Lauryn Peacock

‘Euphonia’, the new album from singer-songwriter Lauryn Peacock puts her mastery of arrangement and vivid songwriting to the very fore.

Lauryn Peacock has named her second full-length record Euphonia after her grandmother. The Nashville-based singer has also said that the word means ‘pleasure of beautiful music’ as well as being a genus of Neotropical birds in the finch family. Somehow this all makes sense when listening to the album and its merging of striking arrangements with inventive melodic lines.

Often experimental, always timeless, each of the ten tracks is brimming with originality and ideas. The album opens with All My Mind and the deceptively light touch of a plinky-plonk piano. Soon a flood of instruments blend together and unite to guide Peacock’s voice through this maze of sound. If you listen closely you can hear subtle hints of everyone from Natalie Prass to The Fiery Furnaces, but to do so would be a disservice to the imagination on hand here.

There a plenty of highlights throughout. On Wounds Grow Grass brass and wind are joined by Sci-Fi FX to transport a dizzying waltz out of the ballroom and off into space. Even a simpler song like the delicate Six Month Quandary is elevated by flourishes of flute and string. But it is when in full flow on Quiet Moments that Euphonia really takes flight. A breathless staccato vocal blends with a pounding drum beat, building towards a cacophonic crescendo that showcases her unique talent in all its glory.

As individual tracks there is much to like here, however this collection really does work best as a single entity. It is an album in the truest sense, a beautiful soundtrack to guide you through life’s maddening challenges. - Songwriting Magazine

Lauryn Peacock has reached an amazing artistic zenith with her remarkable orchestral indie folk release entitled Euphonia. The entire album is an ever-churning aesthetic marvel with a fluid spirit that mirrors life, itself. The songs are seeds that contain the essence of a potential that is fully realized by the end of each individual track as each musical rendering blossoms. Lauryn has created a rich and vibrant wilderness of organic beauty and poetry for the listener to explore while wearing the wide-eyed expression of perpetual awe and wonder.

“The album is a turning point. It’s very important to me and the title is very personal because it’s my grandmother’s name,” Lauryn told AXS in a recent interview. “I’ve always wanted to use that title because it means beautiful music or the pleasure of beautiful music... the euphoria.”

Euphonia Peacock was Lauryn’s grandmother. She was 100 percent Greek and she was kind of a “spitfire.” As the artist moved into her twenties, her whole family started thinking that Lauryn was turning into her. “They were always laughing because I reminded them so much of her,” Lauryn recalled. “I didn’t name the record solely because of that personal connection and how close I feel to her, that just makes it more special. I chose the title because of what her name actually means along with the fact that it is, indeed, so special to me.”

When asked what stood out about this particular album, Lauryn replied, “What is interesting to me is riding the line between the organic and the digital, playing with that and pushing it in both directions -- something I enjoyed doing on this record and plan to do on records to come. It’s the same with the interplay between classical and pop sensibilities. I want to take it all the places it can go.”

Euphonia was recorded with orchestral arranger and director, Joshua Stamper, and mixed by Daniel Smith (Sufjan Stevens). Throughout the album, Lauryn takes you on a fantastic journey of mind-sights and sounds, which are all brought to a stunning life through the wonderfully natural give-and-take relationship that develops between song and orchestra.

Leading up to this album, Lauryn had honed her skills of crafting a lean song that was so remarkably well-constructed that every moment contributed something vital and valid to the essence of the song. However, when she was working on Euphonia, the artist realized something. “I missed the space!” she admitted. “So, I wrote these songs with more space. I felt free to just leave that open and invite people like Joshua Stamper in to create a lush orchestration environment on the songs so there is more for the ear to enjoy.”

Another aspect that made Lauryn’s latest album stand out from her previous work was the shift in her writing process. Typically, the artist might write on guitar and then move the songs over to piano, but on Euphonia, Lauryn revealed, “For this record, I started writing more on the piano, itself, which just opened up the doors. I was thinking differently because there was so much more that I wanted to tap that I felt capable of doing. And the same goes for the lyrics.” In other words, she didn’t hold back on this album, Lauryn reached deep to push herself and create music that was more in line with her classical training in both words and music.

“I wanted to create atmosphere and beauty,” she continued. “I wanted it to be a ride, but I also wanted it to be meditative. There are certain parts that were more about meditation, and that was on purpose.”

It is so refreshing to discover an artist who is so concerned about creating a real experience through sound. Lauryn has a sensitive ear, she is genius enough to be able to blow your mind with epic tracks containing up to 100 different elements, but smart enough to understand the importance of pop touchstones so she can draw her listeners in to fully experience the splendor that is her imagination and creativity.

“Everybody has done an amazing job on this record,” Lauryn concluded. “I could sing the praises for days because this was a very collaborative effort and I could not have done it without all of the people involved. I learned so much about collaboration and appreciating Joshua’s arrangements and Daniel’s mixing that I can’t picture this album any other way.”

Euphonia is currently available via iTunes. For more information about Lauryn Peacock, visit her website, like her on Facebook, and follow her on Instagram and Twitter.

