Laura Moody is a wildly alternative cellist, vocalist and avant-singer songwriter. Fascinated not only with words and songwriting but also with sounds, noises and textures she eschews laptops and loop pedals to explore what is possible using only solo cello and voice. She creates emotive songs that reveal a multitude of influences and inhabit a unique space between the contemporary avant garde, classical music, experimental pop and singer-songwriter tradition.
Having achieved much international acclaim as a long-standing member of innovative string quartet the Elysian Quartet, which is known for its pioneering performances and recordings of contemporary classical, experimental and improvised music, she has also toured world-wide as a member of physical theatre string ensemble The Gogmagogs, as well as the Meredith Monk Ensemble and performed extensively in theatre and contemporary dance productions. She has toured, collaborated and recorded with leading musicians from a hugely diverse number of genres from folk to hip hop. All these elements are brought together in Laura’s solo work, as The Arts Desk noted,’it seemed almost as if she had taken every musical influence that had come her way and put them in a blender…certainly extraordinary and sometimes disturbing. But what surprised me most… was just how often it became mesmerising.’ Laura released an EP of her music on her own label in 2009 and, following a highly successful crowdfunding campaign, her highly personal and long-awaited debut album Acrobats was released at the tail end of 2014. This launched to sold out audiences at St Pancras Old Church and Wiltons Music Hall, and garnered top notch album reviews.
Acrobats features six original songs by Laura Moody and her re-imagining of Nick Drake’s iconic Cello Song. Laura is known for her virtuosic ability to play cello and sing simultaneously, and giving theatrical and vibrant performances. Laura says: ‘One of the major challenges with this album has been how to capture the drama and physicality of the songs as purely a listening experience.’ To that end Laura has collaborated with producers Dominic Murcott (The High Llamas) and Edward Jessen, a composer whose work very much ventures into the world of sound art.
