AurallaurA is the nom de music adopted by vocalist Laura Chu Wiens, who is about to release her second album, The Critique of Capital: An Engagine Revue. The Pittsburgh artist penned nine of the album's 13 tracks, with a style that combines upbeat jazz cabaret with a singer-songwriter's depth, in many cases delivering uplifting messages that reflect and react to the current state of the world.
One of the album's more telling moments comes with a song that has been heard umpteen times in various settings. In fact, it's easy to think the world doesn't need another version of Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg's "Over the Rainbbow" - until this version starts. When AurallaurA skips the octave leap of the first two notes, something is up. She's reharmonized the chord changes, not quite into a minor key, but something equally as foreboding. The arrangement changes the whole focus of the song, from whistful and light to something more urgent. In her hands, the final line of the song isn't rhetorical. She wants an answer.
Throughout the album, this feeling of low-burning intensity mixes with the upbeat delivery of originals like "The Other Shoe Is Going to Drove," with Jeff Leonhardt's searing electric guitar lead adding to the groovy riff. "Remember Better" features harp, upright bass and bass clarinet for a more subdued setting, playing up the empowering lyrics and an intriguing shift in melody for the chorus.
The bright "Oh No Honey" - another bright modern take on cabaret style tunes ,which also seems like a dose of encouragement in the face of oppression - has been released with a video featuring 412 Step, a local LGBTQ line dance group cutting the rug while Aurallaura belts it out into an old square box microphone. It can be seen here.
Aurallaura plays an album release show Thursday, March 26 at City of Asylum at 7 pm. Click here for free in-person or livestream tickets. The Critique of Capital: An Engagine Revue will be available on vinyl and CD.
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