Wednesday, March 12   8:00 p.m.
Habana Calle 6 Patio   (709 E 6th St)

  Laura Barrett - Robot Ponies
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Compact and effervescent, Laura's music is the antidote to the
concrete and crystal architecture of her native Toronto. Melding the
vibrant tones of the kalimba (an African thumb piano) with her earnest
and intimate voice, she crafted a debut EP, Earth Sciences, that
received both national radio airplay and critical acclaim. "Deception
Island Optimists Club," a single from this EP, was a finalist for the
2006 SOCAN ECHO songwriting prize.

Beginning with a single cover performed at a playful Weird Al tribute
night in 2005, Laura has composed songs that run from childlike to
eschatological: always trying to engage an audience torn between
taxonomy and techno-babble. She has toured from Halifax to San
Francisco in support of The Hidden Cameras and Henri Fabergé & the
Adorables, and recently completed a headlining tour of Canada's East
Coast, all the while finding time to contribute music to apocalyptic
stage plays ("The Rat King"), nerdcore documentaries ("Freeware
Rebellion"), and experimental multi-media extravaganzas (Worldwide
Short Film Festival).

Since the release of her first EP, Laura has incorporated bass pedals,
glockenspiel and piano into her live performances, allowing her to
balance the liquid nuances of her earlier songs with pieces that
display funereal, carnivalesque, or classical tendencies. In addition
to double bassist Richard Carnegie, with whom she recorded a CBC Brave
New Waves session, Laura has enlisted the help of a diverse group of
Toronto musicians to engage with the idiosyncracies of the kalimba,
and she plans to continue these efforts in an upcoming full-length
album to be issued by Paper Bag Records.