In this time of Book of Revelation-like world events, Paris got a real breath of fresh air last week with the arrival and performance of Lauren Brombert.
HorizonVU Music and other fans had a fantastic night at Lauren Live! The crew at O’Sullivan’s Rebel Bar was welcoming as always. Fréquence Orange was on the scene to cover the show and Gibson provided us with a beautiful J-160 E.
Lauren http://www.laurenbrombert.com
has command of a broad range of music. She can really rock with a band - her new album “Closer than Skin” on Teresa Records proves the point. Her solo acoustic performance really shined. She started the evening with “Make It Last” and ended with “Just A Lie”. Songs such as “Like An Angel” that rock hard on the CD work beautifully when done on her own. And she can really cross over moving into the country sound with “Say Goodbye” (also on “Closer Than Skin”).
Classical music was the soundtrack of Lauren’s upbringing. Born in New Haven, CT, as the
daughter of a Parisian and a New Yorker, she was raised on two continents. Though her father was an opera singer and her mother a classical pianist, it was the Beatles’ “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” that ignited the musical passion of a five-year-old. After studying classical piano for eight years, she switched to guitar.
In a garage outside of Paris when she was fourteen, Lauren sat in as a singer for the French band, Duty Free, and was hooked. But instead of pursuing music, she wound up taking a long academic detour. After a B.A. in Classics at Haverford College, an M.A. in Russian Studies at Yale University, more graduate work in linguistics, and a couple of teaching jobs, she was about to start a career abroad as a field linguist and realized it was a now-or-never proposition. She settled in Chicago and finally abandoned herself to songwriting.
Adopting the moniker Urban Nomad, Lauren started performing and recording with her band. A few years later, she began a collaboration with guitarist/arranger David Chelimsky and recorded an acoustic EP produced by guitarist extraordinaire, Fareed Haque. Their acoustic duo eventually attracted renowned Chicago bassist Bob Lizik (Brian Wilson) and drummer Ed Breckenfeld (the Insiders, CathyRichardson Band). Together they recorded “From These Stones” (Tessera Records), which received critical acclaim and was chosen by “The Performing Songwriter” as a Top 12 DIY.
Lauren moved to Denver in 2003 with three songs for a new album having already been produced by Bob Lizik and engineer Jon Smith. With new Denver band mates Greg Blankenship on bass and David Harms on drums, the rest of the album was finally recorded by Brian and Greg McRae (Wrecking Room, Coupe Studios) and released in early 2008.
The good news is that Lauren will be back sooner than later and we’ll be waiting!!!
Check out Lauren’s CD “Closer Than Skin” and downloads at SHOP HorizonVU Music http://blog.horizonvumusic.com/?page_id=3156.
HorizonVU Music celebrates the independent music community by supporting emerging musicians’ efforts to achieve a key business objective - recognition.http://www.horizonvumusic.com
