Leonie Laws knows how hard it can be to interview techno DJs. She should. She has to work with them.
Laws' duties as live-wire vocalist and co-writer for U.K. drum 'n' bass outfit Breakbeat Era have partnered her with two of the genre's most prominent mixmasters, Roni Size and DJ Die.
With her loopy laugh that crackles down the line from her home in Britain, the mother of two is also the clear choice as band spokesman -- a verbal anomaly in a collective whose prime movers are so taciturn they prefer to let their turntables and sequencers speak for them.
"Your modern DJ is a solitary creature, you see," says Laws, who leads a Size-less version of Breakbeat Era at the CNE's Better Living Centre Saturday, as part of "Bittersweet," a rave put on by local promoters Lifeforce.
"They're a bit like those people in school with their arm around their work: They don't want anyone to see how they're doing what they do."
Fair enough, but just how does a firecracker like Laws fit into the Breakbeat Era equation?
"I probably terrify the life out of them!" she cackles. "Sensitivity? I'm oblivious! I've got enormous respect for Roni and Die. They're quiet, thoughtful men. We have a lot of trust between us. But I don't try to bring them out of their shell.
"They're rock-hard, those boys. Cat don't do dog."
Oddly, it's that fire-and-ice dynamic that made Breakbeat Era's debut album, Ultra-Obscene, both a groundbreaking sonic artifact and a relative commercial success last year.
Laws had moved to Britain from Africa at age 11 but spent years travelling the world before settling in Bristol in the late '90s. There she teamed up with the Full Cycle music collective -- including Size, Die and DJ Krust, among others. She recorded the eponymous Breakbeat Era single with Size two years ago. The tune, an eventual U.K. Top 20 hit, hinted at the full scope that would unfold on Ultra-Obscene.
As the project's catalyst, Size brought in the same fluid mix of beat savvy and tuneful smarts that made New Forms, the 1997 album by his other crew, Reprazent, a Mercury Prize-winning hit. Die's knack for supple, low loops bumped up against an unflinching rock edge.
But Laws' voice injected a new appeal. She doesn't so much hammer away with the beats as she does snake over and between them, adding a jazzy flow and lyrical attack that shattered the standard mold of dance vocals.
"They're not strong enough, really," Laws says, laughing. "They're not soul diva vocals, are they? But to me, it all seemed to be absolutely obvious. As far as conscious thought goes, I'm a dullard. If you're clever, you get things done. I'm hopeless. But deep in my subconscious, I'm wide awake. And the more it worked, the more confidence we had."
Laws deflects the notion that she's helped re-invent a role for singers in technology music, though her live performances with Breakbeat Era have drawn critical raves.
"It was only playing out live that people came to talk to me, bit by bit, and I started to get an idea of what people thought," she says.
"People are quite shy, especially with girls, and especially with one who's obviously as strident as me. Only after the fact have I realized how much influence you can have standing up there."
