Lau Nau
Fragile Finnish folk woven with modular synths and forest field recordings. A delicate, mysterious sound that feels like a secret whispered in a wooden cabin.
Fragile Finnish folk woven with modular synths and forest field recordings. A delicate, mysterious sound that feels like a secret whispered in a wooden cabin.
Lau Nau creates music that feels less like a performance and more like a biological process. It is deeply rooted in the Finnish landscape, blending the organic warmth of acoustic instruments with the unpredictable chirps and hums of modular synthesizers. Her voice is a thin, silver thread that winds through arrangements of found objects, bells, and traditional strings, creating a sound that is simultaneously ancient and futuristic.
What truly distinguishes Laura Naukkarinen is her ability to make experimental music feel intimate and hospitable. While she is a key figure in the 'forest folk' or 'Finnish psych' scene, her work avoids the aggressive chaos of some of her peers. Instead, she focuses on the tactile qualities of sound: the creak of a chair, the splash of water, or the hiss of a tape loop. It is music that rewards close, quiet listening, revealing layers of hidden melody within its atmospheric murk.
Start with 'Poseidon' for a more structured, hauntingly beautiful entry point that showcases her songwriting. For those who want to dive straight into her more textural and environmental work, 'Amphipoda' or the 'Örö underwater diary' offer immersive journeys into the sounds of the natural world filtered through her unique electronic lens.
Laura Naukkarinen, known by her stage name Lau Nau (born 1980) is a composer, producer and musician from Finland. She also plays under the moniker Subatlantti, in IAX, a band formed with Kuupuu and Tsembla and is a visiting member of The Matti Bye Ensemble. She was also a member of free improv and psychedelic folk bands Kiila, Päivänsäde, the Anaksimandros, Avarus, Maailma, and the trio Hertta Lussu Ässä formed by fellow acid folk singer-songwriters Islaja and Kuupuu. Besides of composing and producing her own albums, Lau Nau accompanies live silent films and composes music for feature films, theatre plays, dance and sound installations. Her instrumentation ranges from everyday objects to classical instruments and analog synthesizers. She composed the soundtrack to the 2019 documentary Land Without God, directed by Mannix Flynn, Maedhbh McMahon and Lotta Petronella, as well as to Petronella's 2020 documentary Själö - Island of Souls. In 2025 she composed the soundtrack to Niina Suominen's experimental film Smoking Spot (Tupakkapaikka). Lau Nau lives in the Finnish countryside of Kimito island with her husband and two sons.
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