Current list of upcoming tour dates:

Aug. 7 - Appleton, Wis. - Mile of Music Festival
Aug. 8 - Appleton, Wis. - Mile of Music Festiva
Aug. 9 - Madison, Wis. - High Noon Saloon
Aug. 12 - Chicago, Ill. - Uncommon Ground
Aug. 14 - New York, N.Y. - Living Room
Aug. 16 - Philadelphia, Pa. - PhilaMoca
Aug. 19 - Thomas, W.V. - The Purple Fiddle
Aug. 20 - Charlottesville, Va. - Blue Moon Diner
Aug. 21 - Chapel Hill, N.C. - Caffe Driade
Aug. 22 - Greensboro, N.C. - Common Grounds
Aug. 23 - Winston-Salem, N.C. - Muddy Creek Music Hall
Aug. 24 - Johnson City, TN - Acoustic Coffeehouse
Aug. 25 - Nashville, Tenn. - The High Watt - AXS

When We Turn Quiet Times Rough And Louder.

Lauryn PeacockAug 28, 2015 - Daytrotter Studio, Rock Island, IL

See Link - Daytrotter

Congratulations to Lauryn Peacock, our new Artist of the month! The transient songstress lead a strong and tireless campaign straight out of the gate (excuse the derby reference...) that would eventually secure her rightful place at the top of this site. Peacock built the foundation of her musical career in Chicago and Philadelphia, where she worled on her solo endeavors as well as toured with mewithoutyou. She's drawn upon the great reperetoire of friends and experiences built over the last few years in the making of her newest album, "Euphonia." The album is due out June 26th, with the plainative, haunting single "Wounds Grow Grass" offering a tantalizing glimse into the rich and highly orchestrated universe Peacock has spent the so much time and energy constructing. Peacock will be playing a album release show on June 27th in the loft at Mad Donna's. Check out www.laurynpeacock.com/ for more information and to learn more about our winner! - The Deli Nashville

In recent music releases, up-and-comer but soon to be established Lauryn Peacock released her charming orchestral indie- folk album Euphonia. The album is a significant progression since Peacock’s 2012 EP Fairly Busy Wife. Most notably, Euphonia features a long list of collaborations including Joshua Ehrmann, Kristen Sylvester, Carl Cheeseman, Stephen Solderholm, Kevin Rooney David O. Ramirez and was recorded with orchestral arranger and director, Joshua Stamper.

Peacock explains her musical personality as an explanation of her own slant truths and a reflection of her journey in the past few years while finding peace and joys with hardships in her life. Most evident in Euphonia is Peacock’s struggle with specific personal problems, which she candidly comments as her fight with 15 months of unexplained and extreme health issues- a struggle that she openly sings about throughout Euphonia in some darker and piano heavy tunes like Hearts on Fire and in more uppity and catchy songs including All My Mind- one of my favorites.

From this, you can almost assume that Peacock has made an honest, transparent yet wholehearted album, with raw emotion found through a rather hard journey that many of us can relate to. Each song is intertwined behind an overarching metaphor of her experiences and done in an attempt to look at the beauty in all situations.

Some favorite tracks of mine on this album include the opener “Wounds Grow Grass”, which starts with a very unique, pensive, waltz-like sound and later picks up with heavier and daunting chords. No track is alike in this album. Tracks like “Quiet Moments” are much more pop-like and leave a lasting happier note, while reminding you of your favorite late 90’s singer-songwriter phase- a cooler more subtle Michelle Branch maybe? Opening track “All My Mind” represents the looseness and experimenting sounds that goes into the entirety of Euphonia and illustrates just how many different instruments Peacock works with- and works with successfully- throughout all tracks.

It’s definitely a summer album and good timing to have just been released in late June. You’ll be listening to this long into September. - Ear to the Ground

Beauty comes easily to Lauryn Peacock. It’s the oddball bits that have been hard-won.

“The times that I really feel like I wanted to fight for on the record were the weird moments,” she says of “Euphonia,” her second album, during a long phone conversation from her home in Nashville. “The moments of intensity that were unexpected.”

The first thing you notice about “Euphonia” is its beauty, which radiates through the spacey waltz “Wounds Grow Grass” and the spare “Hearts on Fire.” It’s in Peacock’s voice, a lovely lilt that projects both confidence and vulnerability. It’s in her words, as befits a woman who wrote poetry long before she wrote songs. And it’s in her tender touch on piano and acoustic guitar, the birthright of the daughter of a music teacher.

But repeated listens reveal those delicious oddball bits, or what Peacock calls the “out-of-the-box moments.” It’s in the way the opening song, “All My Mind,” breaks out of its jazzy groove with a dance beat, or how “Quiet Moments” refuses to settle into any one genre.

And then there’s “Song in C Up North,” which is oddly beautiful and beautifully odd, with searching, circular lyrics; stirring strings; and a whole bunch of changes in time signature just for the hell of it.

“It’s a little bit of a nod to the big music I love, like Arcade Fire or Sufjan,” she says.

