‘Laura’ doesn’t sound one bit like a rock tune from 2021. Camden based RockCounsellor has a voice and an arrangement style that’s innately got a sense of fatherly comfort in it. It’s not justthat Thoby Burton, the man who performs under the alias RockCounsellor, has an affinity for the stylistic principles of The Smiths and British rock from a bygone era, but he also has a tonality to his delivery that makes him sound like he’s there to take care of you. I heard ‘Laura’ before I found out about Thoby, and his vocation. The alias is quite literal, with Thoby being an addiction therapist alongside pursuing a career in music through song-writing and being an accomplished musician.
Burton’s childhood fanaticism of Jim Morrison also makes its way in to the way ‘Laura’ sounds. That distinctive, slightly lackadaisical delivery really forms the centrepiece of how RockCounsellor distinguishes itself. The tune is itself inspired by another song that Burton wrote as a child during his Morrison obsessed days about a girl he walked home from school with. ‘Laura’ sees Burton wondering years later about whether the girl in question has been able to overcome her demons and find happiness.
It’s a remarkably old school piece of indie rock, that holds up exceptionally in the modern era.