sounds. 

They Never Came Back

This track was the first one I wrote from the EP end of last Summer. I’ve recorded it in my home studio and some parts have been made also at a friend’s space where I could record some Raven synthesizer parts. I have been inspired deeply by Twin Peaks for that one. I’ve been a huge fan of David Lynch and his ovni universe from a long time. The Return (latest season) was very deep with scenes in the woods, dances of forms and bodies. I really keep the feeling of this long 4th season and this dark universe to imagine walks, stroboscopes, outside freaky moments with dancing forms.

5 Elements

Story behind 5 Elements is coming first of all from an exchange with Buenos-Aires based producer Forest On Stasys. We’ve been talking together for quite some time and idea was to do first a track for On Board together for one of our V/As. Guido (FOS) sent me some parts that I re-worked. I’ve been adding some Pads, effects and this also dubby style that comes to give this very chill rhythm to the track. It has an experimental touch, something very organic where you could remember some essential elements from the earth, water, sun, wind and so on. At the end, the track was fitting the EP so well that we decided to adding it.

Initial

This track is the main weirdo & introspective track of the EP. It’s a successions of Wavetables and Pads coming again from my FM Synthesizer. I’ve imagined this one played in a big and dark room taking all the space with some freaky voices also coming in & out. Kick is also quite intense and gives a kind of jerky way of dancing. Initial contains an infinite number of stories you can invent yourself while listening to it. You can feel some concrete but as well some forest atmospheres. Any tale can be made from it. Mine was mostly shadows playing together. 

Pirate Sequence

The last track is the most powerful of the EP I think with a big kick coming in from the beginning. I also used a Raven synthesizer for that one and it has quite some reverb that remind me a lot this underwater feeling. Don’t know how it comes but had those pirate radios in mind on ships when I started writing it. Those underground radios which were counterbalancing public radio and had more freedom. It’s also built slowly and is very progressive in intensity. Exactly like the movement of pirate radios. This was the funny basic idea behind it.

Buy HERE. Photograph courtesy of Marie Staggat.