SpudShow 424 - Lauren O'Brien

Music supplied by ArielPublicity

Artist - Lauren O'Brien

Track 1 - Rose's body
Track 2 - Inconsequential dream
Track 3 - I'm sorry

 

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The words come through your speakers. Tense words. Sharp words. Hypnotic words. Words couched in grinding guitars and thudding drums, words thick with emotional desperation that also reveal the strangely paradoxical beauty in suffering; the diamonds in the cave, waiting to be mined. The words are those of Lauren O’Brien, one of the most exciting young poet-performers on the scene today. “I love rock ’n’ roll, the passion and rebelliousness of it,” says Lauren. “But I want to be part of it in my own way—I want to take poetry and rock it out.” Which is exactly what Lauren does—and then some—on Inconsequential Dream, her astonishing debut album. Take “Color Code,” a menacing, tension-rich rumination on love’s blurred lines of communication (“The colors in our code system / seem to keep switching on me”). Or the hard-hitting title track, which was inspired by the numerous mystic predictions about the year 2012 and the letting go of old ideas in order to live more fully in the new age (“Try to survive / it’s time / the quickening / the great purifying”). And then there’s “To Let Someone,” an acoustic guitar-laced allegory likening newfound spiritual energy to the acceptance of a former lover’s new mate (“To let someone / who is loved / by the one who used to love you / into your home / Well that is the thing/ that takes / the most courage”). Much like Lauren’s riveting live performances, Inconsequential Dream is a cathartic, emotionally cleansing experience that keeps the listener on the edge of their seat throughout—only to find them back in line when the last track stops, eager to sign up for another wild ride. Lauren’s own ride began in her suburban hometown of East Meadow, Long Island, where she found herself drawn to the arts and political activism. “I organized a protest against fur at the mall when I was in fifth grade,” says with a laugh. There was music and culture in the house; her father played guitar and her mother, a teacher, played piano and exposed her to literature and theater.