“I am a painting, hanging on your wall,” sings Laura Fisher in the opening seconds of “Fiction”, the first of two tracks on the New Orleans artist’s new 7-inch. She’s not being presumptuous. Fisher’s music feels readymade for a gallery showcase, with crisp pronunciations, electronic dirges, urgent percussion, and synth breakdowns each acting as hues to accentuate a portrait of devotion too strong to abandon but also too dangerous to continue.
The theme continues on “La Belle Indifference”, another art pop ballad-turned-banger. Fisher harmonizes hesitantly with a cascading piano melody before reaching a conclusion simultaneously gothic and kaleidoscopic. Having performed in venues as varied as a ski lodge in Niseko, Japan and New York’s Lincoln Center, Fisher is proving herself a master of intention and execution. If a two-song 7-inch is an appetizer, we can’t wait for the main course. Having studied under famed Turkish pianist Meral Guneyman as a child, Fisher’s remarkable pedigree seems to only be expanding further.
On the songs, Fisher reveals:
“I wrote ‘La Belle Indifference’ after time reflecting on a lover and a friend going into psychiatric hospitals with exact overlap one month during my teenage years. The experience was intense and harrowing. Made me question so much of what constitutes and follows experiences of deep depression, suicidal ideation, and extreme action…. where exactly is the line? What makes humans cross it, turn feelings into actions?
“I believe the two songs connect through these introspections; how within our own minds we are both healthy and unwell, devastated and emotionally fulfilled. Feeling cared for and supported or not. Feeling wanted and needed or not. The struggle to figure out where we stand and how it shifts never ends.“
Listen to “Fiction” and “La Belle Indifferece” below, then scroll down to read our interview with Laura Fisher.
How did you find your way from piano to electronically driven songs like these?
The transition probably started when I was in high school around 2005/2006 — discovering and falling in love with artists like Aphex Twin, Radiohead, Boards of Canada. I’ve been experimenting with electronic sounds and production since I started working with engineers and recording circa 2008. But also loved a ton of 90’s music in the era itself that involved a healthy dose of it… sometimes even in unexpected contexts. I’m always falling more in love with these sort of soundscapes.
You talked about some of the questions that inspired “La Belle Indifference”. Did the song provide any answers?
The title of the song itself is a bit of an answer: “beautiful ignorance”. I don’t think there are ever really answers to those questions, and that’s the lifeblood of this reality. Like how electrons in an atomic state are never completely at rest.
You have an EP planned. Is this a good indicator of how it’ll sound?
It is, actually! Almost strange to say considering how wildly my previous releases differ from one another. Adam Keil, who produced ‘Fiction / La Belle Indifference’ also engineered and is co-producing the EP. But the EP additionally involves an incredible band — a local supergroup of sorts featuring Claire Givens (People Museum) on synth bass, Jonathan Arceneaux (Julie Odell) on drums, and Nick Elstrott (Toonces) on synth. So still very heavy into an electronic world. We’re getting experimental with it now and I’m pretty over the moon to share this one once it’s done.
You can find Laura Fisher on Bandcamp, Facebook and Instagram.
