Laura Fares: Biography, Discography and More | EDM Encyclopedia

Introduction

Laura Fares, who performs under the monikers LAU and Lau Fares, is an Argentine singer-songwriter, drummer, and producer. Born in Argentina, she spent 21 years in the United Kingdom before relocating to her current base in Barcelona, Spain. This geographic movement across three countries has shaped her perspective as an artist embedded in the European electronic music landscape.

Beyond her recording work, Fares co-founded Aztec Records with Ariel Amejeiras. The label operates as both a vehicle for her own releases and a broader platform for electronic music. Running her own imprint has given her direct control over the creative and release process from start to finish.

Her trajectory from drummer to electronic producer and vocalist marks a significant shift in creative scope. Where she once contributed rhythmic elements within others’ arrangements, she now constructs complete productions centered around her own voice and instrumentation. This transition allowed her to merge percussive instincts with vocal-led composition, resulting in a self-contained artistic practice.

Fares brings a drummer’s awareness of groove and timing to her electronic productions. Now based in Barcelona, a city with a distinct electronic music EDM culture, she continues to develop her catalog as LAU, building a body of work that reflects her background as a multi-disciplinary musician who has lived and created across multiple countries and scenes.

Genre and Style

As LAU, Fares works primarily within deep house, a genre that provides room for both rhythmic drive and melodic development. Her specific approach centers on vocal-led songwriting rather than instrumental loops or DJ-focused tools. This emphasis on the voice as a lead element sets her apart within a genre often dominated by sample-based or instrumental productions.

The deep house Sound

Her tracks merge electronic production with a pop-level attention to melody and structure. Songs feature complete arcs with verses, choruses, and layered arrangements that function as standalone pieces rather than mixing utilities. This structural choice gives her music an appeal that extends beyond club environments into more general listening contexts.

The rhythmic foundation of her productions reflects her percussion background. Beats carry a natural sense of groove that suggests a musician who first learned rhythm acoustically. Even when created electronically, the percussion in her tracks feels intentional and played rather than looped without variation. Synthesizer pads and bass tones create a textured low-end, while her vocals sit prominently in the mix, treated as the primary melodic and emotional focal point.

Fares also releases instrumental versions of her albums, a practice that serves dual purposes. The vocal editions present the complete artistic statement, while the instrumental editions strip back the singing to reveal the production beneath. This approach provides functional material for DJs who require vocal-free tracks, while also giving listeners a chance to engage with the production work on its own terms.

Key Releases

LAU’s recording career launched in 2021 with her debut album Believer. The record introduced her vocal-led deep house sound: electronic productions built around melodic vocal lines, rhythmic grooves, and arrangements designed for both club play and attentive listening.

• Believer
• Believer (Instrumentals)
• Circumstance
• Circumstance (Instrumentals)
• Circumstance (Take Two)

Discography Highlights

Three albums arrived in 2022. Believer (Instrumentals) removed the vocal elements from her debut, presenting the production as standalone electronic compositions. Circumstance, her second album of original material, expanded the sonic range established by her first record with new vocal-led tracks and refined production. Circumstance (Instrumentals) closed the year by applying the same vocal-free treatment to this second body of work.

In 2023, she released Circumstance (Take Two), a reworked version of the previous year’s album. This record offered alternative arrangements and new perspectives on the Circumstance sessions, demonstrating an approach that revisits and reshapes completed material rather than treating albums as fixed endpoints.

Her active period spans from 2021 through 2025, encompassing five album releases across three calendar years. The catalog follows a clear pattern: each original vocal EDM album receives an instrumental counterpart, and the Circumstance project received an additional reworking. This structure provides multiple versions of the same material tailored to different contexts. All releases have arrived through her own label, maintaining full creative oversight from writing through distribution.

Famous Tracks

Laura Fares, performing as LAU, builds her deep house catalog around a deliberate release pattern: vocal albums paired with instrumental counterparts. Her album Believer arrived in 2021, establishing an approach to electronic music that prioritizes both songwriting and production craft in equal measure. The year, she released Believer (Instrumentals) (2022), which strips away vocal elements to expose the rhythmic and melodic framework underneath.

