Laurel Brauns
By Jess Baggia
Photo by Tony Bonacci

After five years and over 80,000 miles of relentless touring, Laurel Brauns considers opening a hostel in Oregon: “I like the idea of having people come to you,” she explains, adding with a laugh, “I think that will probably make my career!” Even as an established, successful artist, Brauns still encounters the essential struggle of all working musicians, playing the dual roles of performer and businesswoman in one unassuming package. “Now that I’ve made this really great record, I’ve got to figure out how to get people to listen to it,” she says smiling, referring to her latest full-length release, Closed For The Season.

A haunting collection of indie-folk songs with Celtic influences and regional references, Brauns eloquently captures the physical experience of the New England-bound traveler with her sterling vocals and siren songs. Produced and engineered by internationally acclaimed singer/songwriter Jon Nolan in an old, converted wood shop with no running water, the process adds to the growing list of Brauns’ eclectic, music-related experiences. “It’s one way to keep the expenses down,” she remarks, as she reminisces over the summer she spent waiting tables while living in a tent in Alaska in order to pay for her previous album, Periphery. “I wouldn’t take anything back,” she insists, and yet, she adds that she would like to record her next album completely on her own.

These days, she finds herself bogged down by the demands of a lengthy independent music career. Born and raised in New Hampshire, she began with an anxious desire to move away to a big city, explaining, “I’m from a small town — and by small, I don’t mean in that authentic, nostalgic way.”

Seeking a more inventive and welcoming environment, she moved to Portland, Oregon and dialed directly into the college circuit, persistently touring the Pacific Northwest, only to travel back across the country and tackle the entire Northeast. It’s no surprise that lately, lazy evenings spent indulging in songwriting is a luxury for which she simply has little time, and with such a taxing tour schedule, Brauns suffers the deeply emotional demands of each performance. “It’s a mood thing [for me]; there’s an art to it because it’s not really about you. You’re getting paid to help people forget about their problems for a night. You’re an actress.”

Nevertheless, she holds tightly onto the human side of the callous music business, determined to keep her priorities in order. “I’m ready to take a break from the career aspect of it, because I feel as though I’m not improving on the music side,” she earnestly admits. Currently based in Portsmouth, NH, she can often be found at the popular venue, The Press Room — although she tries not to “oversaturate” herself, opting to keep out of the public eye in order to experiment with jazz progressions and expand her knowledge of music theory. “If there’s one lesson I’ve learned after all these years,” she says, “it’s that you can spend hours and hours promoting and emailing, but if it’s not a good product, what’s the point? Take a few years to make that product good.”

There’s time, she insists — the process of fine-tuning one’s craft demands it. Thinking about the recent MySpace craze, she adds, “At the heart of it, it’s still about the human relations. Form authentic human relationships ... try to be a nice person.” And if her music is any indication, the heartfelt singer/songwriter thing definitely works.

www.laurelbrauns.com