Lauren Hulbert


Woven out of broken white noise and transformed into something wholly melodic only moments after pressing the play button, there’s an adorable reticence to Lauren Hulbert’s “Gone In One” that, when left to its own devices, slowly burns off into a brooding angst indicative of a much grungier sound than modern rock knows. 


Though it’s hardly a stylistic throwback, this latest cut from singer/songwriter Lauren Hulbert is an emotive, stunningly gritty ballad that touches on her influences while inviting us into a more poetic frame of her artistry previously inaccessible to us. I found it compelling out of the gate, and I have a feeling other indie enthusiasts are going to have similar sentiments. 


The music video for “Gone In One” separates the melodic expressiveness of the instrumentation from the lyrical literacy, darkening the narrative with a bleak ominousness slipping through the imagery like a hot knife through butter - our only salvation coming in the form of an exuberant, ascending harmony that concludes the song. It’s a lot more complex than I had suspected it would be, having listened to the track on its own beforehand, but it’s absolutely a fascinating and multilayered addition to its source material just the same. 

I only just recently discovered the music of Ms. Lauren Hulbert, but the post-grunge style of singer/songwriter balladry she posts up in the new single “Gone In One” and its captivating video are something that could keep me coming back to her brand for more.  


There haven’t been many players to adapt the Carrie Akre/Mia Zapata-style rebelliousness of a bygone era into something so uniquely millennial in tone successfully - at least among those that I’ve had the chance to review - and if this is what she’s all about as an artist, she’ll have an audience all her own in no time. 

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Trace Whittaker
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
10/2020

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