Lauren O'Connell

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Lauren O'Connell
Lauren O'Connell at Neck of the Woods in San Francisco, 2017
Lauren O'Connell at Neck of the Woods in San Francisco, 2017
Background information
Birth nameLauren O'Connell
Born (1988-12-10) December 10, 1988 (age 32)
Rochester, New York
GenresIndie folk, indie rock, alternative country
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, musician
InstrumentsVocals, guitar, banjo, bass, drums, piano, harmonica
Years active2005-present
Associated acts
WebsiteOfficial website

Lauren O'Connell (born December 10, 1988) is an American singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer from Rochester, New York. She has independently released six solo albums, and two EP's as a duo with Nataly Dawn under the group name My Terrible Friend.

Early life[]

Lauren O'Connell was born in Rochester, NY on December 10, 1988. She began playing guitar at the age of twelve and wrote her first song by the age of fifteen. Her early performing experience came from playing open mic nights with her high school friend, Julia Nunes. In 2007, O'Connell went to Saxon Recording in Rochester, New York at the suggestion of a friend and recorded her debut album Sitting in Chairs with engineer Dave Anderson. She recorded the entire album in one day, using single takes of each song.[1]

Shortly after releasing Sitting in Chairs, O'Connell began attending Binghamton University.[2][3] Throughout her first year she continued to write and perform. She began uploading videos of her original songs to YouTube so that she could share them with her friends from Rochester, including Nunes. Nunes made videos as well and garnered an unexpected following, and her videos led audiences to find O'Connell's work. O'Connell's first videos were simple one-takes of original songs with guitar and voice, but they soon progressed to include cover songs with layered harmonies and accompaniment, usually with O'Connell playing all of the instruments herself. Though she generally uses traditional instruments in her songs, O'Connell has sometimes used unconventional means when recording, including wine glasses, a metal tool cabinet, kicks to a garage door, a tennis racket covered in change, and a deck of playing cards.[4][5] In late 2008, she decided to leave school and pursue music full-time.

Career[]

Shortly after leaving school, O'Connell began recording her follow-up album The Shakes, which was released in early 2009.

During the summer of 2009, O'Connell met Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn of Pomplamoose when they came to New York to produce Nunes' I Think You Know EP. In 2010, O'Connell moved to Sonoma County, CA where she moved into a house with Conte and Dawn.[6] A few months after moving to California, she and Dawn began a collaboration called My Terrible Friend.[7] The duo recorded an EP titled Room for Ghosts in their home studio and released it on July 7, 2010.[8][9] On July 20, 2010 O'Connell and Dawn were featured on the YouTube homepage for Music Tuesday, both individually and as My Terrible Friend.

Though O'Connell's fanbase was initially centered on the local area where she performed, her YouTube presence exposed her music to a much wider audience. In April 2009 she was scheduled to play two shows in London, but was detained by Customs and forced to cancel them. Customs agents allowed her to leave and stay the night with a friend, but sent her back to the US the next day.[10] On November 8, 2009 she played with Pomplamoose at the wedding of Take That member Mark Owen and English actress Emma Ferguson in Cawdor Church, Scotland.[11][12] Ferguson, a fan of Rufus Wainwright, discovered Nataly Dawn's cover of Wainwright's song "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" and invited Dawn to play the song at the wedding. She then discovered Pomplamoose and O'Connell and Dawn's "The Daylight Here" and invited Jack Conte and O'Connell to play as well.

In September 2010 O'Connell was chosen as the West Regional Winner of the 2010 Mountain Stage Newsong Contest. On October 22, 2010 she joined eleven other finalists from across America and Canada at Arts World Financial Center's Wintergarden in New York City for the Award Round performance competition and an opportunity to record an EP with Grammy winning producer Jacquire King.[13][14]

On December 14, 2010, O'Connell announced that she was raising money to record a new album and was working with Pledgemusic in order to give fans an opportunity to help fund studio time, with the goal of being in the studio sometime in January 2011. In return for pledging O'Connell decided to include personalized merchandise ranging from autographed CDs and T-shirts, handwritten lyrics, and hand-drawn artwork to house concerts, her personal iPod filled with music, and even grocery shopping or mini-golf with the pledger when she comes to their city for a show.[15] The project was set for a sixty-day pledge period, however, fan pledges exceeded the target amount in the first 24 hours, making it the fastest Pledgemusic project ever to reach its goal. One week later she added more of the incentives that sold out quickly as well as new incentives like the harmonicas she uses for her videos and albums, a Photoshop vacation photo with the pledger, and a volleyball painted with the pledger's face in the style of "Wilson" from the movie Cast Away, joking that her New Year's resolution was to make progressively weirder arts and crafts.[16] The project raised 268% of the original goal by the time it concluded on February 14, 2011.[17]

Discography[]

Sitting in Chairs[]

O'Connell's debut album was recorded at Saxon Recording in Rochester, New York in early 2007. Sitting in Chairs was recorded in just one day, single-tracked with an acoustic guitar.[18]

Track List

  1. Sitting in Chairs
  2. Levers and Gears
  3. Good Intentions
  4. My Equations
  5. I'm All Talk
  6. Chimney Smoke
  7. Just Be
  8. All the Perching Crows
  9. Somewhere in Between
  10. There Will Be

The Shakes[]

O'Connell's second album was recorded in late 2008 in Rochester, New York at GFI Music. It was released in early 2009. Unlike her previous album, The Shakes features accompaniment, including drums, horns, strings, and piano.

