ALBUM REVIEW: Laura Veirs – Temple Songs

Raven Marching Band

Released: 14.08.26

Image by Shelby Brakken

It’s been a few years since I checked in with Laura Veirs (too many records, too little time) and she’s had a time of it – personal upheavals and such. That might explain why Temple Songs, her first album in four years, is imbued with the spirit of Emma Goldman, of anarchists and punk rockers, of resistance and feminism. Given that this is a Veirs record, this manifests more through lyrics (‘The arc still bends towards justice, right? So why am I still holding this fucking sign?’) and titles (‘No Masters’) than the music. Agriculture this isn’t.

What we get is very much a Laura Veirs album, albeit with some twists, including some unexpected sax on Pulse (the only thing on the album not played by Veirs herself). Recorded in a small home studio – just two mics and a laptop – this isn’t as intimate as Phone Orphans, but it’s still incredibly personal and close-up. Veirs’ voice is still a fragile, beautiful instrument and while she gets compared to the usual ethereal folk artists, there’s a groundedness and reality to Veirs’ songs – about her kids, about trusting again after a break-up, about politics and ideas of freedom. It looked for a while as if Laura Veirs might be done with writing and recording songs, with the travelling of a touring musician. But she’s back, and we should be very grateful for that.