REX LAURENT’S NEW ALBUM MIXES WEST COAST NOSTALGIA WITH RAW HONESTY / EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
With heart wrenching lyricism, haunting vocals and a uniquely textured production that carries you into her sonic universe, Rex Laurent’s first studio album Seller’s Remorse evokes vulnerability and poetic nostalgia throughout the 13 stellar tracks. Combining iconic Southern-Californian aesthetics with poetic intimacy, Seller’s Remorse is a cinematic depiction of Laurent’s own life and experiences, detailing her chronicles through the themes of heartbreak, identity and self-perception.
Graphic by Paige Firsten / Image via Rex Laurent
“Bedrock” kicks off the album with showstopping production, creating visuals of sun-drenched, hazy Southern California, setting the scene and emotional authenticity of the album. The song provides a sonically gripping start to the album while simultaneously establishing the premise. The pace quickens in “Stars, they're just like us!” and “Art critics,” where the production is sped up and has a brisker, pop-inspired take on previously established themes. Both songs are playful and palpable in atmosphere — buzzing with energy and charming in lyricism. “Hair down to here” continues the storyline, and it is as unique in its structure as its sound. Production wise, the song is stripped down a bit and includes folk-esque elements. Structurally, it features three uninterrupted verses, driving the story forward through raw honesty and linearity, highlighting Laurent’s flair for intentional storytelling.
The album continues with “Backroom,” a standout single released a year prior to the album that remains one of Laurent’s biggest hits. The soft tempo and sultry lyricism combined with the dreamy, slow-burning production crafts a catchy, yet authentic song. “PTA mom” follows a similar structure, balancing tangible experiences with infectious choruses and, of course, Rex Laurent’s infused personal experiences and witty commentary. “New Beverly” is an alluring ode to LA, enchanting listeners with references to iconic parts of the city, sure to make Los Angeles locals smirk. Between soft choruses and visually evocative verses, Laurent frames LA as her muse.
“Coinstar” may be a brief track, but it packs quite the punch, enhancing the storyline with an emotionally charged verse nestled between melodic choruses. The stripped back, minimal production creates a sense of nostalgia and longing in the song, crafting a track that sounds like it’s filling the room via a record player. Meanwhile,”Needles, CA” and “Lonnie Frisbee” match the sonic pattern of “PTA mom,” creating a reemergence of dreamy, romanticized Southern California aesthetics. Through a unique combination of these visuals and Laurent’s own experiences with being immersed in Los Angeles, Laurent sings “baptized in the fountain by the Beverly Center,” symbolizing modern spirituality and what it means to live a life in the city — and being daunted by how it changes your perception.
Following this, “I feel like grace” continues the spiritual undertones, and has a unique texture through atmospheric layering, with sparkling synths, echoing guitars and a strong beat, all of which was conducive to the environment the lyrics bounce off of. “I feel like grace” simultaneously has an expansive production and feels like a confessional – raw and poetic, like Laurent’s diary and innermost thoughts being broadcast in an intimate, yet intentional manner. It captures her at her most introspective.
“Turn on, tune in,” the penultimate song on the album, creates a hazy, emotional atmosphere, toeing the line between introspective thought and submission. The layered vocals and soft synths in the background create a final shift in the album, setting the stage for the final song.
The last track, “Teeth (2007),” is the perfect, contrasting final song to the album. While honesty is a common theme in Seller’s Remorse, previous tracks work with melodic certainty and intentionality, whereas “Teeth (2007)” has a grittier texture and biting lyricism. The song is bold in lyricism and holds that same strength in production, balancing distortion, reverb and layered textures, building a finale that cements Laurent’s purpose and identity.
Seller’s Remorse closes with the same intentionality and identity searching that it began with. Across all 13 tracks, Laurent is successful in creating an air of intimacy and nostalgia, conjuring iconic symbolism of Los Angeles while creating an emotionally gripping narrative reflective of her own experiences. Between the soft, sunny atmosphere created in “Bedrock” to the unapologetic lyricism in “Teeth (2007),” Seller’s Remorse is a confessional dressed in a shimmering, cinematic storyline, an artfully crafted record that is authentic in totality. It doesn't tie things up neatly with a bow; instead, it leans into the reality of life, that very little resolves cleanly, but that alone makes it worth living. Through the album, Rex Laurent delivers a vulnerable, bold personal account, and if the album is any indication, her debut is just the beginning.
Crave Music Magazine was able to catch up with Rex Laurent to talk about her new album, and examine the themes, inspirations, and sound evolution of her music.
CRAVE: Seller’s Remorse is such a unique, evocative album name. Can you elaborate a little bit about what that represents?
