Today, the London-based composer, producer, and singer Lauren Auder is announcing her sophomore album Whole World As Vigil. The album will be out March 27th via untitled (recs) and to mark the announce she is sharing the incandescent new single “praxis”.
Auder’s baroquely orchestrated pop songs fuse classical, post-rock and experimental elements with contemporary reflections of generational discontent and personal turmoil, resulting in vivid musical portraits which have established her as one of pop’s most singular voices. Auder released her long-awaited debut album ‘the infinite spine’ in 2023 to critical acclaim, which documented how the weight of the world can transform you, following a remarkable run of 3 EPs, 2021’s 5 Songs For The Dysphoric, 2020’s two caves in, and 2018’s Who Carry’s You as well as a myriad of nuanced, poignant singles and collaborations with Vegyn, Celeste, Clams Casino, Caroline Polachek, Boris, Danny L Harle and Wendy & Lisa.
Lauren has also composed music for Virgil Abloh’s Louis Vuitton campaigns, and modelled for Marni, Gucci, Celine, Alexander McQueen, Ann Demeulemeester and Ganni, cementing herself as an auteur across the worlds of music and fashion. Lauren has toured with Deafheaven, Amen Dunes, Christine & The Queens, Celeste and WU LYF.
Rooted in the idea of movement as survival, “praxis” channels momentum into sound, spiralling upwards into an exhilarating, revelatory chorus. Lyrically and musically, the song turns on itself: “every step I take keeps the world on its axis” is mirrored by cyclical strings and an oscillating instrumental palette that feels in constant motion.
Speaking about the single, Lauren says: “‘praxis’ is built around a sample of a power drill cutting through metal, its seemingly perpetual motion and unstoppable movement felt apt to parallel with an important part of my own philosophy, that keeping yourself moving forward, is enough to live for. Musically I was inspired by Steve Reich, Kate Bush and Bruce Springsteen, trying to bring all these worlds together in a way that felt uniquely me.”
Where 2023’s debut the infinite spine traced Auder’s journey toward self-understanding, Whole World as Vigil turns outward. Inspired by a romantic relationship, the album captures not only the electrifying sheen of being in love, but the introspection it demands. Stripping back her process, Auder largely wrote and produced the record on laptops with long-time collaborators dviance and Alex Parish between Paris and London. Most tracks began as acapella voice notes recorded on walks through the city before any instrumentation took shape.
There’s a physicality that has always been deeply embedded in Auder’s music, and this visceral emotion is in every corner of the new record: the tracks feel bigger, the production more bombastic and the overarching sentiment filled with greater urgency than ever. Booming 808s nod to Auder’s roots in rap and beat-making, while her instinct for sonic collage pushes each song into new terrain. Ultimately, the collusion of all these sonic experimentations have resulted in the record that sounds the most unmistakably like Auder herself, a culmination of years of experimentation, now distilled into something boldly assured. Rather than a reinvention, Whole World As Vigil extends her ongoing archive of self: a body of work that grows richer in conversation with its own history.
“Vigil” in French, Auder’s second language, refers to a guard or a watcher, and this bilingual connotation places even greater emphasis on the album’s title. What will we do when we know the world is watching? Auder wrote many of Whole World As Vigil’s lyrics as theses to live by. “praxis,” as both concept and track, embodies the act of turning belief into action. More than just succumbing to desire, it’s a manifestation that what we deserve is possible. “yes,” one of the purest love songs on the album, most directly gives way to this ecstasy in steadfast declarations, but Whole World As Vigil ultimately imagines what we can do once that’s embraced.
Lauren will celebrate the release of the album by playing a headline London show at Chat’s Palace on 26th March, tickets here.
Keep your mind open.
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[Thanks to Tom at Terrorbird Media.]