0
The name, at the moment, might be a little unfamiliar but, rest assured, with BBC Radio Two including her debut single to their playlists and with her recently released debut album, Sweet Surrender, receiving some high praise indeed, Manchester based singer/songwriter Lauren Housley is a name destined to become very well-known.
It may have taken a year to put to together but the album as it stands today, is a delicate, beautifully crafted mixture of Blues, Jazz and Country, that came about in quite an unusual manner. “It was something of an organic process because some of the songs on the album were originally written by myself and co-writer Thomas Dibb around four years ago, but what we really wanted was to get the collection right and work on the melodies so that everything fitted nicely together,” Lauren explained recently. “It’s been such a nice process, getting the right people in to work on it so we could all sort of feed off each other musically.”
The songs have some poignant lyrics that clearly come straight from the heart particularly on the slower-tempo tracks, and a lot of fun and zest on the more upbeat numbers such as the album’s opener, Nice To See Ya. That balance of emotion is integral to the album and varied in its appearance. “It very much depends and I’ll give the example of the track When Autumn Came. It’s a very deep and emotional song which I knew had to be recorded as a live take because I didn’t want to over process it. The lyrics were then made to stand out out even more with the cello and violin arrangements so that when it was completed it was exactly how I’d envisioned it to be. Some of the other tracks definitely changed over time though with regards to how they sound now. The whole journey has been a massive learning curve for all of us, with Tom being involved in a lot of the arrangements and Mark Lewis pretty much overseeing the project as a whole and whose input we have been really fortunate to have.”
Understandably, then, Lauren is more than a little pleased with the end product. “I’m just blown away with it,” she smiled, proudly. “To see something that started out quite small grow into what it has is amazing, because the original idea was to record around three tracks with Steve Parry in Wallasey, who has such a fantastic ear and managed to get the title track, Sweet Surrender, sounding so rich. We then went over to Limerick and did a couple of tracks with our Bass player’s dad who has a studio out there and we’ve worked with a lot of musicians on it that we’ve worked with for years, from all over the country, which has been a really fulfilling experience in itself. When Mark came on board though it went from being quite a small production to let’s spend an entire year in the studio, because he and Steve were able to open so many more doors for us so we were able to do much more with the budget we had available.”
For a debut album, Sweet Surrender has a very eclectic feel but without ever drifting into being mish-mash of genres. “Each song has its own identity which helps keep it focused, I think. Because we are independent we could pretty much go into the studio and do what we wanted, without somebody telling us what fitted a concept and what didn’t. We are all very much into the same styles of music as well, so that the mixture of sounds and genres really works because of the through line that’s been developed, which makes listening to each track a different experience. It also makes the album difficult to pigeon hole which I think is great, because the different sounds we’ve developed translates brilliantly to performing live.”
The writing process is also something Lauren really enjoys, especially when a song just comes together which isn’t always the case. “I think I wrote and rewrote the lyrics for Nice To See Ya, the album’s opener, about twenty times and was pretty convinced it wasn’t going to go on the album at all because I just couldn’t get it right,” Lauren laughed. “In fact it was on our white boards in the studio under the “possible if we get the lyrics finished” list. Then you get something like Face The World Alone which happened in real time, from a jam. When something clicks though, whether it takes eighteen months or ten minutes, it is such a great feeling.”
The first single from the album, Ghost Town Blues, has had some pretty serious airplay too, with BBC Radio Two heavyweights Jeremy Vine, Sir Terry Wogan and Graham Norton all lauding it long and loud. “When I first heard Jeremy Vine playing it, I was in the car and had to pull over I was that excited. I still can’t quite get my head around that people like these are playing my songs on national radio. Up until now, though, the important thing has been to get the album released so that I can get my music out there and listened to by as many people as possible. The single has certainly helped catch people’s attention, but everything has been leading up to the album release because of the amount of time we’ve invested in it.”
And on Thursday September 10th, Lauren and her band will be performing at the New Brighton Floral Pavilion as a part of the SingMe Merseyside Variety Show, with the fabulous sounds of the 100 strong SingMe Merseyside Choir led by BBC Radio Merseyside’s Billy Hui, supporting and raising funds for Wirral Hospice St John’s on the night. “I’ve not played this venue before but I have seen inside and it is such an amazing space. I played the Liverpool Threshold Festival in 2014 which was a great experience and I can’t wait to be back on Merseyside again, playing in front of what I know will be a really knowledgeable and appreciative audience. I have friends who live just around the corner, so I know New Brighton quite well and, of course, Steve comes from Wallasey so it’ll be something of a homecoming in a lot of ways and I’m really looking forward to the show and playing some tracks from Sweet Surrender.”
Sweet Surrender is available now from http://laurenhousley.co.uk and Lauren will be touring the UK throughout September:
Sep 10
Floral Pavillion Theatre
New Brighton, United Kingdom
Sep 15
Gullivers
Manchester, Uk
Sep 20
Sneaky Pete’s
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Sep 21
Cluny 2
Newcastle Upon Tyne,United Kingdom
Sep 22
Sebright Arms
London, United Kingdom
Sep 25
Greystones
Sheffield, United Kingdom