Music World: Laura Mvula

“I was so new to the clichés of the music industry.” Laura Mvula laughs out loud and then pauses for a moment to collect her thoughts.

“I’d hear someone mention ‘second album syndrome’,” she adds, “and I’d have to ask what it meant. I wish I hadn’t learned quite so deeply, because I definitely took it to heart – as though I was guaranteed to struggle, and there was nothing I could do about it.”
Laura breaks into another throaty laugh. She has an unusual, yet endearing, habit of punctuating statements – no matter how dark – with a giggle. Which is just as well: because life has been rather cruel to her recently.
2013’s Sing To The Moon was a startling debut by anyone’s standards. With its success, Mvula’s life changed beyond recognition: she went from being a receptionist in a 9 to 5 job, to a ubiquitous presence on stage, screen, and just about everywhere else. But as her star rose inexorably, so too did her issues with acute anxiety.
Panic attacks became the norm, to the point where being alone in a room was impossible. Her marriage ended. Her confidence was shot. And the prospect of a follow-up couldn’t have been further from her mind. So perhaps, as The Dreaming Room hits shelves, those infectious chuckles make complete sense.
“The reason I sound so positive and joyous right now is the I can hardly believe it’s happened,” she admits. “I’d decided beforehand that I couldn’t do an album – I wouldn’t tell anyone that, of course, wouldn’t verbalise it – but in my mind I was sure I had nothing to say. How was I going to deceive the world into thinking there was something there? I assure you that if we were talking 18 months ago, I’d be telling you to write it off – to take Sing To The Moon and tell Laura Mvula fans that that will be all.”
How does she feel now about her debut?
“I don’t regret it,” she slowly begins. “But I feel like I misled a lot of people. They got excited about something that was very neatly packaged. That’s not a bad thing, but it was very digestible and very harmless. Even in terms of the frequencies it played at, it didn’t hit you hard – the nuances were in the form of string arrangements.”

UPLIFTING TRIUMPH
With a degree in composition, Laura is as technically accomplished a writer as you’ll find – which, in itself, brings its own considerable challenges.
“I’ve heard people say, ‘Oh, there’s the girl who takes herself too seriously’, and ‘Unh, she’s classically trained’,” she laughs. “And then I start to overthink it, that maybe I need to dilute things, or find ways to reach an audience that might not necessarily listen otherwise. But when I started to think like that – even though it was only for a little while – well, man, it really messed me up. It just wasn’t the way to go – it felt like hitting my head against a brick wall.”
Instead, it was a case of taking things slowly; the first track she completed was ‘Overcome’, complete with a contribution from the legendary Nile Rodgers. 
“We met on the red carpet of the BRIT Awards. He said he’d like to work with me one day, but I assumed that’s just something someone in showbiz says.” She roars with laughter. “Do you know people actually say, ‘Oh darling, we must do lunch, yah yah yah’? That shit actually happens! But anyway, he got in touch a year later and asked what the biggest song on the record was, because he wanted to help.
“It was a dream-like moment, hearing the passion for what I’m doing in his voice. I hate the word infectious, because it just sounds like a disease to me, but the way he spreads the feeling you’re doing something wonderful, that it’s the best thing he’s ever heard, that you’re amazing – you really do feel you’ve got something special.”
The album alternates between dark defiance and uplifting triumph.
“That’s the magic of it, isn’t it?” she marvels. “It came out of such a dark time, but the beauty of the journey was that, running throughout the process, was something very precious. Even though you might end a day having done five bars of music – and you’re not even sure it’s what you really want to say – the next day you might do twice as much. And then it comes alive.”
Indeed it does...

The Dreaming Room is out on RCA Records on June 17.