Laura Veirs - My Echo (LP) - Translucent Pink Vinyl

Laura Veirs has always had a knack for turning small, domestic moments into whole weather systems, and My Echo is one of her most quietly affecting fronts. Arriving in October 2020 through her own Raven Marching Band Records in the US and Bella Union in the UK, it plays like a letter written from a room you recognise, with the curtains moving just a little and the kettle just off the boil. Produced by Tucker Martine at Flora Recording & Playback in Portland, the album leans into Veirs’ familiar strengths, but there is a new brittleness in the light, a clarity that makes every fingerpicked guitar line and piano figure feel etched rather than sketched.

What strikes first is the air around the songs. Martine’s production is restrained, almost translucent, so the space becomes part of the rhythm. Veirs’ voice sits right in the middle of the room, conversational and steady, never straining, but the words have weight. She has spoken about writing during a time of personal upheaval, and you can hear that tension between steadiness and drift in the way a melody will hover for a bar longer than expected or how a chord change lands like an exhale. There are subtle strings, brushed percussion, and the odd flicker of keys or synth, yet nothing gets in the way of the guitar. It feels like a record made with the faders set for intimacy.

“Another Space and Time” is the one I keep returning to. It has that classic Veirs blend of clarity and wonder, with a chorus that opens like a window. The rhythm nudges forward, and the lyric balances wistfulness with a kind of pragmatic hope, the way she often writes about movement without ever shouting about it. “Turquoise Walls” is another that lingers. It sets a scene so simply you can see the paint and feel the quiet. The mood across the album is contemplative, not gloomy, and the melodies move with the calm authority of someone who has learned to trust a small fire to keep a room warm.

Veirs has a long history of letting the natural world bleed into her songs, and that continues here. Birds, light, water, the corners of houses, all appear not as metaphors bolted on after the fact, but as neighbours. This is music that respects daily life. The tenderness is earned, and the brightness when it comes is never gaudy. A small lyrical twist becomes a whole new perspective. That is a trick only a songwriter with two decades of discipline can manage.

If you have any of the early records on your shelf, from Carbon Glacier to July Flame, you will hear echoes without pastiche. My Echo is not trying to top anything, just to inhabit its own season. That is partly why it makes so much sense on wax. There is an ease to flipping a side and sitting back down, the soft crackle bookmarking the space before her voice wanders back in. If you are crate-digging in a Melbourne record store, the My Echo vinyl is an easy staff pick. It slots happily next to Laura Veirs vinyl from the 2000s, and it does that thing her best albums do where the room you are in seems to rearrange itself slightly around the sound.

Collectors will appreciate the sequencing. Side A leans into the open air of the singles, while the second half folds inward and sits closer to the floorboards. The mix is airy but focused, so guitar harmonics and quiet backing vocals bloom nicely on a decent system. If you like to buy Laura Veirs records online, this one is a safe bet, and it pairs well with other Laura Veirs albums on vinyl for a Sunday afternoon stack. For anyone browsing vinyl records Australia wide, it is the sort of record that rewards repeat visits, with new details surfacing in the corners each time.

There is no grand thesis here, only a steady accumulation of honest moments, which is its own kind of bravery. In a year when the world shrank to the size of our houses, Veirs sketched those rooms with a clear eye and a kind voice. My Echo might be a late-night record for many, but it holds up in daylight. Put it on, let the kettle go again, and give it the room to breathe. It will quietly return the favour.