Seated comfortably at The Owl in Milan, Michigan, Lauren Blackford would probably be thought of a “common.” A local of the small city, Blackford’s first expertise performing unique music was on this very venue, a espresso store by day and a neighborhood watering gap by evening.
The 2023 Washtenaw Group Faculty graduate discovered the ins and outs of the music enterprise a mere 15 miles away. However the actual magic occurred even nearer to The Owl, the place we sipped on espresso and mused on the state of the music business, the challenges confronted by unbiased musicians and the frequency emitted by crickets – that final bit is just not a typo.
Regardless, the debut masterpiece that’s Lauren’s One Too Many Times EP, launched on April 12, was conceived, written and recorded simply minutes away from our caffeinated dialog.
Rising up listening to Taylor Swift, Sara Bareilles, and P!nk on her purple Hannah Montana Walkman, Blackford obtained the itch to carry out at an early age, singing in choirs and theatre productions whereas taking piano classes for a number of years. In her teenagers, Blackford started to show herself music manufacturing, a expertise on full show all through OTMT. Blackford’s earliest forays into songwriting have been launched as demos below the moniker “lauren grace.” These experiences would lay the groundwork for what would grow to be the One Too Many Occasions classes.
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“I began producing it originally of 2023, so it was a few 12 months of manufacturing work,” Blackford defined. Whereas a session drummer carried out on the title monitor, each different sound you hear on One Too Many Occasions was written and recorded by Blackford herself. “In my bed room,” Blackford continued. “That is bed room pop at its most interesting.” There’s not a touch of conceitedness in her phrases. When she says, “at its most interesting,” it’s a reference to the DIY nature of the physique of labor she crafted.
“I labored with an engineer primarily based in Atlanta. He combined and mastered all the things. And that was an incredible expertise. He’s nice,” Blackford beamed. “I ended up being actually grateful for that as a result of I really feel like this was the correct particular person for it. And I wish to work with them once more in some unspecified time in the future.” Whereas the challenge was a reasonably huge enterprise, commencing when Blackford was a mere 19 years previous, the query of why she selected to utterly self-produce the EP finally got here up.
“I don’t need anybody in the way forward for my profession questioning how a lot of it’s me,” Blackford defined. Typically accused of turning into dependent upon outdoors songwriters to craft highly effective, commercially-viable songs, Taylor Swift wrote the whole lot of Converse Now on her personal, with no outdoors assist. However this was Swift’s third business launch. Some harm had already been achieved, tarnishing the repute of one more younger expertise.
Blackford is conscious of this significantly misogynistic trope: the younger, feminine singer/songwriter needing “professionals” to assist make her sound good. Whereas she was fairly actually a “broke school child” with restricted sources to e book studio time, Blackford’s choice to create One Too Many Occasions alone additional established the younger artist’s many skills. Constructing upon her formally educated piano expertise, Blackford taught herself to play guitar. This was the catalyst for enjoying her unique songs, with some covers peppered in, to ever-growing audiences.
Lauren Blackford in entrance of Tradition Conflict Information in downtown Toledo. Picture by Attila Hardy (@soniclivemedia on Instagram)
From her beginnings at The Owl, Blackford has since carried out on the Ann Arbor Artwork Honest and can return to play the 2024 version on July nineteenth. Blackford can also be slated to play the Bitter Jester Music Pageant in Highland Park, Illinois, Ann Arbor Summer time Fest, Milan’s personal Lavender Harvest Pageant, and Stroll The Beat Music Fest in Grand Haven, Michigan. Whereas Blackford’s expertise alone undoubtedly opened doorways for the rising star, she’s fast to credit score others, a minimum of partially, for kick-starting her profession.
“I obtained lots of alternatives by means of a category I took in school as a result of the professor (Dr. Rod Wallace) had lots of connections and runs a nonprofit for music. I obtained my first Ann Arbor Artwork Honest present by means of him. And once more this 12 months.”
Though Blackford might have had some help with getting in entrance of audiences, the songs that comprise OTMT can solely be credited to her experiences and the retelling of these experiences in her personal distinctive manner. The six tracks on her debut EP are carefully-crafted compositions that inform a story of courting, heartache and therapeutic. Whereas the songs are relatable sufficient for any listener to really feel a connection, Blackford hopes that they resonate with different younger ladies who’ve skilled the ecstasy and the agony of affection in early maturity.
“That is for you. You may get by means of it,” Blackford added. And he or she ought to know. The method of writing and recording the fabric proved to be a cathartic, therapeutic expertise for Blackford. “I don’t assume I might have been capable of put it out if I wasn’t over it,” she defined. “After I play these songs reside, it’s enjoyable. As a substitute of after I first began enjoying them reside after I was like, ‘Oh, I’m nonetheless deeply damage by this.’”
Inside our very eclectic dialog, considered one of Blackford’s most notable qualities is that she wears her coronary heart on her sleeve. She is unafraid to like what she loves, say what she means, and embrace emotional progress as a pure development as a songwriter. Whereas she is presently performing her materials solo, Blackford may be very excited in regards to the prospect of enjoying the songs with a full backing band, additional using music to ahead the narrative she’s crafted.
“I’m so excited. I want it now greater than ever,” Blackford beamed. “I’ve been eager to play with a band for years. However now that I’ve composed instrument elements, I’m hungry. Throughout the previous 12 months, I’ve gotten much more comfy on stage. Enjoying solo is nice. I really like doing issues acoustically. I really like that interpersonal banter that you just get with a soloist. However there’s additionally a giant a part of me that simply…. I wish to leap round. I don’t wish to be trapped behind an instrument. I wish to have individuals enjoying so I can… go in, so to talk.”
Within the meantime, Blackford is studying to be affected person and luxuriate in every second of the journey. “I attempt to be current as a lot as I can, however it’s tough as a result of I’m at all times pondering forward.” And what’s forward is a brilliant future for this multifaceted storyteller in addition to a bunch of thrilling updates. New merch and a brand new music video may be anticipated from Blackford within the very close to future.
