“A sound able to conjure the full mysterious depth of the past and the romantic allure it holds over us.” So we wrote of Laura Zarougian’s debut full-length Nayri last year, the self-described Armenian cowgirl working in the classic folk and country tradition to explore the patchwork of her personal heritage. A dose of more contemporary indie rock sensibilities added a different dimension, with songs like ‘Back To Me’ charged with propulsive energy, albeit one entwined with the retrospective tone of the record. “With this new momentum comes a strong dose of wistfulness too,” as we put it, “as though the forward motion isn’t a carefree canter towards the future but an attempt to outpace the ever-present past.”
Now Laura Zarougian has returned with two singles, ‘New Used Car’ and ‘Double-Sided’. Grounded more in the present, the songs are perhaps more immediate in focus but no less personal for it, with Zarougian probing at ideas of heritage and identity from a different angle. “Although the themes in this release are more rooted in the American landscape than the Armenian immigrant stories of my first album, Nayri,” she explains, “I feel like this song faces my conflicting identities. There is the sidewalk cowgirl of Brooklyn, and then there is the daughter of Armenian immigrants and refugees—both sides looking for belonging.” This search might be eternal, but in tapping into the classic country spirit, the new songs show traces of belonging can be found in many places, particularly those where cultures intersect and human experience is revealed as something universal. As Zarougian concludes:
Armenian folk songs, much like the American folk tradition, are strongly linked to the land—the mountains, trees and birds. These are places that we can’t return to, except through the memories within the music. Songs preserve a place—a moment or a feeling. Whether I am writing about the streets of Brooklyn or the plains of Anatolia, I feel the same thread; connecting the songs to place, time, and longing.
‘New Used Car’ and ‘Double-Sided’ are out now and available from the Laura Zarougian Bandcamp page.