An Imprint of the Moment

On the imprints of childhood memories, the discipline of the song game, the world of polyphony, and the author’s voice seeking freedom between choirs, cartoons, and creative chaos

In Latvian music, there are people whose works can be listened to like a diary — not as a linear story, but as a collage of moments, feelings, and memories. Laura Polence is precisely one of them. A singer, composer, and arranger who currently lives between Latvia and the Netherlands, she writes music for children and adults, works with choirs, improvisation projects, and «Tutas lietas» (Tuta’s Things), and finds a place for her two daughters between children’s albums, concerts, and creative games.

The latest album, Ancient Plastic Butterfly, is like an imprint of the moment — a specific internal landscape captured in sound before it fades away. Ancient Plastic Butterfly is a deeply personal album whose roots stretch back both to childhood memories of 1990s Latvian cartoons — Fantadroms, Suns Funs un Vējš, Astoņi kustoņi — and to today’s experiences, daily events, and internal reactions to them. The songs are linked associatively, much like the album’s title, which was born from wordplay and a random phrase: «ancient, plastic, butterfly.» Vocal polyphony, the warmth of strings, and the presence of live musicians merge here with a very free, playful attitude toward language and conversation. We spoke with Laura Polence today about how this album was created, how the «song game» works, why voices and polyphony are so vital to her, and about life between children’s music, choirs, and her own band — with the intent of capturing this specific moment before it turns into something else.

I wanted to talk to you about Ancient Plastic Butterfly! It’s actually really cool; you have an exciting lineup of musicians there, quite unconventional. There are many vocals, cello, violin, bass, and drums.

Yes. I also played piano on some of the compositions, but I realized that for this album, I really wanted a lot of voices and a lot of strings. You can hear violin, viola, and cello on the album.

You haven’t played it live yet?

We have. I’ve already made a reduced version of the arrangement. Now I have an occasion coming up: a Netherlands premiere of this album in early January. I’m preparing for that and thinking about how I’d like to see this group in the future.

The album was recorded with the thought: «These are the ideas I have for the song, and I want to document them.» When creating the album, I didn’t think about how many people are in the band, but about how I want each song to sound. Now I’m trying to adapt it more for live concerts. It wasn’t a case of me having a band and then making an album. It was a case of the songs wanting something, and me offering it to them so they sound the way they sound in my head.

That’s a real composer’s job.

That is my job as a composer — both composing and arranging, and in the end, leaving as much space as possible for everyone to play what they themselves want, what they are best at. This is possible because the musicians on the album are the ones I play with in other projects and my friends with whom I’ve been playing for many years. Belgian bassist Lennart Heyndels has been my musical ally for a long time. We also played together in the group «How Town.» That was a group very dear to me — a Latvian-Belgian project.

I see in the description that you wrote that everything is based on your childhood memories. What is the album ultimately about?

The songs are interconnected. They are linked associatively because one of the primary sources of inspiration is indeed the Latvian cartoons from the 90s that I watched as a child. I studied many cartoons — Fantadroms, Suns Funs un Vējš, Astoņi kustoņi with poetry by Ojārs Vācietis… I realized a few years ago, when I started thinking about creating a new music album, that these cartoon memories live on and take on new colors in my head. Then I started working with these memories and impressions. I combined childhood inspiration with various moments and experiences from my life and saw what came of it. Something is happening to us all the time. External events and internal experiences are two different things. That’s why each of our experiences is so unique. We all watch the same cartoon, and afterward, each of us writes an entirely different song about that event. Everyone has their own individual adventure in this world.

How did work on the album begin? Tell us about the process — how did the idea occur to you to start writing a new album? How did you choose what these things would be about?

The idea started when an acquaintance of mine, quite by chance, got me involved in a «Song Game.» Ten different composers and singers write a new song or at least a new seed of an idea every week and share these ideas. I played this game for ten weeks a few years ago, and every week I worked on a new song.

After those ten weeks had passed, I realized I had ten new, unfinished songs. It was a coincidence that I started collecting them. My reason was this song game, and I am very grateful for it because I am a person who really needs a deadline — a timeframe — to finish something. Most of my ideas come right before the deadline.

People I’ve talked to often say that if a deadline is approaching and they haven’t done it in time, they simply can’t; there’s stress, ideas don’t come, and it’s difficult. For me, it’s precisely the opposite — when there is that pressure, it works very well, and everything happens. So, in those ten weeks, I made ten new songs.

Afterward, I decided to finish all of this and put it on an album. Initially, I was critical in some way — I wondered if the songs weren’t too childish, the lyrics too naive. Then I thought — well, that is the imprint of this moment, that is the picture of right now. The following collection of songs will come after this one is finished, and then I can think of something new again. And somewhere between the recording of this album and its current release, I released another album with my creative improvisation choir, «August 38th.» That was music created in a completely different way — we were ten singers improvising together.

And then this «Laura Polence Band» is my song project, where I enjoy writing and performing songs with my group. The word «song» can mean many things — there are both limitations and freedom within it. That is interesting to me, specifically in these pop/jazz/alternative songs.

Why such a title — Ancient Plastic Butterfly?

Ancient Plastic Butterfly came from wordplay. First, there’s a situation: there are people, and they simply ask each other:
— How are you?
— I’m fine. Thank you. And how are you?
— Thank you. I’m fine too.

And in each subsequent verse of this song, one of these words is replaced by another word chosen freely and associatively. So it becomes, for example:
— How are you?
— I’m fine. Butterfly. And how are you?
— Butterfly. I’m fine too.

