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We recently had the chance to catch up with Laura Stevenson before she made her way to California after her Australian tour. Laura Stevenson writes beautiful songs with insightful lyrics set to rock melodies. The contrast between the often sad, deep lyrics and the upbeat sound is one of our favorite features of her songs. Laura explains how she uses this contrast to “temper my own sad stuff because really I like to be funny even if it’s sad.” The hopeful, rock sound “pushes away the intensity of the moment,” and makes everything seem like it’s going to be okay.

Laura has been creating music from a young age. She recalls, “My sister and I had a band called ‘Beef Whiplash’ when we were like 8...we thought it sounded pretty tough.” From ‘Beef Whiplash,’ she continued to create and started writing more seriously in her late teens. Making music brings her solace. She described a day in Australia when she was able to sit down at the piano and it felt like she “had this huge weight lifted.” She emphasizes “that’s just for me the thing that makes me feel better.”

She has been releasing records for the last decade and her most recent live record “Live at Vera Club,” donated 100% of the proceeds to Planned Parenthood. Laura explains that “it feels like the only thing that I can do...It’s the only way that I can specifically make a difference in the narrow scope of whatever change I feel like I could make.”

We can expect to see more from Laura soon as she has a whole record written that will be recorded soon. She describes the record as “a lot of quiet stuff” with potentially some “orchestral moments.” In the meantime, don’t miss Laura Stevenson at the Middle East in Cambridge on Saturday, March 25 ($15, Doors 6:30pm) & check out the full interview above!