A full moon. A clear, dark night, a darker stranger. A long ride down a long road through the forest, lit up only sporadically by the headlights as she steers through the snaky curves. The perfect spot and the perfect time for the perfect crime. Perfect. Sublime.
Laura Carbone’s “Nightride” is an existentialist ride to the great nowhere. A journey through the dark depths of the soul, a hunt. For something, for some thing, someone. To satisfy a yearning, a hunger. A lust? For something. For someone. A mission unspoken, unspeakable perhaps, with a beginning and an end, but no particular destination. “Soft and slow, the river flows”, the song winds through the dark forest of desire tingling just below the skin, stalking an elusive prey, unhurried, deliberate, at the pace of a heartbeat. There will be contact. But who’s the hunter, and who’s the prey? It’s hard to know. It’s always hard to know, isn’t it? Sometimes the tables turn. And sometimes, hunter and prey join forces, to hunt bigger game.
This live single version of “Nightride” celebrates the official North American physical release of Laura Carbone’s latest album, “Laura Carbone – Live at Rockpalast”, recorded in October of 2019 on the heels of her September coast-to-coast “Empty Sea” tour of the US and Canada, and only a couple of months before the unforeseen dystopian boredom and paralysis of lockdown. The live video footage is from the same concert, simulcast nationwide and across Europe on TV and online worldwide on Germany’s prestigious “Rockpalast” live music television show, a pillar of live music broadcasting for over 30 years that has documented monumental performances by David Bowie, Patti Smith, Radiohead, Van Morrison, Sonic Youth, Einstürzende Neubauten, Smashing Pumpkins…you get the idea.
The additional footage was conceived by Laura and her longtime partner in graphics and video crime, The Underground Youth drummer and acclaimed graphic artist Olya Dyer. Olya directed and shot it all on a dark, moonlit night in June 2021 in a forest outside Berlin where all the bodies are surely buried. And the dark stranger? That’s none other than Olya’s husband Craig Dyer, enigmatic singer and frontman of The Underground Youth. Laura and Craig also have a bittersweet surprise coming up in the autumn. But more about that later, all in good time. At the pace of a heartbeat.
When the pandemic reared its ugly head, Laura founded her own Patreon page (http://patreon.com/lauracarbone), a safe space where she can exercise her creativity for her community. “What it takes to create a record” is a podcast where everyone involved in Laura’s “Live at Rockpalast” album is given the opportunity to share how their energy and unique talents helped breathe life into the album. The podcast includes conversations with her band members, mixing engineer Scott von Ryper (The Jesus and Mary Chain), mastering engineer Philipp Welsing and Laura’s visual partner in crime Olya Dyer (The Underground Youth). You can find it all on Patreon.
