Laurel Interview

She’s the new songstress that is pricking up ears all over the Net, and she comes in the form of 19-year-old Laurel hailing from the South of England. With her sultry good looks, and emotive music, Laurel prides herself on her own song writing and production, unleashing her signature style unto the music community, and will no doubt be one to watch in the coming months.

Hi Laurel, how are you today?
I’m very well thanks, it’s been sunny all day which is always an English treat.

Where are you right now?
I’m sat in my back garden in West London about to go down to the pub.

Ah sounds nice! We stumbled across your music online and were instantly impressed, how has the whirlwind been since (Turnfirst Artists/ Universal) got involved with you?
Its been great, it’s just going on a year and a half now that I have been signed to them, so I guess it doesn’t exactly feel like a whirlwind anymore but at the start it was definitely nuts!

You’re now signed to the same label as some of the biggest Pop acts in the UK, have you met any of your heroes so far?
I’ve met a couple of people now, but in a way I kinda wish I hadn’t, when you meet your idols they become so much more real and they are so much more normal than you make out in your head. I’d like to keep the others on the little pedestal in my imagination.

What’s been your biggest “rock star” moment to date?
I went to one of the pre Grammy parties on my recent trip to The States in this giant old hotel, it was madness. I got their quite late also so I was walking around amongst some really famous drunk people. And I was sat thinking “how am I here?”

There have been some comparisons to Lana del Ray and yourself, how do you feel about these comparisons?
I don’t mind them so much, I think when you listen to the music a lot closer there are so many other influences that come out. She’s a really credible great female artist, so I can’t be too upset about the comparisons really!

I’ve read how important playing your own music is to you, but where do you pluck your music inspirations from?
Everywhere really! They mostly come from experiences I’ve been through, even when I’m out having a few drinks at my friends houses and listening to music, I always think of lyric ideas and write down what’s going on around me so I can make it all into a song about my life.

You have a really cool sound, and it certainly stands out from the crowd, especially with your vocal textures, did you teach yourself to sing? How did you go about finding your sound?
I was classically trained from a young age, so I’ve had a lot of experience and coaching through that genre of music, but when I was at school I was thinking the whole time I want to be singing my own songs – not other peoples in musicals or in classical music – so that’s when I started writing and trying to do more contemporary stuff.

When is your debut album out?
Probably the start of next year now! But my EP comes out at the beginning of April with three brand new tracks on and some remixes.

Cool, we can’t wait to hear it. When the album does come out, what do you want to convey through it?
I just want it to be a really cinematic a collective piece of work that all ties in together and represents me as a person right now. There’s a lot of dark Pop going on with some massive string orchestration underneath some dirty drum beats.

There seems to be a resurgence of female singer/songwriters, after a very male dominated “Dancey” period in music, why do you think it is that female acts seem to breeze in and out of fashion?
I’m not sure that they do. There has always been some amazing females around, they may not always been centre stage as all types of music and performers will always have different times of mass appreciation. But if you look at the big ones like Rihanna, Beyoncé, Florence And The Machine etc. I can’t see how they would ever go out of fashion.

And bearing the aforementioned in mind, how do you feel you’ll go about remaining relevant? As we’ve seen this time and time again with female artists re-inventing themselves… do you think there is the same pressure on male acts?
Well as you get older and experience more things in life you are going to change you will never stay the same person for more than five minutes. So I can’t imagine I will be making an effort to keep reinventing myself, but I can’t see that the album I wrote this year will be anything like the next album I write, I am sure I will have a vast new catalogue of new influences and experiences to write about. As for male singers I think it’s the same for everybody! Nobody wants to hear the same music again and again, but we as artists also don’t want to play that same music over and over.

Being so young, do you find it hard to stay grounded when all these exciting things are happening in your career?
I don’t find it hard to stay grounded, as a developing artist it is hard to ever get too wrapped up in things as the process is a very long and stable one. It’s only when people shoot to fame and suddenly have access to a lot of money and new things that they 1) don’t stay around for very long and 2) looser themselves a little.

Wise words. Your songs are very mature for someone of your years, do you garner all your inspiration from your life experiences or also from others around you?
Mostly from films and stories, but they always have to be relatable for me. I couldn’t sing a song about somebody else’s life as I wouldn’t feel as they do. I usually have to have been through a similar sort of thing.

You’ve got some great songs on your Soundcloud… what’s your favourite track from your upcoming EP?
The next song that comes out on my EP called ‘To The Hills’ is definitely my favourite right now, I feel it’s a real step up from my last track. It has a 24 piece string section on it, so it’s a lot bigger than the last track ‘Fire Breather’ which I went for the more minimalistic effect.

You’ve worked with some exciting people, what else is in the pipeline for 2014?
Well I have produced pretty much the entirety of my music myself and it’s nearly all finished so the rest so we will just have to see what the rest of the year brings! I’m out on the road with Dan Croll next week performing on his tour. And the new video comes out this Monday!

Is there anyone in particular you would like to collaborate with?
I really love Grimes, and Arcade Fire. So they would be the main ones.

Will you be doing any festivals this summer? We hope to catch you somewhere on the circuit this year!
That is the plan yeah! I’m playing a couple in The States too, in new york and Toronto which is pretty exciting.

Thanks for your time Laurel. Have a lovely day!
See ya guys!

Watch Laurel’s ‘To The Hills’ below…