Lauren June was struck by something a customer told her when she was waiting tables and dropped some glasses: “Gravity’s been heavier this week.”
“I looked up at him and said, ‘That’s a really interesting perspective.’” June says. “It’s comical, but there’s something sweet and sincere about it. I just loved that.”
For a while, she tried to write a song with that brilliant line but didn’t get anywhere. Finally, she realized that to do the line justice, she needed a song about her interaction with the customer.
“There is an overall kindness to him that drew me in, and knowing so little about someone, but also that feeling of human connection even in those small encounters,” June says.
The song, still untitled, is one of a handful that the local singer-songwriter is working on for her debut indie-folk EP, which she hopes will be out in late 2019 or early 2020. Some songs will have drums and bass. Others will be acoustic.
June has been playing music her entire life, but it’s mostly been a hobby. About three years ago, she recorded a handful of songs and uploaded them to SoundCloud—haunting folk songs, mostly personal expressions of her internal world.
“I always tended to write sad, depressing music,” June says. “I’m a fairly private person except for that one outlet.”
She also finds herself observing people, something that’s coming out more in her songs this time around.
“I’ve always been rather perplexed by the whole social construct of humanity. The uniqueness of every life and person that you encounter, what makes someone who they are,” June says. “I think the more you write, the more I exercise that muscle, the more I find different perspectives to write from.”