Gradually, the associative words take over this very ordinary conversation, and in the end, something completely different emerges. And I ended up with the word combination «ancient, plastic, butterfly»:
— How are you?
— Ancient, plastic, butterfly. And how are you?
— Butterfly. Ancient, plastic too.

It was just wordplay, and I realized — that’s the album title. There was a moment of reflection — should it be something clearer, more understandable? But then I thought — no, this is the title of this album. It was a very intuitive moment when the ancient plastic butterfly became the album’s name. And it reflects the album’s associative and image-inspired nature very well.

Okay, conceptual.

Yes. [Laughs] I was thrilled that in October, the album was in the European Jazz Media Chart as one of the most notable new music albums in jazz. I was very pleased about that.

The album was also nominated in the «Kilograms Kultūras» autumn vote as — to my surprise — one of the most interesting events in pop music. Although that makes sense to me too, because they are songs after all — whatever kind they may be, they are pop songs, even if painted with the colors of jazz, classical, or experimental music. I released this album in Latvia in a rather chamber-like atmosphere. I had a concert in Riga at M/Darbnīca and in Cēsis at the art space «Mala.» And, since organizing a tour is not, I must admit, my most prominent talent, I limited myself to two concerts. I was then pleased that «100 g Kultūras» reviewed this album. People had very different opinions about it, which was interesting to me, ranging from great delight and gratitude and smiles to a girl who said, «Well, yeah, I listened, and it didn’t seem like there was anything there.» I found that interesting — such a wide range of how people perceived this album. I’m happy about that.

I’m looking at your discography, and I see you also had a program called Reflex.

Aha. That’s still to come — it will be released as a live recording. The entire REFLEX series is being released on vinyl. The Bimhuis concert hall in Amsterdam invites four composers every year to write a program about themes relevant to them — about societal developments and how they want to express an opinion about what is happening right now through their music.

So, for my Reflex concert, I created a program about our need for more silence, peace, respect, and empathy for one another. That was also very lovely — we were ten singers performing that program.

That’s «August 38th,» right?

Yes.

But in general, what does your discography look like now?

Firstly, I’ve had a children’s music album every year since 2018, together with «Tutas lietas.»

Yes, I remember when you started working with «Tutas lietas»!

We have another tour coming up in December. I’m also pleased about that. This year, we are also releasing a new album with the Tutas lietas team. A string ensemble, a mixed choir, and a children’s choir are also participating in the album. This is a project very dear to me, and I’m working hard right now to prepare for the Christmas tour. This — Ancient Plastic Butterfly — is the music that I write for adults… well, I’d say for all ages. This is my second studio album. My first album, Side By Side, was released in 2019.

I remember there were several vocalists there, too.

Yes, but in the previous album, a choir participated in one three-part composition — «Viena pati dvēselīte.» In the new album, however, voices permeate everything; they are essential. Polyphony — how voices sound together, how they talk to each other — that is the field of my music. To me, voices are and remain very, very important. That started in childhood, and it’s still that way.

I also work as a composer writing music for choirs. Here in the Netherlands, I’ve written music for several choirs. I also wrote a commissioned piece for the Dutch Latvian choir «Ziemeļjūra.» It gives me great satisfaction — writing for a choir. The voice is the instrument I know best.

Your first was Side By Side, right? So that means you had about a five-year break, and now the next one.

Yes. That’s a pretty good «result,» in my opinion. And during this time, I’ve also had two daughters born. The first album came out before my first daughter, Janna, was born, and I thought — I still have to do something with my music — and then, a year and a half ago, Izabella was born. Now I have two daughters and two albums.

And a lot of Tuta?

And a lot of Tuta, yes. So there is plenty to do. With two little girls, there is a lot to do every single day.

But you also had a concert program called Blakus (Beside)? Was that somewhere in the middle?

That was in 2020, during the pandemic. The Blakus program was with the idea that, of course, we have to be distanced, but we can still be beside each other — continuing to support one another.

Also, the fact that Latvia and the Netherlands — my native and current home countries — are «beside» each other. That was a moment where this «beside» was found. The first studio album, Side by Side, had already been out, and the ideas for the new album, I think, were already created at that time. In the Blakus program, you can hear several songs from the new album. It was a transition phase — presenting the previous one and already exploring ideas for the next.

Yes, well, it turns out quite creatively.

Yes, so. That’s why we choose this path, where everything is changing and not so stable. Let’s say your mortgage might not be very stable, or that your week won’t look the same every week because it’s different each time. That, I think, is the beauty of a creative person’s life — there is freedom, and there are unknowns for which you can come up with the answers yourself.

So in the future, a small tour with Ancient Plastic Butterfly awaits you. Any thoughts on what’s next?

Actually, I have thoughts about forming a new vocal group and working with it both as a composer and a singer. But this group will be smaller than ten singers because, while leading a group of ten, I realized it’s a rather complicated process — both the planning and the different energies that have to be pulled together.

And I also realized it’s difficult when the group includes people with an extensive range of musical experience and maturity. So now I’m looking for a way to continue developing a vocal group to test the new ideas I’ve had over the last year.

And, of course, the «Laura Polence Band» — that’s a group that comes together when something good is happening, and we think of something extraordinary. One of the singers on the album told me, «Laura, your music makes me feel so good; there is so much joy in it.» And we are like a group of friends coming together. I am, of course, also fantasizing about a bit of a «touring group» where we all sit in a van and drive around for about five days. But that, again, is a job for a perfect organizer.