Lara Taubman practises what she preaches on her revealing and rewarding new album The Gospel Of Getting Free — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
After some major transformative work on herself, the indie Americana singer-songwriter has produced a new work in her usual style but with a whole new twist. The Gospel Of Getting Free tells her story from a renewed, refreshed and positive perspective.
“The Gospel Of Getting Free has been like a ship on which I can finally sail home,” she proclaims. “I see only now that my albums have been primers to show me the way out of my own complex trauma to become who I truly am. Every day I realize more deeply that I am a middle-aged woman who embodies joy and truth, love, hope, beauty, spirituality and most of all, freedom. I make music so other people can believe that they too can find their own paths to refuge and their own freedom.”
A New York city diehard, Taubman started her work in the arts as a visual artist and critic. After a period in the wilds of Montana, she was inspired to start creating music, drawing on her passion for artists like Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith, David Byrne and dozens of others as well as her bluegrass-fed childhood in coal country in Virginia. She soon created a style of Americana and gospel-inspired folk that brought all her inspirations together.
Taubman began writing music in 2015 and after honing her craft and arriving on her sound, released her first album, Revelation in 2020. With a distinctive voice that’s equal parts Patti Smith and Joni Mitchell and a storytelling ability that rivals both, Taubman also found her audience with this goosebump-inducing release. Her star continued rising with the help of producer Steven Williams, and she released two more albums and a handful of single in rapid succession between 2022 and late 2023.
From the Americana, soul, bluegrass and junkyard country of Revelation to the bluesy soul and classic folk of Blind Spot to the indie gospel of Ol’ Kentucky Light, it’s clear that the central theme of Taubman’s work has been of a yearning to grow and be free from trauma and pain. Especially, in Ol’ Kentucky Light, that theme is clearly spoken and Taubman sings it with so much wanting in songs like Come to Me, that listeners will find themselves urging her on, rooting for her. That need for emotional freedom and true joy is, by Taubman’s own admission, where fans will find her in The Gospel Of Getting Free.
“The same ideas that drove me to write the songs for The Gospel Of Getting Free also helped me come up with the songs for the first two albums,” she shares. “What distinguishes this album from the last two are two things. First, I feel more mentally healthy than I ever have. Last summer I began working with somatic therapy for trauma and it changed my life quickly. I immediately wanted more hope in the music as expressed in the songs The Reason I Was Born and Sing Your Song. Even the songs that are about dark matters like addiction (Sugar) and heartbreak (The Odyssey,) carry a sense of humor and an inner hope instead of despair.”
That’s only one bit of the stories Taubman tells in The Gospel Of Getting Free, but it’s all there, in vivid emotional detail, for the listener to discover. Promising to be her most transformative work both musically and emotionally, this album is everything it says on the tin and more.
Listen to The Gospel Of Getting Free below, watch the video for The Siren above, and join Lara Taubman on her website, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