And like the anthems of Arcade Fire and Sufjan Stevens, “Song in C” is up for interpretation. One listener might feel it as an appeal for spiritual healing; another could read it as something physical or familial. And that’s OK with Peacock, who’d rather evoke emotional landscapes than regale us with tales ripped from her diary.

“I’ve fought through some things in my life and I think that I was feeling in the midst of that breaking, being pressed so hard, feeling that I was being freed a lot, too,” she says.

We’ve all been through some things. You don’t need to know the details of Peacock’s life — her faith, her health, the precise location of the lakefront cabin where she wrote much of “Song in C” and most of her next, yet unrecorded, album — for her work to resonate.

But it doesn’t hurt to know where she is and where she’s been.

Peacock’s lived in Music City since 2013, following stints in Chicago, Colorado Springs, Madison, Scotland and Philadelphia, where she earned her master’s degree from Penn with a thesis on Bob Dylan’s cultural influence.

She moved to Philly almost on a whim, and it was there that she fell in with mewithoutYou, an eclectic band with a spiritual bent, and that led to other musical connections, including with Collingswood composer Joshua Stamper and Danielson frontman Daniel Smith, her collaborators on “Euphonia.”

Stamper recalls meeting Peacock during preparations for a 2009 show at the Trocadero to celebrate the release of mewithoutYou’s “It’s All Crazy! It’s All False! It’s All a Dream! It’s Alright.” She played keyboard; he conducted the chamber orchestra that accompanied the band.

In 2011, Peacock released “Keep It Simple Let the Sun Come Out,” which she co-produced with Smith at Sounds Familyre, his Clarksboro studio. She credits Smith with encouraging her to record “Ocean Crawler,” one of her less traditionally structured songs, and layering it with phasers and other effects.

The gamble paid off: Plenty of singer-songwriters draw on their classical influences to churn out pretty pop songs with little depth, and we’ve all known sonic explorers who chase weird for weird’s sake. But this was something far rarer: An artist who could write something beautiful and not be afraid to chop it up to reveal its jagged angles.

After a string of house-show dates to support “Keep It Simple,” Peacock traded her rough neighborhood for a warm Southern town where everyone seemed to be making records, playing shows and selling songs. She’ll be back in Philly Aug. 16 for a show at PhilaMOCA. She still thinks of the city as her musical home, she says, but Nashville is a fabulous office.

“I liked that it was a bigger pond, with lots of really creative, amazing people surrounding me constantly. And it’s not that that wasn’t the case in Philly, because you know the folk scene is rich and full of wonderful people.”

On the one hand, it was hard to leave a city she loved. On the other hand, she says, “it’s only led me to greater community and more collaboration with people. And I’ve been able to still collaborate with people in New Jersey. … And I’m grateful for that.”

Peacock returned to Sounds Familyre last year to work on “Euphonia,” and this time she earned a solo producer’s credit. Smith handled engineering and mixing duties, while Stamper contributed the gorgeous arrangements that are brought to life by the Dark Horse Orchestra.

“She is extremely generous and trusting of the musicians she invites to work with her; she’s very interested in creating space for different musical personalities to respond to the material,” Stamper says. “This was certainly true for me — I was given a tremendous amount of latitude and freedom to explore.

“Sometimes this kind of generosity is at the expense of a clear aesthetic vision — happily, wasn’t at all the case working with Lauryn — she was great at articulating what she was after.”

It was Peacock’s final stop in a journey that included laying down the basic tracks on her own at her home studio, salvaging a digital piano loop in Sparta, Tennessee, and recording bass and synth players with engineer Stephen Earnest in Nashville. After capturing electric guitar, strings and horns in Clarksboro, Peacock returned to Nashville and communicated with Smith about mixes over email. The long-distance collaboration was occasionally frustrating, she says, but worth it.

“There are so many mix engineers in Nashville, and there are engineers that wanted to mix this. And it probably would have sounded fine,” she says. “But there’s something special about the way Daniel mixes.”

As an engineer, Smith knows how to make things sound beautiful, with every element in its rightful sonic space. And as an artist, it’s clear he understands the importance of the oddball bits; he’s fluent in what Peacock calls “the language of weird.”

“Some songs, if you look down the track list of what he’s mixing, there are like 86, 87, 88 (different elements),” she says.

When you’re juggling so many elements and working with other artists who have their own ideas about how things should sound, it’s natural to wonder whether you’ve pushed too far in one direction or another.

Then Peacock fell ill, and she put the mixes aside while she focused on getting well. In the end, the time she spent tending to her health provided the eight-month pause she needed to listen to “Euphonia” from a distance — and gave her the nudge she needed to send it out into the world.

“I wasn’t positive that where I thought I was going was exactly where I would land anyway,” Peacock says. “I always left it open creatively to become what it wanted to become.”

