Stream: Laura Jean Anderson, ‘Silence Won’t Help Me Now’

Kevin Bronson on March 29th, 2018

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Laura Jean Anderson (Photo by Kaia D'alora)

Ever since she turned up in L.A. clubs doing songs from her introductory EP “Righteous Girl,” Laura Jean Anderson has proven adept at making riveting theater out of her many dichotomies. She can be brash and tender, sound retro and modern and connect emotionally at a roar and a whisper. A native of Olympia, Wash., who was reared strictly Mormon, Anderson found music as an outlet for her rebellion. She moved to L.A. to attend CalArts, finishing school after some life detours including working on a farm in South America, berry farming in Washington state and living in a commune.

We called her music “high-octane Americana” here, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to boot-stompin’ old-timey music. In fact, it’d be hard to time-stamp “Silence Won’t Help Me Now,” her first single in two years, released this week. The song is a straight-spined empowerment anthem made with producer Tyler Chester, whose flourishes give it an ’80s feel that’s at turns gritty and glossy. Speaking of dichotomies.

Says Anderson: “The song started with how frustrated I felt being told I can’t do what I want as a woman. Once the election happened that feeling of frustration heightened and I felt like my hope dwindled, like I’d never be heard or understood. So I finished the song as an anthem to speak up — a personal pep talk to stand up for the things I believe in.”

||| Stream: “Silence Won’t Help Me Now”