With the release of her first two albums — 2016’s Sirens and 2018’s Empty Sea — Berlin-based singer/songwriter, guitarist and photographer Laura Carbone received attention across the European Union and elsewhere for a sound and approach that frequently draws comparisons to PJ Harvey, Shana Falana, Chelsea Wolfe, St. Vincent and others.
While opening for The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Carbone and her backing band quickly established a reputation for a powerful live show, which she further cemented with a headlining tours across the European Union and North America. (If you’ve been frequenting this site over the past couple of years, you might recall that I caught Carbone when she played Baby’s All Right back in 2019. A lifetime ago, it seems.)
s the story goes, Carbone and her backing band were slated to go into the studio last May to record what would be her highly-anticipated, third album. But as a result of pandemic-related restrictions and lockdowns, Carbone’s plans were indefinitely shelved at the time, much like countless other artists across the globe. While she was touring across the European Union, Carbone and her band made an appearance on the beloved German live concert series Rockpalast. For Carbone, who grew up in a small, southwestern German town watching Rockpaalst as a music obsessed youth, appearing on the show was the achievement of a lifelong dream: Rockpalast has recorded and broadcasted a who’s who list of influential and important artists, including Siouxsie and The Banshees, Radiohead, Sonic Youth, Patti Smith, Sinead O’Connor, David Bowie, R.E.M., Echo and the Bunnymen, Screaming Trees, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Marley and the Wailers and a very lengthy list of others.
Because of pandemic-related shutdowns, Carbone and her band came up with an interesting idea: “What if Rockpalast would let us release that show as a live album?” Released last fall across Europe and today across North America, Laura Carbone — Live at Rockpalast is just that. Taken from her October 2019 Rockpalast set at Harmonie Bonn, the live album is a centered around a career-spanning set featuring material from her first two albums and a rather unexpected cover. Hewing as closely as humanly possible to their live sound, the album was mixed by in Los Angeles by The Jesus and Mary Chain‘s Scott Van Ryper and mastered by Philipp Welsing at Hamburg‘s Original Mastering with no overdubs.
Because of pandemic-related shutdowns, Carbone and her band came up with an interesting idea: “What if Rockpalast would let us release that show as a live album?” Released last fall across Europe and today across North America, Laura Carbone — Live at Rockpalast is just that. Taken from her October 2019 Rockpalast set at Harmonie Bonn, the live album is a centered around a career-spanning set featuring material from her first two albums and a rather unexpected cover. Hewing as closely as humanly possible to their live sound, the album was mixed by in Los Angeles by The Jesus and Mary Chain‘s Scott Van Ryper and mastered by Philipp Welsing at Hamburg‘s Original Mastering with no overdubs.
So far I’ve written about two of Laura Carbone — Live at Rockpalast’s singles:
“Who’s Gonna Save You,” which captures Catrbone and her band’s forceful live sound and the Berlin-based artist’s irresistible stage presence. And while the song finds the band deftly balancing menace and sultriness, the song should serve as an introduction to an artist, who has quickly added her name to a growing list of rock goddesses.
“Cellophane Skin:” Performed as the first song of the set’s encore, the live rendition finds Carbone and company taking the tension of the original and informing with a feral intensity developed while touring. And as a result, the song finds its narrator — and perhaps, even the artist herself — turning into a seductive, yet vengeful force of nature tearing down the bonds of poisonous social norms that have imprisoned her, while demanding that we — men particularly so — examine and check ourselves.
Laura Carbone — Live at Rockpalast’s third and latest single “Nightride” is a slow-burning and brooding bit of psychedelia-tinged post punk that sonically and lyrically nods at The Doors “The End” as though covered by PJ Harvey. Full of dark and uneasy imagery including a full moon on a clear night, a dark yet irresistible stranger, a road trip through the forest, sporadically lit by the moonlight and headlights, the song thematically is an existential journey — to the dark and murky depths of a human soul, to something and/or someone.