Introducing: Mechanical Bride

She seems innocently youthful, fresh-faced…’sweet’ even, upon first impression. But pretty soon Lauren Doss (aka Mechanical Bride) is talking of her passions and travels in a way that exudes a nonchalant cool. We meet in a quaint Mediterranean cafe; outside, the sun is slowly descending and the early evening heat gets a little cooler – if it wasn’t for the view of the Gherkin down the road, I could almost pretend we weren’t in London.

Lauren is about to play in Dalston Boys’ Club, a venue she assures me holds a hell of a lot more character than your sticky-shoe’d, black-walled Barfly types that litter the rest of the town. The venue, I soon find out, is a cross between a village hall and a dodgy French art gallery – she wasn’t wrong. Transgressive predicts it will be one of ‘those’ gigs, what with a stellar line-up comprising the City Shanty Band, Peggy Sue and Mechanical Bride herself.

Having never seen the elusive Mechanical Bride live before, I was wondering how she and her fellow band-mates would fair after such a captivating performance from Peggy Sue. Though after one delicately stroked piano chord and opening phrase, the room fell into a bewitched silence – and pretty much stayed that way apart from the rapturous woops and deafening applause that came between each song. Lauren has a voice that is literally saturated with emotion; a low, sultry tone that may look quite surprising coming from her petite frame. Her band had a presence that neither overpowered nor faded into the shadows. Trangressive’s prediction – biased though it may be – was right: tonight was one of those gigs.

How did you begin in music?

My mum was a musician, so I grew up observing other people really; I’ve never been trained, just play by ear. Then I went to Brighton University to do a music and visual arts course. I started writing then and I came up with Mechanical Bride. That was about 8 years ago now.

How much influence did you take from your surroundings – either where you grew up or in Brighton?

I think a lot. I mean, we’re constantly absorbing stuff aren’t we? And I’ve travelled around and met a lot of different people. I did a year out around the world and then I worked in America for about 4 months with some composers and musicians, did soundtracks and scores. I really picked up a lot of stuff there; how to compose, but not necessarily in a classical way – there are a lot of other ways you can do it.

Has your recording process altered whilst making this album?

Yeah, definitely. When I started off, I was doing it on a laptop and through the mic on garageband. You kind of build up your knowledge of how to use programs. When you go in the studio, you understand a bit more and you have to get used to working with other people other than yourself, coming up with arrangements and parts for other people. So it’s definitely growing – I’ve got a long way to go, but yeah…

Some may know you from collaborating/singing with Larrikin Love. Did that teach you a lot about yourself as an artist?

We didn’t collaborate really, I just sang backing vocals and toured with them mainly, but it was good fun. It was good learning to perform in front of different kinds of audiences.

Who would you most like to collaborate with in the future?

Oh god, erm…I really don’t know, there’s so many people. It would be amazing to do something with Jack White, that’d be pretty fun.

Who would you say are your main influences (both musical/non-musical)?

There’s so many musical influences that have had an effect from years ago, so it’s pretty hard to pin point. But I suppose the big ones would be Jeff Buckley when I was a teenager, Kate Bush in more recent years; Nick Cave, Tom Waits, Radiohead…there’s just so many. But also a lot of visual artists as well, a lot of painters. It’s just about trying to encompass everything, and then you get your own product.

Is the visual aspect something that’s important to you?

Definitely, I keep a scrap book, I draw and paint… I use a lot of that to write the songs and lyrics.

I’ve heard that your stage name ‘Mechanical Bride’ comes from the relationship between record players and the records they play. What is it about this marriage that fascinates you?

I was writing an essay at university and I came across a piece of information in an essay that someone had written and it used the term ‘mechanical bride’. It was in terms of the record playing and the female voice coming out. It’s like a companionship; I just really like the imagery of that.

Did you not want to use your own name? Or did you want to give it a separate identity?

Yeah, I didn’t want to use my own name, I wanted to have a ‘project’ name I guess. It gives you more room for manoeuvre.

How have you found working with Transgressive so far?

Good, they’re young and they’re enthusiastic. It’s quite exciting to work with such a young company, you see them grow and they see you grow. It’s nice.

What was your last dream?

I had a weird dream the other night. I was in a bar and Johnny Depp was there with his son. I ended up looking after his son for a bit. They were good fun!

What are you currently reading, watching, listening to?

I’m reading the last Northern Lights book at the moment, and I’m also listening to the Nick Cave Bunny Munroe audiobook which is cool, I’m really enjoying the soundtrack. It’s got Warren Ellis and Nick Cave doing background music. He’s got such an enigmatic voice. Also a lot of old impressionist paintings at the moment, I’ve been looking at a lot of those, the colours.

How is your debut sounding?

It’s out in June, though it’s been done for ages. We finished in summer last year, it was all mastered and ready to go, so it’s been quite a long preparation for the actual release, getting all the artwork done. So I’m really excited about it, I wanna get it out there.

What are your ambitions for the future?

Just play live more, I’m really enjoying playing live at the moment, want to do more of that. Go to different places, just see what happens really.

Mechanical Bride – Colour Of Fire