Little Scream

A Montrealer by way of Iowa & Mississippi

By: Dave Jaffer
Mar 7, 2011 - 16:38
See all articles by Dave J. »

Like moths to a flame, artists are attracted to Montreal. They come here for reasons including the cheap rents and, one must assume, the smoked meat. Laurel Sprengelmeyer, a.k.a. Little Scream, is one such artist. A Montrealer by way of Iowa and Mississippi, she gives the city significant props for affording her a certain kind of freedom.

“This city is full of artists and of people doing things their way,” she explains. “It's a rare place where you can survive on not very much, which allows you to explore creatively without placing commercial pressure on what you make.

“It definitely made me feel like I could make whatever kind of music I wanted, if only just to get it out of my system.”

Proof of that purging comes in the form of Little Scream’s debut LP, The Golden Record, which hits shelves April 12. Co-produced by Arcade Fire’s Richard Reed Parry and named with reference to the Voyager Golden Record, it’s a stunning piece of work rife with diverse soundscapes, startling contradictions and fragile beauty.

It’s also a structured artwork whose creators plotted goals and then achieved them. Alternatively warm and cool, it is never hot or cold.

“I like atmospheres, and each song on this album has its own world that I wanted to be reflected in the production,” Sprengelmeyer explains. “We listened to each song individually and put whatever kind of effects on the instruments or voice that we felt would best convey that feeling.”

From a songwriting perspective, also, The Golden Record is almost unfairly rich. Songs like “Black Cloud” and “The Heron and the Fox” offer thoughtful, delicate counterpunches to some of the darker, sharper “atmospheres” on the record. They also seem autobiographical in nature.

“I do my best song writing when I'm procrastinating on a real job, because that's when I'm not forcing anything in my writing,” Sprengelmeyer explains. “The writing is an escape and I can just fall into it. It almost always starts for me in a real narrative place, but then will often open up into imagery, the same kind of imagery that often opens up in my dreams and paintings.

Sprengelmeyer may not have time to dream or paint in the next while. In addition to a CMW date in Toronto and (obviously) a Montreal show with Plants and Animals, she’s going on tour with Sharon Van Etten. Additionally, she’s playing a bevy of showcases at SXSW.

How does she envision SXSW will go?

“I will probably eat some great tacos and will have free beer. I'm [also] looking forward to running into friends that are playing there and to complaining about the things I will be missing because I'm soundchecking all the time.”

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