Laufey Unveils New Songs ‘Clean Air’ & ‘Snow White’ In London

After appearing at Glastonbury and performing with Noah Kahan, singer-songwriter Laufey held early and late shows yesterday at London’s Union Chapel. The two performances incorporated a pair of new songs, as the Icelandic musician premiered “Clean Air” and “Snow White.”

Each concert in London featured the three singles released so far off Laufey’s upcoming album, A Matter of Time. “Lover Girl,” “Silver Lining” and “Tough Luck” appear on her third full length release, arriving on August 22 through Vingolf/AWAL.

The first unreleased new song entered into the setlist was “Clean Air.” Laufey played acoustic guitar for the new original and provided the following explanation behind its inspiration:

“Growing up, I had all this music that I loved to listen to and play, and I kind of felt like I had nobody who enjoyed it with me, at least not my age. And now, looking out and seeing so many young people enjoy the music that I enjoy — not only me — the music I enjoy that I’m inspired by, you know what I mean — it’s just so cool. We’re all friends. That’s so fun.

“OK, so since we’re friends, I’m going to let you in on a secret. This is a song I wrote over the holidays. I wrote it because — so I was in Iceland, and it was really dark and really cold and great for songwriting. It really is, because you’re just kind of lying in half depression.

“But anyways, this song is about the opposite. Somebody asked me, ‘How are you doing?’ over the holidays, and I was like, ‘I feel like I’m just breathing clean air.’ And in Iceland, literally the air is really clean. So that was one of the reasons. But also, I kind of felt like I was lying in a pit of darkness, I was letting go of all the bad juju of the last year and walking into the new.

“I [wanted] to write a song about that feeling of green pastures waiting for you. And that thought of going into a new year and shedding the skin of the old year is very beautiful to me somehow. So I wanted to write a song about it.”

Watch a performance of “Clean Air” at Union Chapel:

Laufey moved to piano for the premiere performances of “Snow White.” The new composition was also preceded by Laufey sharing insight into the song, revealing:

“This song, I wrote it, it’s very close to my heart. I wrote it in a moment when I was kind of really struggling with my insecurities, and I think it’s kind of like a constant struggle. And I wrote this song when I kind of realized that that struggle might never really go away. And I just wanted to get my frustrations out somewhere — of the standards that the world has set for, you know, achievements and beauty and things, and the standards that I also set for myself. It’s I think maybe one of my favorite new songs that I’ve written.

“It’s called ‘Snow White,’ and I thought it was kind of poetic because I grew up in Iceland and everyone there is snow white. And also, the country is literally snow white. And actually, I learned that the illustration of Snow White was actually based on an Icelandic woman. So it all sewed together perfectly. But yeah, I love this one.”

See Laufey play her new song “Snow White” in the below video: