::Fantastic New Artist... Laura Balke

I caught the tail end of Laura’s set a few Friday’s ago at Be Here Now. Not only does she have one of the most beautiful acoustic guitars I have seen, but she is very adept at playing it, and this girl sings beautifully.

She is such a sweetheart too, and is very passionate about making music, and takes the time to talk with audience members and fans.

I took the liberty of facebook stalking her while she was playing, as I have one of those cool stalker phones, and found out we are both from Northern Indiana, and we had the same Art Teacher. Which is kinda cool seeing how we’ve been inspired in different creative mediums.

She recently took the plunge and quit her day job to pursue music full time and has just released a full band album, called Rumors and Legends, and you can buy it on VINYL. Which is pretty cool.

You can download her new record at this site: http://laurakbalke.bandcamp.com/yum

I gave it a listen and if you do Musician math, you get way way more with the added full band effect, which enriches her original lyrics.

Via Gmail Interview Laura shares a little bit of her creative process of songswriting:

As far as my own writing process, it is varied, but always seems in some way necessary to my existence. I write songs to help organize my thoughts. I write to get over things, or to encourage a feeling or resolve in my day to day life. I write to make human connections.

I do cover some of your typical love song bullshit themes, but I also write about the strange love between a religious mother and her prodigal daughter. I write about how my life will ultimately be used up by the things that I love, be it making music, or a romantic relationship, or just an ideal. I know that I have written songs that have "generic" content, but my hope for every song is that it comes from a place of sincerity.

For me, it's usually more about what I have to expel from me than what form the song itself takes. I have forced myself to work outside of this approach in an attempt to create a more uplifting experience for my listeners. This kind of writing is very hard for me to do, but some of the songs on Rumors and Legends are the product of this exercise.

The pendulum has now swung in the opposite direction and I've begun work on a new collection of ideas that not only faces my darkest side but also wrestles with the thoughts and feelings that I am most afraid to pin down. I've always struggled with human connection. I was one of those kids who avoided making purchases and hated getting haircuts for the small talk. As an adult, I spend most of my time alone and I enjoy that. I seem to hit walls in every relationship I've had. But a song can cut through the small talk, the limitations, and even my own reclusive tendencies to connect two people who might not even know each other outside of those short minutes. That's pretty high on my list of things that I live for.

For a quick listen to some of her acoustic sets, check her out on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/laurakbalke