LAU.RA

Laura Bettinson’s multifaceted career has found the Midlands-hailing artist leaping seamlessly from the technicolor avant-garde pop of FEMME and the cerebral intensity of Ultraísta to the fresh, wonky electronica of lau.ra. On the heels of a slew of new singles, we ask what initiated her new direction, and discover how lockdown has fuelled a new studio approach

“I really should have been here five years ago, producing my own music,” states Laura Bettinson, the 33-year-old Rugby-born artist whose marked successes in the guises of FEMME and as one-third of Ultraísta, haven’t stopped her from deviating her focus on becoming a completely self-sufficient composer, producer and performer.

Laura’s infectious debut as FEMME, Educated, was the first of many stunningly off-kilter pop bangers, while her side-project Ultraísta, alongside Radiohead’s mighty producer Nigel Godrich and REM/Beck player Joey Waronker, serves as an ongoing experimental musical vehicle, and yielded a second record right on the cusp of lockdown last year.

Now adopting the new moniker of lau.ra – and dropping some sublime new releases at a rapid rate (such as the irresistible Don’t Waste My Time and the hypnotic I’ll Wait), Bettinson explains to us how she’s taken complete control of every stage of the music-making process.

cm: Hi Laura, taking it right back to the beginning, when did you first discover your affinity for music, and how did that lead you to starting your career?

LB: “Well, I trained my voice by imitating other pop stars when I was growing up. I grew up in a small town in the Midlands and there wasn’t that much music coming through there, but I was exposed to a lot of mainstream pop. So I learned to sing from copying people that I saw. I started writing my own music from about the age of 16. At that stage it was all just piano and voice.