She maintained this structure with Circumstance (2022) and Circumstance (Instrumentals) (2022), both landing in the same calendar year. The dual releases suggest Fares constructs tracks with production elements as foundational rather than decorative, treating beats, pads, and textures as standalone statements rather than mere accompaniment to a vocal line. The instrumental versions also serve a practical function within electronic music culture, where DJs frequently incorporate vocal-free passages into extended mixes. By providing both editions, Fares ensures her work functions across listening contexts: home listening with full songwriting intact, and club environments where instrumentals blend into longer sets.

In 2023, she returned to earlier material with Circumstance (Take Two), a reworked edition of the 2022 project one. This release demonstrates a willingness to revisit and reshape completed work rather than treating albums as fixed endpoints.

As a drummer and producer, Fares approaches electronic composition with a percussionist’s understanding of rhythm, space, and timing. Her catalog reflects someone who builds tracks from the groove outward, a methodology that suits deep house‘s emphasis on sustained atmosphere and subtle variation over dramatic drops or abrupt tonal shifts.

Live Performances

Fares spent 21 years in the United Kingdom, placing her within one of Europe’s most active deep house and electronic music environments for over two decades. That extended residency in the UK circuit provided sustained exposure to live electronic performance culture, where extended sets, room acoustics, and crowd dynamics shape how artists refine their sound in real time.

Notable Shows

Her background as a drummer separates her live presence from electronic performers who rely exclusively on laptops, synthesizers, and controllers. Live drumming introduces physical execution and spontaneous variation into sets that audiences experience differently than pre-programmed sequences. This instrumental foundation gives her performances a tactile, responsive quality that aligns with deep house‘s emphasis on groove and physical engagement.

Her relocation to Barcelona shifts her performance context toward southern Europe, where outdoor festival seasons and Mediterranean club schedules operate on different cycles than the UK circuit. Barcelona’s electronic music infrastructure, from waterfront venues to warehouse conversions, provides a distinct environment for presenting deep house with live instrumentation. The transition also reflects a broader shift in European electronic music, where southern European scenes have gained increasing prominence and artists who bridge both circuits carry institutional knowledge from one context into another.

Fares performs under the name LAU, maintaining a stage identity separate from her behind-the-scenes work. As co-founder of Aztec Records with Ariel Amejeiras, her live appearances carry dual weight: artist and label representative. This combination likely influences how she structures sets, balancing her own catalog with broader label showcases and collaborative contexts.

Why They Matter

Several concrete factors distinguish Fares within the electronic music landscape. Her founding role in Aztec Records alongside Ariel Amejeiras positions her as both creator and curator. Independent label operation in electronic music requires sustained artistic direction and logistical persistence, responsibilities most artists delegate to external teams. Running a label while maintaining an active release schedule demands a different level of commitment than production alone.

Impact on deep house

Her trajectory from Argentina to the United Kingdom and eventually Barcelona represents a geographic range that directly informs her production perspective. Latin American rhythmic traditions, UK club culture, and Mediterranean electronic music each carry distinct sonic characteristics and performance conventions. An artist who has worked across all three environments brings a layered approach to deep house that differs from artists rooted in a single regional scene.

Her multi-instrumental capability spans drums, voice, and production, a combination relatively uncommon in electronic music production where specialization tends to dominate. This range allows her to control multiple stages of the creative process, from initial rhythmic ideas through vocal melody to final production decisions, without relying on external collaborators for core elements.

Her identity as an Argentine artist working primarily in European electronic spaces adds another dimension. The electronic music industry remains heavily centered on European and North American artists, making representation from South American creators a meaningful contribution to the genre’s breadth. Fares carries this perspective without reducing her work to a geographic novelty.

Fares represents a model of electronic artistry built on performance skill, label ownership, and international perspective rather than spectacle or trend-chasing. Her contributions build infrastructure and catalog with consistent intent, offering a sustainable framework for long-term creative output in a genre that often rewards immediacy over durability.

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