By Georgia Adamson
The Icelandic-Chinese artist delivers a technically enchanting jazz album with contemporary notes.
A self-described “pop music anomaly” hailing from Montreal, Laraw’s career has seen her transcend genres while making music in English, French and Arabic. With her latest single and video, “Scissors,” however, listeners in the Anglosphere will be able to fully hear and understand all of the gory details of her personal life. Capitalizing on the pop-punk boom while offering her own spin on things, Laraw depicts the gruesome demise of a relationship over blown-out guitars and a juxtaposition of a surprisingly sweet, pop-centric vocal that accentuate her graphic lyrics and visceral anger.
“Scissors is about the grief of having a loved one completely destroy you,” Laraw says. “Knowing they will and just letting it happen.” The ill-fated couple’s house in the music video finds the camera glancing over some broken glass and furniture as they stumble past each other in hallways, tensions high. In a horror-style twist, Laraw flashes back and forth between a spiky-haired and bloodstained alter ego while the room illuminates red behind her. All the same, Laraw says that the cathartic anthem is the most important song she’s ever written. “I got to actually meet myself, grow, and learn that the first person you should always love is yourself,” she says.
By Georgia Adamson
The Icelandic-Chinese artist delivers a technically enchanting jazz album with contemporary notes.
By Maggie McPhee
The musician, producer, and mathematician shares his recipe for the Elephant Six Recording Co.’s special sauce ahead of new documentary.
By Ryan Hook & Ben Boddez
Paris Hilton, Run The Jewels, Iggy Pop, and more — the Victoria festival boasted a lineup of icons old and new over two weekends.