Music.co.uk recently had the pleasure of catching up with Lauren Pritchard for a Q&A, and after finding out more about the American born songstress, thought it was about time we put her music under the spotlight too. With this in mind we turned up the volume on Lauren’s 4 track EP, called ‘The Jackson Sessions’.

This EP is named after the town in which she was born, and reflects on both her connection with her hometown, and her happiness to escape the ‘small town’ ideals and make her own way in the world.  This storyline is brought to life in the EP’s third track, ‘Wasted In Jackson’, where she tells the story of how “no one wants to change in Jackson”. It’s an interesting, heartfelt, and slightly bittersweet tale, that I’m sure people will relate to, and coupled with a simple musical arrangement stands strong as the title track of the EP.  ‘Stuck’ is another strong track on the release, making its mark with a soulful pop vibe, chilled beat, and well balanced production. I enjoyed the lyrics in this one as well, there was feeling behind the story of how a loved one can see you through tough times, and that came over well. Also on the CD was ‘No Way’, a slightly sad/melancholy ballad, with subtle strings, and a good blend of back/lead vocals, and also the track ‘When The Night Kills The Day’. This is a folk/blues song, slightly haunting, and varied in tone from soft, to reflective, to slightly angry. While this is interesting, I wasn’t too keen on the raspy vocal tones in parts of the track, and overall wasn’t as charmed by it as I was the other songs. That said, I would mark out Lauren as one to watch this year, and give her credit for her simple yet effective musical arrangements, and the thought/feeling she puts into her lyrics. A good first release, and I look forward to hearing what she does next.

‘The Jackson Sessions’ EP is available now, for more information please visit www.myspace.com/laurenpritchardmusic