So maybe beauty doesn’t come so easily to Peacock after all. However effortless it seems, beauty actually takes a lot of work. It takes compromises with people you trust and tense negotiations with your inner critic. But between Peacock’s desire to make something beautiful and her willingness to be weird, it’s hard to take your eyes off her. - New Jersey Courrier Post

lauryn peacock - EUPHONIA

Nashville-based musician Lauryn Peacock’s sophomore album Euphonia combines piano with lush arrangements for memorable, moving melodies. The vocals shimmy and simmer. Soft and gentle and soothing on “All My Mind” and “February Song.” Just this gorgeous high and sweet octave range. The songs provide a dance-trance groove with depth in the lyrics. The lushly arranged and gorgeous seven-minute track “Weighted” sounds like the film soundtrack for a bittersweet love story. The unusual instrumentation provides the weird circus feel and staccato beat of “Wounds Grow Grass.” With vocals and swirly mesmerizing songs reminiscent of Lush, Curve and Chvrches, this is a collection of exquisitely dark indie folk songs with ambitious orchestration and instrumentation.

Peacock earned a Master of Liberal Arts degree from University of Pennsylvania where she focused on the pedagogical nature of Bob Dylan’s work to the 60s Civil Rights movement and the pedagogical nature of arts to our cultural zeitgeist. Peacock started playing piano at a young age as her mom taught Suzuki piano. She later played house shows in Chicago with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and toured with mewithoutyou.

Tour Dates [no Boston date!]

08.07 McGuinness Pub, Appleton, WI
08.07 Dr. Jekyll’s , Appleton, WI
08.08 Copper Rock, Appleton, WI
08.08 Jim’s Place, Appleton, WI
08.09 High Noon Saloon, Madison, WI
08.12 Uncommon Ground, Chicago, IL
08.14 The Living Room, New York, NY
08.16 PhilaMoca, Philadelphia, PA
08.19 The Purple Fiddle, Thomas, WV
08.20 Blue Moon Diner, Charlottesville, VA
08.21 Caffe Driade, Chapel Hill, NC
08.22 Common Grounds, Greensboro, NC
08.23 Muddy Creek Music Hall, Winston-Salem, NC
08.24 Acoustic Coffeehouse, Johnson City, TN
08.25 The High Watt, Nashville, TN - Entertainment Realm

Former Philadelphian Lauryn Peacock recently went out on tour in support of her awesome new record Euphonia, and stopped by The Random Tea Sessions when she was in Philly to perform her song “Six Month Quandry.” The very intimate performance included an accompanying violin which propelled Peacock’s somber vocals and guitar strums to new levels, both despairing and beautiful.

Oh her way back to Nashville, Peacock also spent some time in Rock Island, Illinois, playing a couple songs at Daytrotter Studios. “Wounds Grow Grass” and “All My Mind,” both featured on Euphoria, were performed in this short session. Peacock seems to have a way with conveying intricate messages in a delicate fashion, allowing her vocals and subtle instrumental backdrops to be the driving force behind such emotional tunes.

Check out the Random Tea Sessions below and her Daytrotter studios performance here. - WXPN - The Key

“This is a love letter.”

“My stack of very first records, which I bought at Reckless Records on Milwaukee Ave. in Wicker Park Chicago was a mix of Velvet Underground classics (White Light White Heat and The Velvet Underground and Nico—the latter suggested by a friend…I have since fallen in love with Nico in her own right), The Shins’ Chutes Too Narrow (I might have gotten Oh Inverted World on the second trip), some Neil Young (After the Gold Rush included), and random picks from the dollar box selected based on the merit or weirdness of their cover art.

I had just gotten my first record player: a turntable from the ’80s, bought for 50 bucks off a friend in an old warehouse where he helped out at a magazine and record label. That turntable didn’t last forever—of course. I eventually got a more ‘reliable,’ newer player—unable to find parts for the first one and not being able to live without vinyl for very long. I do still miss the sound and weight of that older turntable and dream of investing in a vintage one again soon.

Going wayy back, I definitely liked The Sound of Music, The Care Bears, and The Chipmunks on vinyl when I was little and had my own little kid record player that also played Sesame Street. My mom, a Suzuki piano teacher, also played Suzuki ear-training pieces for us on vinyl (which I still have).

Eventually, my mom gave me her vinyl collection from the ’60s and ’70s (approx. 1,000 records), so my current vinyl collection dictates—happily and to a large degree—how I furnish my living room. This has only solidified my love for listening in this format. I would say, at home, I spin vinyl 90% of the time I’m listening to music, if not more.

I will always remember Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together spinning on the weekend of my 30th birthday—my family visiting the community house where I lived in Philly, all of us cooking party food in the kitchen—the feeling of nostalgia and contentment that surrounded me. That album was just so perfect for that moment. This is my experience often in listening to records.



The broad sonic range inherent in the vinyl format takes me to a very particular place—the needle in the groove, the unique qualities of each record player. There is a play in the sound that reminds me of what I love about classical music: how it toys with tonalities and tempo, something that’s reflected in my songwriting and performances and is a part of my background. Vinyl allows the whole dynamic range of an album to be present—and it sounds so much less contained, so much more like music.

It is such a sweet feeling to finally hold my first LP pressed to vinyl in my own hands: one of the many milestones embedded in the release of Euphonia, my second full-length record.

Vinyl, let’s stay together. xoxo”
—Lauryn Peacock

Lauryn Peacock’s Euphonia is in stores now. On vinyl. - The Vinyl District

Lauryn Peacock exudes a quiet confidence that emerges earnestly in her latest record, titled Euphonia.