Track List

  1. From Chambers, Slow
  2. Chicken Wire
  3. The Pilot
  4. Things I Panic About
  5. I Don't Mind
  6. Bystander
  7. Oncoming Traffic
  8. 1988
  9. Sweet Lament
  10. Tangled Up Kites

Room for Ghosts[]

In the summer of 2010 O'Connell collaborated with her roommate Nataly Dawn of Pomplamoose and the duo released Room for Ghosts as My Terrible Friend in July 2010. The five track EP was recorded in their home studio and includes three original songs, as well as covers of "Diamonds and Gold" by Tom Waits and "Holy Roller Novocaine" by Kings of Leon.

Track list

  1. When I Decide
  2. Diamonds and Gold
  3. Holy Roller Novocaine
  4. The Daylight Here
  5. Dying to Live

Quitters[]

On January 25, 2012, O'Connell announced via her website that she would be releasing a new album on March 2.[19] Quitters was produced by O'Connell and engineered & mixed by Oz Fritz at Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati, California.[20]

Track list

  1. Every Space
  2. I Will Burn You Down
  3. I Belong To You
  4. Things Are Alright
  5. If Found/Gravity
  6. What Breaks (and What Doesn't)
  7. Maybe True Stories
  8. The Same Things
  9. In The Next Room
  10. White Noise

Covers[]

In 2012, O'Connell compiled eleven songs she had released on YouTube into her album Covers, featuring songs originally performed by Bruce Springsteen, Warren Zevon, the Everly Brothers and others, as well as two traditional American songs. Her rendition of "All I Have to Do Is Dream" was featured on The Good Wife and "House of the Rising Sun" was featured in television promos for American Horror Story's third season, Coven.

Track list

  1. All I Have to Do Is Dream
  2. Dancing in the Dark
  3. Little Maggie
  4. The Way I Feel Inside
  5. Peacebone
  6. Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner
  7. The One I Love is Gone
  8. Other People (feat. Will Sturgeon)
  9. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
  10. House of the Rising Sun

Details[]

On February 9, 2018, O'Connell released her fourth original album Details, an effort fan-funded via Kickstarter. The album was produced by Olivia Lee and O'Connell, and featured Lee as a guitarist as well as drummer Lauren Grubb and bassist Josh Fossgreen. It was mixed by Ian Pellicci and Beau Sorenson and mastered by T.W. Walsh. O'Connell published a companion essay for the album in which she shared about her experiences with mental health that informed some of the songs on the album.[21]

Track list

  1. Superimposed
  2. Moon Hang Low
  3. In on the Joke
  4. Shimmering Silver
  5. Guilt
  6. Rest Easy
  7. Out of Focus
  8. Under Control
  9. Knowing Her Name
  10. Build Yourself

Covers Two[]

On August 25, 2020, O'Connell released her second collection of cover songs, entitled Covers Two, featuring covers of songs by Big Star, Gillian Welch, the Magnetic Fields, Iris Dement and others.

Track list

  1. Thirteen
  2. Laminated Cat
  3. Ruiniation Day, Pt. II
  4. I Hear Them All
  5. Hungry Heart
  6. Our Town
  7. I Fall to Pieces
  8. Kola
  9. Atlantic City
  10. Heart of Gold
  11. I Don't Want to Get Over You

References[]

  1. ^ De Blase, Frank (July 24, 2007). "SINGER/SONGWRITER: Lauren O'Connell's Sweet Lament". Rochester City Newspaper. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  2. ^ "Artists/Lauren O'Connell". The Drive. August 2, 2007. Archived from the original on June 20, 2010. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  3. ^ De Blase, Frank (July 24, 2007). "SINGER/SONGWRITER: Lauren O'Connell's Sweet Lament". Rochester City Newspaper. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  4. ^ "Wilco Cover- I Am Trying To Break Your Heart". July 30, 2009. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  5. ^ "AM Cover- Grand Opinion". November 2, 2009. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  6. ^ Lucas, Dan (October 8, 2010). "Introducing... Lauren O'Connell". Noise!Noise!Noise. Retrieved December 14, 2010.[dead link]
  7. ^ Fallows, James (July 26, 2010). "Pomplamoose --> My Terrible Friend". The Atlantic. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  8. ^ "My Terrible Friend- NEW BAND with Nataly Dawn". July 13, 2010. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  9. ^ "Room for Ghosts – EP My Terrible Friend". July 7, 2010. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  10. ^ Lucas, Dan (October 8, 2010). "Introducing... Lauren O'Connell". Noise!Noise!Noise. Retrieved December 14, 2010.[dead link]
  11. ^ "Lauren O'Connell(panthergo)". November 9, 2009. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
  12. ^ "Take That's Mark Owen ties the knot". The Telegraph. November 8, 2009. Retrieved May 8, 2011.
  13. ^ "Mountain Stage Newsong Contest Announces 'Award Round' Finalists". BMI.com news. October 7, 2010. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  14. ^ "Arts World Financial Center Press Release 96". Press Release. October 8, 2010. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  15. ^ "Help Me Make An Album". December 14, 2010. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
  16. ^ "WTF!!!!!!". December 22, 2010. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
  17. ^ "Lauren O'Connell: Help Lauren Make an Album". Pledgemusic. February 14, 2011. Retrieved February 14, 2011.
  18. ^ De Blase, Frank (July 24, 2007). "SINGER/SONGWRITER: Lauren O'Connell's Sweet Lament". Rochester City Newspaper. Retrieved December 14, 2010.
  19. ^ O'Connell, Lauren. "House of the Rising Sun / New Album Pre-Sale". laurenoconnell.com. Lauren O'Connell. Archived from the original on March 15, 2012. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
  20. ^ Lauren, O'Connell. "Quitters". bandcamp.com. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
  21. ^ O'Connell, Lauren (February 9, 2018). "Here's the Deal with My New Album "Details"". Medium. Retrieved February 26, 2021.

External links[]

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