With her powerful voice, rich word craft and haunting pop-rock melodies, Lauren Brombert delves into the complexities of the human experience. "It is said great singers can sing the phone book and make it sound like 'Ave Maria.' Well then, someone hand Lauren Brombert the White Pages," wrote Mark Guarino in the Daily Herald. Balancing strength and sensitivity, she is equally at home writing edgy rockers and tender ballads.
Born in New Haven, CT, as the daughter of a Parisian and a New Yorker, she was raised on two continents. Her father sang opera and her mother played classical piano. But it was a Beatles record in their collection that ignited her musical passion. After studying classical piano for eight years, she switched to guitar.
In a garage outside of Paris when she was fourteen, Lauren sat in as a singer for the French rock band, Duty Free, and was hooked. But instead of pursuing music, she wound up taking a long academic detour. After a B.A. in classics at Haverford College, an M.A. in Russian Studies at Yale University, more graduate work in linguistics, and a couple of teaching jobs, she was about to start a career abroad as a field linguist and realized it was a now-or-never proposition. She settled in Chicago and finally abandoned herself to songwriting.
Adopting the moniker Urban Nomad, Lauren started performing and recording with her band. A few years later, she began a collaboration with guitarist/arranger David Chelimsky and recorded an acoustic EP produced by guitarist extraordinaire, Fareed Haque. Their acoustic duo eventually attracted renowned Chicago bassist Bob Lizik (Brian Wilson) and drummer Ed Breckenfeld. Together they recorded "From These Stones" (Tessera Records), which received critical acclaim and was chosen by "The Performing Songwriter" as a Top 12 DIY.
Lauren moved to Denver in 2003 with three songs for a new album having already been produced by Bob Lizik and engineer Jon Smith. With new Denver band mates Greg Blankenship on bass and David Harms on drums, the rest of the album was finally recorded by Brian and Greg McRae (Wrecking Room, Coupe Studios) and released in early 2008.
Edgier and darker, the new CD, “Closer Than Skin” explores the carnal, the emotional, the spiritual and the philosophical. From the anthemic "This is All," written from the perspective of a disabled, homeless veteran, to "Full Circle," a rumination on the inability of the human species to learn from its mistakes, this album grapples with temptation and surrender, doubt and belief, intimacy and alienation.
She has been featured on numerous radio stations and in a variety of publications. Her song “Walls” appears on “Big Fish Little Fish Vol. 2” (Sweet Pickle Music), a compilation of Chicago’s emerging female artists. She also has been honored to share the stage with artists such as Pierce Pettis, Modern English, Kurt Neumann (of the BoDeans), Alice Peacock and Vertical Horizon.