It would be easy to label Peacock as a pianist/singer-songwriter and call it a day. However, there is a subtle versatility in her songwriting that denies this idea as a possibility. I’ve now listened to these songs during day at work when few people were around, played live in a warm tent (while swatting away mosquitoes), midday in coffee shop known in my area for being somewhat of a hipster mecca, and now currently sitting at my dining room table at home, in the early AM.

The fullness of this record is something that people of many musical tastes should enjoy. “Fullness” is a word that came to me specifically while listening the album ender “Song In C Up North.” The song paradoxically remains consistent in feel yet meanders between warm and ethereal tones. Similarly, the balance of Euphonia feels appropriate in a variety of settings. The tunes provided this metalhead a nice break from the madness in the Black Sheep tent at Audiofeed Festival 2015.

The record feels nostalgic and vulnerable as well. The former characteristic shouldn’t be a surprise for those who know the backstory of the record – which gets its name from Peacock’s grandmother. The second point ought to be fairly obvious as well – especially as we hear her confess things like “sometimes I feel like an outlaw in my own skin” in an early line of “February Song.” I wonder if the vulnerability here points to a specific event in February or if it is a metaphor. February is sometimes thought of one of the hardest months of the year to get through, as people have to deal with dark evenings and are oft to grow tired of the winter by this point.

One could partake in an exegesis of each track like we did in miniature with “February Song,” but I’m not sure if Peacock wants that. I think she desires this record to serve as a catharsis for any listener as much as making it was for her.

Final thought: I wonder how much Death Cab For Cutie she was listening to at the time of this writing. I’m getting Ben Gibbard vibes. If none, it’s an interesting coincidence. - TUNED UP

While getting her Masters degree at the University of Pennsylavnia, Philly was fortunate to be a home to singer-songwriter Lauryn Peacock. During her time here she settled comfortably into Philly’s indie-folk and singer-songwriter scene, and recorded a wonderful Key Studio Session in August, 2012.

Peacock decided to move to Nashville to pursue her musical dreams, and recently released Euphonia. She’ll be returning to Philly to PhilaMOCA, on a bill with Larkin Grimm, Marian McLaughlin and Skye Steele.

Below, download a couple of new songs by Lauryn, “Quiet Moments,” and “All My Mind.” - WXPN - The Key

Every day, Daily Downloads offers free and legal music and/or stream.


Today's free and legal mp3 downloads:

Bad Braids: Folkadelphia session [mp3]

Ben Rogers: The Bloodred Yonder EP [mp3]

Blitzen Trapper: "Lonesome Angel" [mp3] from All Across This Land (out October 2nd)

The Brightest Hour: "By the Sea (demo)" [mp3]

Her Name Is Calla: I Never Planned To Stay This Long EP [mp3]

Lauryn Peacock: "All My Mind" [mp3] from Euphonia

Mekons: 2015-07-21, New York [mp3]

My Morning Jacket: 2015-07-26, Brooklyn [mp3]

Various Artists: SideOneDummy: Summer Mix album [mp3]

Various Artists: Tee Pee 2015 Summer Sampler album [mp3]


Free and legal live performances at other websites:

My Morning Jacket: 2015-07-26, Brooklyn [mp3]


search for more free and legal music downloads at Largehearted Boy


also at Largehearted Boy:

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covers collections
100 Online Sources for Free and Legal Music Downloads

Book Notes (authors create playlists for their book)
musician/author interviews
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Short Cuts (writers pair a song with their short story or essay)
Shorties (daily music, books, and pop culture news and links)
Soundtracked (composers and directors discuss their film's soundtrack)
weekly new album lists - Largehearted Boy

Euphonia is a genus of neotropical birds in the finch family. It is also the new album from Nashville singer/songwriter Lauryn Peacock (just a note: a peacock is in the Pavo genus). Surviving the Golden Age is pleased to premiere the full album stream ahead of the June 26th release date.

The ten-song album is filled with gorgeous orchestral pop. Opening track “All in My Mind” is the perfect single. Filled with soaring strings and playful woodwinds, Peacock’s voice lilts over the lush arrangement. But everything isn’t just sunshine on Euphonia. “Six Month Quandary” is melancholic folk reminiscent of Vashti Bunyan and “Wounds Grow Grass” is a maniacal waltz straight out of Tom Waits‘ playbook. The transition between pathos is seamless as Peacock proves her chops as a songwriter and an arranger. - Surviving the Golden Age

To celebrate new record Euphonia, Lauryn Peacock has prepared a mix tape for MAGNET. In addition, you can download or stream a new song “Wounds Grow Grass,” an otherworldly, beautifully orchestrated circus waltz. Check it out below. Euphonia is out now.

