Folk trio Lau to play the Deaf Institute in Manchester

Nov 8 2012 Flintshire Chronicle

FOLK trio Lau have come a long way since forming eight years ago – they’ve picked up a Radio 2 award three times in a row, released a clutch of EPs and worked with major names, but they still love the feeling of playing live.

“Pressure’s not a bad thing, keeps you on your toes,” said accordion player Martin Green.

“If you can’t enjoy this job you’re very unlikely to enjoy any other.

“It’s always great to play a gig, especially with a band that has had the chance to get really tight.”

The band are heading to Manchester next week, when they will perform at the Deaf Institute on Saturday.

Lau formed out of the progressive traditional music scene in Edinburgh in 2004 and since then have consistently discovered new musical boundaries with their unique take on folk.

The trio are all highly regarded musicians in their own right but together Kris Drever, Martin Green and Aidan O’Rourke are a formidable unit, describing themselves as ‘a modern folk adventure’.

They began touring regularly together and found the three of them gelled immediately.

Martin said: “People were very nice about our first few gigs. Having all done gigs that people weren’t so nice about, it felt like we might have found a format that worked well.”

The band won BBC Radio 2’s Best Live Act award for a third year in a row in 2010, following on from the Live Act of The Year award at the Scottish Traditional Music Awards in 2009.

They recently released their third album, Race The Loser.