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[download PDF of bio here]

“Jill-of-all-trades” doesn’t even begin to describe Lauren Kathryn Newman, but it’s going to have to do until a more appropriate word is invented. Lauren is the brains and beauty behind LKN: on her third full-length, Postulate I, she wrote and played every single second of music on the album.

Postulate I is due out on Portland-based Greyday Records on April 11, 2006. Postulate I is an epic album, full of intensely moving vocals and heavy, layered chords. The most impressive feature of this album, however, is Lauren’s drumming: powerful, quick, technically superior and hammering beats that hit right in the gut. From the opening of the first song, LKN’s Postulate I puts the listener in an inescapable trance, and as the album closes with the beautiful and almost unexpected piano ballad “Close the Door,” the listener is left wanting more.

Lauren K. Newman was raised in Pensacola, Florida, where she began to play drums in punk bands at age 15. She is completely self-taught, learning by playing along to Lars Ulrich, Neil Peart, John Bonham, and Stewart Copeland. Lauren also picked up a guitar and played along with Stevie Ray Vaughn, Van Halen, and Jeff Beck. Her adoration of these musical legends translates well in her music: it is as she says “drum-based, rhythmic, melodic, and ‘technical’.”

When she first began writing music, Lauren said she wanted to write what she wanted to hear but what no one else was doing; the first incarnation of this creativity was StellaMarie. StellaMarie began as 4-track recordings and became a touring band that lasted four years. In 2003 Lauren began performing as LKN, writing and recording all of her own material, and taking friends and fellow musicians on the road to bring the albums to life.

The recordings of LKN are infused with the passion of a woman with a purpose. LKN’s drumming is the central energy of her recordings: sometimes she plays so hard she breaks her own nose – no kidding! (It has happened more than once!) The vocals come from a place Lauren herself cannot even name – they just happen as a means of interaction. In her own words: “I don't sing as much as merely speak words. I’m into communicating thoughts and feelings through sound and rhythm rather than words. However, I enjoy utilizing the voice as an instrument with harmonies to evoke the same melodic textures as a traditional instruments, i.e. piano, xylophone etc.”

LKN displays her talent on Postulate I with all of the different aspects of each song, whether the sound was deliberate or a happy accident. She certainly has a love for her craft, and it shows.

“When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.”
-John Ruskin

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