“Wounds Grow Grass” (download):

Sharon Van Etten “One Day”
Everything is just right with this song. Video

Lucius “Turn it Around”
People making good indie-pop music, with great rhythm and melodies. Video

Angel Olsen “Unf**ktheworld”
This entire album—I can’t even count the number of times I’ve listened to it. This song means I’m starting the journey of this album again—something I love to do. Plus, the audacious title. Video

Vashti Bunyan “Just Another Diamond Day”
The best cloudy-or-sunny, perfect-day kind of song. Vashti is also my mix-tape stand-in for the incredible women artists who came before: Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Stevie Nicks—all the amazing songs I couldn’t fit on this playlist. Video

Natalie Prass “Bird Of Prey”
When I first heard Natalie Prass, I felt a kinship—a female artist with intriguing orchestral arrangements and sensibilities that I (and the music I’ve been making) could relate to. I was immediately sold. Video

Damien Jurado “Museum Of Flight”
One of my all-time favorite songwriters and one of his simplest and most beautiful songs. It’s perfect. Video

Neil Young “Tell Me Why”
Neil Young is always such easy and good, rewarding listening. This song and album (After The Goldrush) frequently rotates on my turntable. I put it on sometimes, just to hear this song. Video

Grizzly Bear “Two Weeks”
I have built one of my favorite Pandora stations around this song. I couldn’t resist adding it here also as an homage to favorite indie-rock band: Phoenix, My Morning Jacket, the Walkmen, everything that came before. Plus, the great piano rhythms, background vocals and vibe. Video

Sigur Rós “Hoppípolla”
Sigur Rós in general, and this song, do such great, beautiful “epic”—with arrangements and melodies that take off in flight. I love the happy in this track—also a great video. Thanks for listening. Video - Magnet Magazine

HOMETOWN: Naperville, Illinois

AMBITIONS: To write amazing songs. Maybe one good book, too.

TURN-OFFS: Mouth-open chewing (the worst).

TURN-ONS: Intelligence and kindness, confidence. Conan O’Brien (circa 2000).

DREAM GIG: Opening for Damien Jurado.

FAVORITE LYRIC: “Some days all you need is one good thought strong in your mind…” – Angel Olsen, “Lights Out,” or “Tell me why is it hard to make arrangements with yourself…” – Neil Young, ‘Tell Me Why.”

CRAZIEST PERSON I KNOW: Sarah Palin

SONG I WISH I WROTE: “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell (Or “Winter”)

5 PEOPLE I’D MOST LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH: Sojourner Truth, Joni Mitchell, Audrey Hepburn, T.S. Eliot, Patti Smith.

MY FAVORITE CONCERT EXPERIENCE: Sufjan Stevens, Seven Swans tour in an upstairs chapel in Madison, Wisconsin in 2004.

I WROTE THIS SONG…Because hope. - American Songwriter

Singer/songwriter Lauryn Peacock made a name for herself in the music scene after playing two house shows with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and touring with indie-rock group mewithoutYou. Now, she readies for the release of her sophomore full-length, Euphonia, due out June 26, and shares the track “Quiet Moments” for free download. Her music is delicate and well composed, with serene moments, beautiful instrumentation and controlled vocals. Download “Quiet Moments” below. - Magnet Magazine

Postmodern and pre-modern at once, the orchestral, piano-based ballad "Wounds Grow Grass" by Lauryn Peacock waltzes out of a wine-warmed cabaret from Berlin in the 1920s or maybe from just around the corner here and now. - KDHX St. Louis

The only time I’ve ever seen Lauryn Peacock play is in the basement of a good friend’s house, around 3 years ago. She sat at her red keyboard in that tiny basement and sang and played the crap out of that keyboard with a quiet elegance. I used intense language because she’s good. If I recall correctly I think a standout song from that set was called “Ocean Crawler.” I’m glad I’ll get to hear her in her full orchestral form this summer because playing in a basement, though cool, doesn’t quite capture the feel she’s going for, I think. At least, I think I’ll be hearing a band form this summer. I should have done my due diligence.

Either way, I’m sure it will be great. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be talking about it. Look for a review of her new album Euphonia in the coming weeks. Check out Lauryn’s answers to our pre-Audiofeed Q&A below:


Q: Summer festivals seem to be the in thing now, if you had your own, what would it be called? And who would you get to play it?

A: The Listening Tent Festival – I know, catchy ;)… Perhaps simply ‘Listening Tent (Fest).’ I’m really into listening room environments for shows right now.

This festival is held over 4th of July weekend. What is your favorite 4th of July tradition?

My grandmother was really great at setting off fireworks with us and then burning things in buckets when the fireworks ran out. That’s what comes to mind, as my upcoming album is named after her – I have ‘Euphonia’ on the brain. Also: playing Cornerstone Fest – and now Audiofeed Fest, every year, and then catching up with my family on a lake Up North in Wisconsin is a favorite tradition. That cabin was just officially sold – so we will be bidding it farewell (sadly), after many years – this year’s Audiofeed fest will mark the last time for that tradition, at least for a while!

Sweet tea or lemonade?

Lemonade (I’m *almost* a southerner – but not yet, obvs!).

Describe your band in 3 words.

Orchestral Indie Folk

If you have played this festival before what is your favorite thing about it? If not what are you looking forward to?

