Single Review - Laura Mae - Swamp Doctor

Laura Mae opens with a beautiful acoustic guitar with strings to open, and then that voice, oh my word that voice.  Deep, husky, you can smell the tobacco, taste the whisky and the dirt from the trail when Alex MacLaine starts half singing/half speaking the lyrics.

In case the song didn’t sound Country enough a pair of female voices come in to support that gruff lead vocal.

Swamp Doctor says 

Laura Mae sounded southern & old fashioned for a fallen Alabama soul suffering still and seeing the dusk of life for all it means to her. I was inspired by the simple arrangement and harmony of southern folk songs, often with one guitar and two voices.

The style of this song immediately transports you back in time,  to the Country and Western era of rugged cowboy types  where saloons offer the only entertainment in those dirt road towns; which is fitting as the story itself is a look back, the life of Laura Mae.  Laura Mae was once young and pretty, and even though she is no longer either of those, she is turning grey along with the skies, but she still tries. Life is getting harder and she is becoming wearier, but the drink helps her forget. She isn’t brave as the young girls thinks, but just carries on and tries to recreate her youth.  It is important for her because – due to circumstances – Laura Mae is a lady of the night.

The video for the track is a hand-drawn animation by Hussam Aamir that depicts Laura Mae in a state of self-isolation as she contemplates life, her actions and how the world keeps turning without her engaging in it. However, the imagery is all there in the song, the picture all too clear.  

Although it is a sad song, about a sad life there is still that glimmer of hope for Laura Mae because she has never given up – although the ending seems inevitable. Typical country, life often throws you a bad hand, there is nothing to do but get on with it.

Laura Mae, the new single from Swamp Doctor is available on all major digital platforms on Friday 26 June

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