LAURA VEIRS

On her third Nonesuch release, Saltbreakers, singer-songwriter Laura Veirs digs even deeper this time into the vagaries of human nature, transforming the turbulence of her own life, as well as her concerns about the hair-trigger state of the world at large, into a collection of songs distinguished as much by their emotional urgency as by their often astonishing musical inventiveness.

Veirs recorded the album in Seattle, with band-mate Tucker Martine (The Decemberists, Bill Frisell) once again producing and mixing.

Though she now calls her group Saltbreakers, it's actually comprised of her longtime compatriots, formerly known as the Tortured Souls -- guitarist/bassist Karl Blau, keyboardist Steve Moore and drummer Martine. The name change was a practical decision: "I didn't want to talk about that Tortured Souls thing anymore. It just got old," Veirs, who also plays guitar, explains with a laugh, remembering lots of bad jokes about the moniker.

Over the last three years, the band has traveled the world in support of Veirs' previous Nonesuch albums, Carbon Glacier (2004) and Year of Meteors (2005), assiduously cultivating an international fan base. Veirs continues to praise the musicians' strong interrelationship: "The band has gotten really close. We've become like a real family. It's felt like that for a long time, but it's even more so now. Before we made this record, I demo-ed the tracks at home using Garageband. Then we went on a short west coast tour and played the new material. One of the big pay-offs of the way we work was then being able to go into the studio and just play the songs.""

Salt became a unifying theme for the album – the salt in tears, the salt in ocean waves, the salt left behind by perspiration after, as Veirs puts it, "a long sweaty night of the soul," the point at which opening track "Pink Light" begins. "The idea felt visceral," says Veirs, "so I ran with it." The sea and waves – or saltbreakers, as Veirs likes to call them – are a leitmotif: "I have a lot of dreams about whales, and the sea itself is so mysterious, ineffable, infinite. You can never know completely what's going on under the surface. That really intrigues me. The sea is both nurturing and destructive: it can be safe and luscious and comforting or a real tyrant. Waves, of course, can wash things away, absolve you, clear the beach of detritus, or they can bring a bunch of stuff back in."

More recently, a teacher from Spain sent Veirs 30 individual notes from his students, each of them thanking her for making the fantastical, gravity-defying video for "Galaxies," from Year of Meteors. Perhaps they're responding to an element of child-like wonder in her work. A fairy tale-like quality is certain there, but older, more knowing ears will find something even more engrossing in these songs: the sound of a real life unfolding between the crashing sea and the twinkling stars.

LIAM FINN Already the odds-on favorite for debut artist of the year in his native New Zealand, twenty-three-year-old indie wunderkind Liam Finn is turning his attention to the U.S. with two upcoming CMJ performances in October, and the stateside release of his album 'I'll Be Lightning' January 22 on Yep Roc Records. Finn wrote all of 'Lightning''s fourteen songs, and plays most of the instruments on the album, a fact driven home in powerful fashion by his jaw-dropping live shows. The Sydney Morning Herald described one recent performance: "He constantly and inventively loops his guitar parts before jumping on to a drum kit and flail[ing] away with manic energy and skill." Layering on bass loops, and the occasional Theremin line as well, Finn can take a song from primal, solitary guitar riff to bracing wall of sound. Singlehandedly.

Recorded in New Zealand, the album itself is similarly charged, by turns reflective and shambolic, but always melodic. Finn recently told the Morning Herald "I purposely did [the album] all analog; there were no computers involved. I made all the loops live and played them on to the tape. I purposely didn't demo this record because I wanted to capture that spirit in the recording." In addition to the cd and digital release, Yep Roc plans to issue 'Lightning' as a vinyl LP, with a bonus cdcontaining the full album plus five exclusive tracks. Though 'Lightning' is Finn's solo debut, he is a seasoned recording and touring artist. He began performing with his father, Crowded House founder Neil Finn, at age fourteen, and founded his own group, Betchdupa, soon after. That group would record for legendary Aussie indie label Flying Nun, and open for Pearl Jam and Coldplay. More recently, Liam joined Crowded House for their historic reunion shows at this year's Coachella and Glastonbury festivals, and the Live Earth concert in Sydney. He also opened for Crowded House with his own solo set on several dates.

Laura Veirs - "Saltbreakers"
	"Pink Light" – 4:04 "Ocean Night Song" – 3:08 "Don't Lose Yourself" – 4:01 "Drink Deep" – 4:36 "Wandering Kind" – 3:32 "Nightingale" – 3:12 "Saltbreakers" – 3:20 "To the Country" – 5:09 "Cast a Hook" – 3:20 "Phantom Mountain" – 3:14 "Black Butterfly" – 2:22 "Wrecking" – 3:49 "Bright Glittering Gifts" (iTunes bonus track) – 4:43