For Fans Of: Hinds, Phoebe Bridgers, Weezer
Possibly the most exciting thing to come out of the Isle of Wight in quite a while, hotly-tipped singer-songwriter Lauran Hibberd is on a mission to conquer every other continent she can.
Growing up on the small British island that has a population of 141,500 where everyone knows everyone, Hibberd knew she had to find her niche. After discovering she didn’t share the same talents and hobbies as her friends, she turned to the guitar at age 14, and was soon penning her own original tracks. Now aged 22, she’s become a BBC Introducing highlighted artists, and certainly found her place.
Flitting between bold indie rock and bubbly pop rock, her tracks act as perfect adolescent accompaniments that could easily soundtrack a coming-of-age rom-com. Known for openly discussing her own friendship dramas in her skewed, humorous, biographical lyrics, it’s gotten to the point where she’s blatantly stated “Don’t tell me stories, I’ll write songs about them”.
Her sound started out as acoustic indie-folk and can be heard in her earlier releases such as ‘The House I Built When I Was Small’, ‘Favourite Shade of Blue’ and ‘Hunny Is This What Do Adults Do?’ but was abandoned from 2018 onwards. The following breakthrough track ‘Call Shotgun’, released in summer 2018, saw her shake things up with her strange scuzzy rock tale about a hat she found at Thorpe Park. It was quickly picked up by BBC Introducing, who made it their Track of the Week, and then playlisted by BBC Radio 1.
Ever since then, Hibberd has become something of a hidden gem in both the indie and rock world. Throughout 2019, she dripfed fans with three more punchy singles rife with wild backstories. Feminist grungy bop ‘Sugardaddy’ came in January, poking fun at the growing millennial dream of being paid to simply exist. “There’s a million love songs, but my dream is to live in a world where there’s a million songs about stuff like wanting a sugar daddy” she justified. ‘Hoochie’ followed suit three months later as she reclaimed the derogatory word, claiming “Hoochie is a 90’s slang term for a bit of a ‘loose’ woman. It’s also the name of my new hamster.” with a hilarious Babe Station parody music video to match. In July, she released her most personally scandalous track yet: ‘Frankie’s Girlfriend’. The punk rock hit is about her inappropriate dream about a friend and how his (now ex) girlfriend reacted.
These three singles featured on her critically acclaimed debut EP Everything Is Dogs, which came in September 2019. The collection was completed with the only unreleased track ‘Shark Week’, which is completely off-kilter as far as her newer listeners could comprehend. Having come to know her as as confident, upbeat and funny, the song’s sombre tone shows another side to her. Beyond the sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek jokes, she faces heart-break but still features her obscure references that only a select few will actually understand. Speaking of the the EP as a whole, she told When The Horn Blows “I want [listeners] to feel like they’ve just watched Perks of Being a Wallflower or 500 Days of Summer for the first time. I want them to dance, laugh, cry, run in slow motion, tell someone they love them, then take it all back.”
Not one for leaving things on a slow note, Hibberd couldn’t even wait two months before she dropped her next single ‘Sweat Patch’ in November. That’s no surprise though, considering she once told Music Week “I write two songs a week, I always have […] It’s great to [write songs] that take something small and stupid and spin it into something dark and comical,” she finishes. “I probably have 80 million tracklistings for my album and it doesn’t even exist yet.” ‘Sweat Patch’ is a perfect addition to her colourful patchwork of sparkling slacker pop as she takes on Weezer-eque beats with her signature off-handed vocals.
She’s also kicked off 2020 with a brand new track ‘Bang Bang Bang’, which was produced by Boe Weaver and mastered by Vlado Meller (Weezer, Rage Against The Machine, Oasis). Released on 17th January, the garage rock track is “an ode to the teenage girl. It’s built for the prom scene in 10 Things I Hate About You. It’s the cycle of going back to the same person even when you know you shouldn’t and I guess the fallout of all of that” she said. It exclusively premiered on Billboard a day before release and has been praised as a true 90s throwback track.
From playing the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury last year to touring with punk giants the Regrettes, Lauran Hibberd has also earnt her stripes for live performances too. Catch her intimate headline show at Manchester Deaf Institute on 19th February while you still can!
Facebook – /lauran.hibberd
Twitter – @lauranhibberd