The Story

It started one summer in a West End share house – was crystallized with a short hand written letter – was born in Melbourne and has been nurtured through landscapes vast and plenty. Now, deep in the forested hills of the Natural Bridge, on the edge of an extinct volcano, amidst the speckled light of glowworms, tucked beneath damp and heavy air, hushed by the ripple of the spring fed creek is a cabin with a stone floor that is the home of Louise O’Reilly and Paul Hannan. Herein is the space where flowers in the hair, tapping of the boots, a swaying of the hips has been translated into the sound of the death of 1000 summers. The sounds of Laneway.

Since heading to the hills they have written, mourned, fixed pipes and chopped wood. They have traveled away - returned. Always collecting tales. Of places. Journeys. Home. Of seeking and finding and misplacing once more. Donkeys. Turning on lights. Death. And love (whatever that may be).

They tell these stories with a weaving of guitar and voice that makes such sense it is instantly familiar and distinctly unique. There is charm herein. And humor. A self-effacing style. A relaxed panache.

Their new album offering ‘Turn Your Love Up’ has been pieced together through recording sessions in spaces inspired and as diverse as their eclectic musical appreciations. From their own home in the hills to beautiful studios in Queensland, Northern NSW and Melbourne the album is a collection of wonderfully composed songs displaying the gorgeous vocal and guitar melding we’ve come to expect from Laneway.

Laneway released their acclaimed debut album, If You Don’t Need It Let It Go in 2009 from Melbourne’s Brunswick. This dreamy landscape of country tinged folk-surf sounds was followed by a single, ‘The Turbine’ (2011) a song inspired by their new home and hydro-turbine power. The first single off their new release, ‘Love is a Devil’ is haunted. Drifting. Wild. Lonsome. It is this diversity and quality in their work has seen them tour Australia playing in bars, barns, backyards and big festivals. It is their craft that has seem O’Reilly and Hannan awarded Queensland’s most prestigious songwriting prize, The Grant McLennan Memorial Fellowship.

Laneway released Turn Your Love Up through Crawler Records in August 2012 and are currently based in Berlin.