If you frequent the dive bars and breweries in the first state, scrounging for live original music, then there's a good chance you’ve run into Lauren & The Homewreckers. The golden blonde lead with the bleeding heart backed by her eclectic good time band. They skillfully and expertly play their instruments while cracking jokes and grinning ear to ear as Lauren sings the secrets of unrequited love and the like.

Lauren played solo for 10 years while writing and perfecting her poetry. She linked with her band in 2019 to bring an exciting new flavor and experience to her music. Following their first full band single with Drive You Home in 2021, they are back with an eight song album titled “Logic Doesn’t Sing” set to be released to all streaming platforms on February 22nd.

Recorded by Tyler Holloway and mixed and mastered by Sam Nobles, this album is a culmination of years of vulnerability, courage, and hard conversations in song. The players on the album are the same friends and musicians she’s been spending the last several years with on stage including Barret May on drums, Trinka Dorsey on bass and backing vocals, and James Dalton on lead guitar and backing vocals. We sat with frontperson Lauren Kuhne and chatted about her new album, getting out of her own way, and what she’s been obsessing about lately.

Name/Pronouns

Lauren Kuhne (she/her)

What inspired the album name?

“Logic Doesn't Sing” is a phrase from the first track on the album: Anchor. I wrote this song many years ago about not giving up on someone even when they wanted to run - I wanted to help anchor them in place through all their personal storms. It comes from my favorite line in the album "My heart is just not done, and logic doesn't sing you songs." It captures my personal struggle about the ongoing battle of the head versus the heart - the left brain vs the right brain. I'd lived my life solely by logic & practicality for a long time before I allowed myself to express myself creatively through songwriting. There is safety and sense in logic, and great risk and vulnerability in creating and sharing, especially with someone you love. I still am in a constant flux of battling my inner, grounded logic to shift from left brain to my more spiritual, expansive right brain and allow myself enough to create freely - no matter how much sense it makes or not on paper. A balance of both is definitely necessary, but when stepping into creating, leaning into the more emotive, spiritual right brain is really necessary - at least for me. The relationship I was describing in that song followed the same pattern - everything & all logic pointed to the fact that I should have probably walked away even before it started, but I felt compelled to stay and sing. I wasn't stifled by my logic anymore in writing that track, and that's why the phrase “Logic Doesn't Sing” has a deep meaning to me.

SPOILER ALERT: The relationship lasted a while, but due to many reasons, including this unequal push/pull balance I described in Anchor, it was pretty inevitable that it would eventually come to an end. My favorite track on the album is Anchor II, where years later I wrote the sort of reprise and recap to the first Anchor after my lesson had been learned. Those two tracks are like book-ends that illustrate my personal growth in relationships more than any other tracks on the album - though I am so excited for everyone to hear them all - releasing a full length album has been a dream of mine for a long time. The songs written on this album span over a decade and a wide variety of experiences, and it was finally time that I found the confidence and conviction to release them officially. My bandmates truly are the ones that made that possible and I can't thank all of them enough as well as those that had a part in this album, including encouragement from wonderful friends, that inspired and helped me push it over the finish line and into the world.

What was the recording process like?

Something I'm really proud of about this album is the fact that we as a band tracked about 90% of it with live takes all playing together, with the remaining portion being small patches and minor additions throughout, but this album is very close to a live Lauren & the Homewreckers show - which is what I ultimately wanted to capture. It has been such a pleasure playing with this super talented group of amazing, genuine people and I wanted to immortalize a snapshot of our sound together. I felt that I'd sing differently on scratch tracks (the typical method of recording by building on a solo vocals & guitar track) rather with everyone playing together - it just takes on a different energy for me, and Tyler Holloway was gracious enough to adapt his studio setup to make this possible. Four of the tracks were done in Tyler's finished home studio setup prior to his move to a new place. The other four tracks were recorded at his new place, but the full studio wasn't set up yet - so we took over every bedroom, and had amps in bathrooms, hallways, etc... It was such a fun experience and a creative way to make this thing happen while capturing our true essence as a band. We had a great time recording it, that's for sure :)

What has been the biggest challenge in putting the album out?

Without a doubt, the biggest challenge in putting this thing out there has been getting out of my own way as an artist. Taking charge of the voice in my head that says my art is not good enough has been the single largest driver of making this happen. A few songs on the album point to this struggle and my personal struggle with depression - most notably highlighted in the track September Rain. At the end of the day, I have to give credit to James, Barret, & Trinka for putting their creative effort and energy into adding arrangements to my songs, as well as pushing me and helping me build my confidence in my art along the way. I also owe credit to some pretty special friends who continually inspire and push me as well - including you my dear Sug! I also give a ton of credit to myself for evolving and continually growing as an artist/performer while pushing through all the self-doubt, turning it into self-love, and resulting in an album I'm proud of to place my mark on the world.

What's a new thing you've been geeking out about?

My new air fryer...lol. Does that count?? I didn't think I wanted one, I told my mom not to get me one many times, but she insisted and still got me one for Christmas. Well, like most things, mom was right. I'm in love with the appliance I never knew I needed. More seriously, over the past year I've really honed in on how my physical diet, exercise & health affects my mental state, clarity, confidence, motivation, and propensity for creativity - so it's a great tool to help me continue working to keep my body & mind healthy so that I can have the best chance of creating confidently and consistently.

What have you been binge watching/reading/listening to lately?

This one is really hard to narrow down, but I've really been digging Holly Humberstone's music and both of her album releases from the past two years (The Walls Are Way Too Thin - 2021; Falling Asleep at the Wheel - 2020). She's super young, talented, melodic, and has great stories in her lyrics. She's supposed to go on tour opening for Olivia Rodrigo this year (if that still happens), and I'm calling it now that she's the next artist to quickly reach the top of the charts much in the same way that Olivia did.

What can readers look forward to from you?

Releasing a full length album has always been a bucket list item for me. I'm so glad I found the courage and power to take the steps to finally make it happen. Regardless of the ages of some of these songs, they haven't been given a proper release, and once I've done so my thought is I'll be uninhibited to continue to write, create, and release music more freely. So expect more releases to come that are probably coupled with more experiments with style & sound involved as well, and most importantly, lyrics that reflect my current state of personal growth - and never begging to be someone's anchor again.

>> Follow Lauren & The Homewreckers on Bandcamp

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