LACES — 15 March 2023 on Rocket Shop Radio Hour

LACES joined host Tom Proctor on ‘Rocket Shop,’ Big Heavy World’s weekly local Vermont music radio hour on 105.9 FM The Radiator. Catch up with them at instagram.com/lacesvt

On Wednesday, March 15, Host Tom Proctor was joined by Laces, a Burlington-based five-piece rock band that blends psychedelic pop, jazz, and country to create an original sound full of personality and play. 

The band’s name is an acronym representing the names of the five members: Levi on Guitar, Abigail on Trombone, Crhsitopher on keys, Eric on Bass, and Seamus on Drums. In addition to their main instruments, all the musicians alternate and play different instruments, making for an ever-shifting instrumentation that changes from song to song, augmenting and subtly diversifying the band’s sound. 

Laces kicked off their Rocket Shop set with “Lost My Tooth, Broke My Crown” a song with a funky, busy rhythmic foundation, that supports wistful, intimate vocal melodies and lush backing harmonies. The song’s dynamic arc brings the listener through different sonic worlds, from a low and tightly rhythmic verse to a climactic guitar solo that wails over an explosive instrumentation of full organ harmonies and thundering drums. The song’s varying energy levels reflect shifting emotional moods. “I guess it was just about falling into a dark time, but seeing some hope in it.” Said Levi, this song’s author. 

Many other Laces songs similarly combine upbeat danceable rhythms with a swaying, tender sentimentality. These aspects are a common midpoint uniting the stylistic voices of all the members of the band, who each write original songs and contribute to the group’s repertoire. “One of the funnest things about this band is, we have a lot of shared musical influences, but we all bring a lot of different music in our backgrounds and in our music tastes,” said Abigail. “Honestly, we’re all inspired by each other,” said Christoper. 

Many of the group’s originals draw inspiration from their experience as Vermont locals, including the second song of the set, “Queen City Malaise,” a love letter to Burlington written by Abigail amidst the emotional turmoil and complexity of “the first summer of the pandemic. It was a time where I was going through a big change in my life and the world just shut down. It's really kind of just about longing for community, and your neighbors, and even people you don’t know,” said Abigail. 

Recently, Laces has been hitting the studio to record a new five-song EP, which will feature a song by each member, and have an overall focus on capturing the band’s shifting, energetic live sound. The sessions are being produced by Alex Burhnam at Hero Sound. the first one of these sessions which was free of charge, in exchange for Levi’s ecological consulting expertise :  “I delineated a wetland for them,” Said Levi. “The first song was free, we’ve gotta pay for the next four.”

Coming up, Laces has a show on Thursday, April 13 at Monkey House in Winooski, Vt, where they will be joined by their friends in the bands Community Garden and Lake Waves. For announcements of future shows, as well as updates about the band’s upcoming EP, you can find them on https://www.instagram.com/lacesvt 

Text by Gideon Parker

Monochrome photo by James Lockridge