Having grown up on the coast of Maine and the hills of Oxfordshire, Laurence’s time on both sides of the Atlantic influenced her unique sound: a fusion of foot-stomping Americana with a hint of English folk. The lilt of Laurence’s vocals and the poetic lyricism of her music has drawn comparisons to artists like Joni Mitchell, Laura Marling, Courtney Marie Andrews, and Haley Heynderickx. Blending banjo riffs with lush harmonies and acoustic guitar melodies, Laurence’s timeless tracks call her listeners home to the people and places left behind for new beginnings. Her debut album, Crooked Heart, was released in 2019, and her second full-length album, Lavender, is was released in November 2022 on Better Company Records/The Orchard.
Press & Booking Contact: laurencegemma@gmail.com
For Fans of:
- Adrianne Lenker
- Tomberlin
- Phoebe Bridgers
- Gregory Alan Isakov
- Haley Heynderickx
- Courtney Marie Andrews
- The Brazen Youth
- Adrianne Lenker
- Tomberlin
- Phoebe Bridgers
- Gregory Alan Isakov
- Haley Heynderickx
- Courtney Marie Andrews
- The Brazen Youth
As Heard On:
- NPR Music
- Spotify Fresh Finds
- Spotify Juniper
- Spotify Mountain Air
- Apple Music’s New In Alternative
- Apple Music’s New in Rock
- TIDAL’s Rising Folk
- Starbucks Folk
- NPR Music
- Spotify Fresh Finds
- Spotify Juniper
- Spotify Mountain Air
- Apple Music’s New In Alternative
- Apple Music’s New in Rock
- TIDAL’s Rising Folk
- Starbucks Folk
As Seen On:
- The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
- NPR Music
- Wonderland Magazine
- Under The Radar
- FLOOD Magazine
- Ones to Watch
- PopDust
- Atwood Magazine
- The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
- NPR Music
- Wonderland Magazine
- Under The Radar
- FLOOD Magazine
- Ones to Watch
- PopDust
- Atwood Magazine
The Numbers Say:
- Total Streams: 1M+
- Spotify: 700K+ streams, ~45K monthly listeners
- IG: 2,300 followers
- FB: 500 followers
- Total Streams: 1M+
- Spotify: 700K+ streams, ~45K monthly listeners
- IG: 2,300 followers
- FB: 500 followers
Stream Lavender:
Lavender Release Bio:
Gemma Laurence is ready to come out now. After a year holed up on the coast of Maine, the Sapphic folk artist emerged from isolation with a stack of scribbled-in notebooks and dog-eared classics, a lingering smell of woodsmoke in her clothes, and a collection of eight songs held tightly underneath her arm. And now she is ready to share her next album with the world: Lavender (out now on Better Company Records).
Written on creaky floorboards across the snowy foothills of Vermont and down the coast of Maine, Lavender is an album that is inseparable from the world in which it was created. Throughout the record, the sounds of rain falling outside her window weave in and out of chickadee songs and the soft hum of a rolling tape machine.
The title “Lavender” is a nod to one of Laurence’s secret obsessions: Victorian flower language, and the centuries-old tradition of queer women sending each other lavender to express their love. Opening up about her own queerness through a series of intimate vignettes, Laurence spins an intricate web of tales and characters in her sophomore album. Reading like a collection of short stories, each song creates its own lilac-tinted, impressionistic world inspired by Sappho’s lost fragments and the words of Adrienne Rich, Mary Oliver, and Frank O’Hara. Equally tender and beguiling, each song paints an intimate portrait of a person or place from her past, capturing their beauty in the smallest details: the smell of woodsmoke rousing you from a thick fog of sleep, or the way a 4 o’clock October light dances in the irises of a lover’s eyes.
Timeless in their specificity, the vignettes that make up Lavender guide Laurence’s listeners through a labyrinth of rosy memories and monuments to the past. In “Morningside Heights”, we amble whiskey-drunk down Amsterdam Ave on a perfect Autumnal afternoon. In “35mm,” we are locked in the cloisters of an amber-lit darkroom during a particularly heartbreaking photography project. In the powerful trans rights anthem “Lavender,” Laurence opens the door to a more all-encompassing kind of femininity through the eyes of her best friend (who the album is dedicated to). And in “Adrienne” we are lead back into an almost diary-like account of Laurence’s own queer awakening through the words of Adrienne Rich. “Canyon Moon” delves into the sensual heart of the record with Bayou-tinged stomp-and-clap banger, and “Watchdog” hurdles us into the snowy foothills of New England to witness the beautiful, fickle, and anxiety-producing beginnings of a new relationship. After we are transported to the misty San Francisco bay on a quiet foggy morning in “San Francisco,” the album draws to a finale with “Rearview,” a waltz that Laurence initially wrote as an “epilogue” to her first album, Crooked Heart: one that looks in the rearview at her past self, her past work, and her past loves, and leaves it behind for a brighter future.
Written and performed by Gemma Laurence, Lavender was co-produced and mixed by Charlie Dahlke (of The Brazen Youth) at Ashlawn Recording Company in Lyme, CT, with the help of award-winning Canadian producer Hill Koukoutsis (the first woman to win the JUNO for Recording Engineer of the Year) on “Canyon Moon.” The album was mastered by Andrew Goldring (Olivia Barton, Billy Martin, Juliet Sunflower) in Nashville, and features performances by Steve Varney (of Gregory Alan Iskaov) on vocals. Marking a departure from the songwriter’s previous stripped back solo work, Lavender feels expansive yet intimate, setting the stage for the artist’s new chapter of work.
The singles leading up to the album have been featured on Spotify’s fresh finds, Apple Music’s New In Alternative, Tidal’s Rising Folk, and written up in Under The Radar, Ones To Watch, EARMILK, Atwood, Popdust, Northern Transmissions, and more. Laurence was named an “up-and-comer” by NPR Music and starred on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Press Photos
