About:
"Making a little go a long way via just her vocals and ukulele, she delivers confessional lyricism, subtle-wielded truths and a strong knack for melody".
- Brian Coney, The Thin Air
"One listen to Lauren Bird’s music, whether through her tracks or her live show, is enough to showcase her instant appeal".
- Aaron Cunningham, Chordblossom
Lauren Bird began playing her own music at open mics around Belfast in late 2013 after being given a gentle push by her singing teacher Caroline Pugh. After suffering with repetitive strain injury in her hands from playing the piano and guitar, she turned to the ukulele to write and perform with. She released her six track self-titled EP in May 2014 and it went to number one on the Bandcamp acoustic chart the next day. She kept gigging around Belfast after graduating from Queen’s University, landing a finalist position in the 2014 Dawsons Music Singer-Songwriter competition. Through that she secured a slot at the Belfast Nashville Songwriter Festival where she shared the stage with Grammy winner Don Henry.
In early 2015 she won Chordblossom’s Kickstart competition that boasts previous winners like SOAK and fellow Strabane act Those Ghosts. The Kickstart prize afforded her the opportunity to record a single at Millbank Studios in Lisburn with Michael Mormecha and James Lyttle, perform at Stendhal Music Festival and have a music video made by Dog Kennel Productions. The single and music video for Goodbye, Good Luck were picked up by national website Her.ie and was shared over 700 times with the headline “This Irish Girl’s Song Will Strike A Chord With Women Everywhere”.
After a headline show launching the single in August, Lauren continued to play gigs all over including Swell Festival, supporting New Zealand band Hannah In The Wars at their Belfast and Dublin dates, as well as a Northern Ireland showcase gig in London. 2016 saw Lauren come runner up in the Guinness Versus competition. Off the back of that she played a couple of supporting gigs at The Empire in Belfast, gigs in Manchester and Liverpool along with a slot at Sunflowerfest. After meeting producer Cormac O’Kane in London they began working together in Redbox Studios, Belfast on what gradually became her debut album The Inbetween. It was made after a successful Indiegogo campaign saw her raise 105% of funds needed to record it. The album was released on May 8th and the subsequent release show was played to a sold out McHugh's bar on May 13th in Belfast.