I love the Radon Lounge and Arkansas Stages: the bands and friends who play there and the family-reunion feel that exists with artists and fest-goers alike – helps make the fest a favorite slice of my year.

What’s your favorite fair/festival food? What fair food would pair best with your sound?

Elephant Ears, even though I’m not allowed to have them…They don’t let the artists eat them. J/k: wheat allergy. Second place: kabobs. Oh, with my sound? Coffee, hot or iced – anything that makes you want to sit down with a friend and have a conversation (but not during my set of course - TUNED UP

In Notes from Left of the Dial this week, I take a look at some songs from Lauryn Peacock, Nightmare Fortress, Hints, Tumbleweed Wanderers and Echo Bloom. From graceful pop melodies to bits of dark wave density, the songs should have a little something for everybody. What have you been listening to this week?

Lauryn Peacock, "Wounds Grow Grass"
Lauryn Peacock is that rare artist whose music transcends the current musical climate and steps beyond the reach of time and influence. Her music can be delicate and intimate but also emotionally volatile and acerbic. She feels no need to stick with one particular aesthetic when approaching her songs—instead, she allows the music to take her (and the listener) wherever it has a mind to go. And she'll gladly have some company when she releases her latest record, "Euphonia," June 26.

On her latest single, "Wounds Grow Grass," she uses the idea of renewal and growth to suggest the progression of healing that occurs after our understanding of specific emotionally turbulent events begins to resolve, allowing for an unfettered view of the resulting fallout. Framed by a shifting waltz and a martial bit of percussion, the track is alternately gorgeous and eerie—a curiously affecting bit of musical collage that unexpectedly grabs your heart and squeezes until you give in to its siren song. Carried aloft by Peacock's ethereal voice, the song has great ambition and succeeds in drawing us along in her otherworldly wake. - Nooga.com

Singer/songwriter Lauryn Peacock made a name for herself in the music scene after playing two hometown house shows with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and touring with indie-rock group mewithoutYou. Now, she readies for the release of her sophomore full-length, Euphonia, due out June 26, and shares the track “Wounds Grow Grass” for free download. The song begins with a neat piano solo and grows into an eerie mass of euphoria. Download “Wounds Grow Grass” below. - Magnet Magazine

Audio - Folk You Philly Podcast

This week’s Key Studio Session spotlighted emotive West Philly songwriter Lauryn Peacock, who played with a three-piece band and premiered three new songs. The most striking performance, however, was the closing number “Window in the Night,” which originally appeared on the Fairly Busy Wife EP she released in July. Give it a listen below, and mark your calendars for her appearance at The Fire on Aug. 23. - WXPN - The Key

Singer-songwriter Lauryn Peacock has the range of a musician whose been playing her whole life. Peacock’s musician career started when she began playing piano at age three, followed by a stint singing in a choir and playing synths in a punk band before studying guitar with Wilco‘s Jeff Tweedy and touring with the indie band mewithoutYou. Now Peacock is concentrating on her solo folk career and will be joined by fellow female acoustic crooner Catherine Prewitt for a show at The Fire tonight. The line-up features support by Joshua Fletcher and Caleb Spaulding & the Historical Society. Tickets for the 18+ show are available for $8 here. Watch the music video for Lauryn Peacock’s song “January” in the player below. - WXPN - The Key

It would be utterly ridiculous to list all the excellent local acts playing this weekend's massive Sundrop fest in Northern Liberties. It's three nights and two days of Philly-spawned rock, folk, pop and hip-hop. The evening shows are $10 a pop at the Fire and feature, among others, acts like Andrew Lipke (Friday), Illinois (Saturday) and Kuf Knotz (Sunday). The big ol' outdoor shows are free, and all ages; just look for the stage at Fourth and Girard. Saturday's got the Shakes, the Really Cooks, Conversations with Enemies and more. Sunday, meanwhile, features some of the above plus Lauryn Peacock, Ross Bellenoit, Griz, Sisters 3 and, of course, more.

Fri.-Sun., May 25-27, The Fire, 412 W. Girard Ave., 267-671-9298 - Philadelphia City Paper

Lauryn Peacock's been a musician as long as she can remember. Encouraged by her piano-teacher mom, she started playing at 3. She sang in choir and played synths in a punk band; she honed her guitar skills in a Wilco class at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music, which led to two memorable shows with Jeff Tweedy. She pulled together a group for a slot at Cornerstone Music Festival, sang backing vocals for a friend in the studio, and toured with indie-rockers mewithoutYou.

Despite all that, Peacock never considered music a career, she says during a sprawling chat over Jamaican stew and gluten-free treats. "I think it was Brian McTear who said, 'The universe is telling you to do your own music.'"

The first fruit of her labor is Keep It Simple Let the Sun Come Out, a deeply satisfying mix of moody and hopeful songs that she co-produced with Daniel Smith. Though Peacock plays piano on six tracks and guitar on five, she resists being pigeonholed as a singer-songwriter. At shows, she might have a cellist, a full band, or something in between; on the record, she's backed by most of mewithoutYou, with Denison Witmer and others contributing gentle harmonies.

The arrangements range from '70s-flavored pop to emotionally raw rock ("Truth Is"), while "Ocean Crawler" gives a taste of the more experimental material she hopes to delve into on future projects. Peacock met Smith, the brains behind Danielson, through McTear, Weathervane Music's busy boss, and they clicked in the studio. But they could have picked a better time to make Keep It Simple, which Peacock released on her own in October. "If you talk to anybody else, tell them not to release a full-length album while they're in full-time grad school," she says. When she wasn't working on music, booking shows or dealing with distributors, she was wrapping up her master's degree at Penn with a thesis on Bob Dylan. That combination of enthusiasm and endurance comes through in her conversation, which is peppered with on-topic allusions to cultural touchstones including, in one two-minute spurt, an Emily Dickinson poem, Tommy Boy and a Zen parable.

For Peacock, Dickinson's admonition to "Tell all the Truth but tell it slant" holds particular significance. "Sometimes when I'm writing a song, I'm telling myself the truth slant before I'm even telling anybody else anything."

Not everything is to be taken literally — "Together Apart" and "Divorce," for instance, examine life-altering relationships through circumstances both real and imagined — but authenticity is important to Peacock. "If it's about emotional things, even if it's about an experience I haven't had, it's probably something I've felt."

Her lyrics suggest she feels hopeful at heart without being oblivious to the challenges that are sure to come. While "If You'd Stay" offers all the certainty of a conditional statement without conditions, its sunny "ba baba baba ba" refrain serves as a reassurance that things will work out. Peacock makes a mantra out of her resolve in "January": "It's gonna be a good year," she sings over and over.

"It's setting your face toward that as an intention, while accepting that life is life and a bunch of it's gonna happen over the next 12 months," she explains. "And we have control over some of it, and some of it we don't."

You've got to listen to the universe. - Philadelphia City Paper

For West Philly’s Lauryn Peacock, the Fairly Busy Wife EP released earlier this summer closed the chapter on an era of her songwriting. It compiled four songs recorded for her 2011 debut Keep It Simple, Let The Sun Come Out that didn’t quite fit but were too good to leave behind. How good? Check out the stirring rise and fall of “Window in the Night” in this week’s Key Studio Session and tell me it doesn’t give you chills. Peacock brought a fantastic backing band to WXPN – guitarist Carl Cheeseman (of Honey Watts and Johnny Miles & the Waywards, and most recently seen rocking out with The Great Unknown at 2nd Street Fest), drummer Tom Bendel (of Buried Beds) and cellist Dan Delaney – and the group helped her turn the page into a new body of work by recording three new, equally emotive songs. “Winter is Never Enough” is a wonderful tearjerker, “All My Mind” is dazed piano pop with a modern flair, and the moving pulse of “Quiet Moments” is a total joy. Download the new songs below; hopefully more will be in store when Peacock plays The Fire on Thursday Aug. 23. - WXPN The Key

Philly folk artist Lauryn Peacock has been playing music since she was three years old. Peacock honed her talent in guitar classes at Chicago’s Old Town School of Music, which led to playing shows with Jeff Tweedy. The singer-songwriter has since collaborated with various other artists throughout her career, such as a tour playing piano with the local indie rock band mewithoutyou. Now focusing on her solo career, Peacock is celebrating the release of her new EP Fairly Busy Wife on Sunday, July 1st with a show at St. George’s United Methodist Church. The event is sponsored by XPN2's Folkadelphia and also features Prairie Empire and headliner Jacob Augustine. Below, download the title song to “Fairly Busy Wife.”

Folkadelphia presents: Jacob Augustine with Prairie Empire and Lauryn Peacock play St. George’s United Methodist Church, 235 N. 4th St., 4th St. b/w Race and Vine St. July 1 at 7:30 p.m. Admission to the show is $8. Go here for tickets and more information about the show. - WXPN The Key

When she went into Familyre Studio last year with producer Daniel Smith of Danielson, Philly’s Lauryn Peacock emerged with a solid album of piano-driven indie pop called Keep It Simple, Let The Sun Come Out…and a handful of tunes that didn’t quite fit. Those outtakes, which range from a country hoedown romp to a cinematic anthem, are being released next week as the Fairly Busy Wife EP, and Peacock is celebrating with an appearance on tonight’s Folkadelphia Presents lineup at Historic St. George’s Church in Old City. Might also call her a fairly busy songwriter (especially now that she’s finished her UPenn master’s thesis on Bob Dylan); this week, Peacock recorded a Key Studio Session with a knockout band featuring guitarist Carl Cheeseman (of Honey Watts and Johnny Miles & the Waywards), drummer Tom Bendel (of Buried Beds) and cellist Dan Delaney, and the setlist featured four songs that are newer than the new EP. We’ll release it on The Key later this summer, but today you can get a sneak preview with the haunting “All My Mind.” Download it below, check back to The Key for the full session on Aug. 8, and catch Peacock in concert tonight. Lauryn Peacock, Prairie Empire and Jacob Augustine play Historic St. George’s United Methodist Church, 235 N. 4th Street, Sunday July 1 at 7:30 p.m. Admission to the all-ages show is $8.
- WXPN The Key