REX LAURENT: It's a lyric in the song, “Needles,” on the album. The phenomenon of it is usually in reference to real estate and people who sell their homes, and someone might have seller's remorse if the market value of their home drastically changes after selling it. So for me in that song, it's kind of about me, like assuming that I'm not gonna be loved and seen in relationships, so kind of like selling myself short and giving it up without, without much work to be done, when in reality, some people do want to pay a proper amount. It's like, damn, I should have jacked up the rate., I think you would have done more.In the general context, the reason I chose it for the name of the album is a general theme in the album is kind of me realizing that a lot of the things that I thought I should value were kind of like smoke and mirrors and the things I was kind of pimping myself out to weren't necessarily what's up. Like, I thought moving to LA would just turn me into this LA style, [but] it's just kind of like, wherever you go, there you are. I should be investing in what's real. In another context, a lot of the songs are about a person that I was in love with for a long time without being with them, and then when we got together, it very quickly became not good. And so I was very obsessed with an idea, and I put a lot of stock into that, and when it came down to it, like none of that was real. So I had seller's remorse.
CRAVE: “Backroom” has been a key song in your success, as it was released as a single well prior to Seller’s Remorse. Has the song always been meant to fit as part of this larger body of work, or do you feel the song opened the door to conceptualizing the album?
REX LAURENT: Definitely the latter. That is the oldest song on the album by a lot. The Rex Laurent project is originally based off of a very specific period of my life, and Backroom was the only one I wrote when I was actually in that period. Rex Laurent was my SeekingArrangement screen name, and “Backroom” was about someone that I met on there. I think sonically, I developed a clear idea of what I wanted to do in my future music, like with strings and stuff. I kind of realized that I wanted to make music that was cinematic, because I didn't really know that you could do that before.
CRAVE: Your music is at a unique intersection between tongue in cheek pop culture references and poetic vulnerability. What inspires you to write about what you do? Do you feel that you inject your experiences into the music you make, or do you like to create characters?
REX LAURENT: It's all my experience. That's the only thing I have in the world. Sometimes I make fun of myself for this and people make fun of me for it too: Sometimes I'm writing, I'll send my manager a song and he'll be like, I love this. I don't know what the fuck it's about. It's moving. And I definitely have had this habit where I want to speak so poetically and like, in such a like, coded way that it sometimes doesn't even like what I'm actually saying isn't fully coming across.
So I've had to reel that in with just realness and honesty. Like, when I wrote the bridge of my song “Lonnie Frisbee,” I was trying to really paint a sensory, cultural picture. I was just listing things: west coast, Lonnie Frisbee, glass house. Like, okay, we're in SoCal, and that's like the first half of the bridge. And then I was singing it, and I was like, okay, there's a vivid picture here, but there's no honesty. So then I, like, pivoted. The next lyric is “Put my shades on and I watch you from the wall.” So let's get back to a real experience. That's honest.
CRAVE: What non-musical things influenced the lyricism or creative process in Seller’s Remorse the most? (ie books, movies, visuals, places etc)
REX LAURENT: I've just been in love with the West Coast. I grew up in New England. It's just anything that's everything that that place is not. Here it's bright and golden. I mean, I love movies. I've always been inspired aesthetically by Spring Breakers. That movie changed my brain chemistry. It just was [a] display of femininity that I hadn't yet considered. Also the movie Requiem for a Dream, because I think that movie also has themes of, like, how tragic dissociation is, and how you can be aware that you're chasing things that aren't real, but you're so sick that you can't stop. I don't know if you're familiar with that movie. So big addiction themes. I'm also in recovery. And there's a Bible verse from Second Corinthians that's like, what is seen is temporary, and what is unseen is forever. That was a theme of the album.
CRAVE: Although this is your first album, you’ve released many singles and EPs prior to this. How would you say your sound has evolved over time?
REX LAURENT: I've released music under other aliases, and I've changed aliases because I don't like that music anymore. I was very angry, and that was definitely reflected in the instrumentation, like, I was not able to chill as a person, and so my music was never able to chill like. I was like, how do we make this bass go as hard as possible for every single song? Like, anyone who worked with me was, like, exhausted, and like, I was using the same, like, dramatic ass chords. It just got very predictable. My brother listens to a lot of folk music, and whenever I have I was like, okay, like, there's something here that I'm I've never tapped into that I'd like to tap into. I also used to hate reverb, which is crazy, because I don't know how to make a song without an atmosphere around it anymore. It feels so naked. I tried to get away from autotune this project. There's definitely some on it, but I used to be like I wouldn't even listen to my own takes of my voice without auto tune. I just developed an addiction to it, like I could not hear my voice without it. And so I had to withdraw, I had exposure therapy in the booth. I realized there's a texture there that, when you layer a bunch of vocals together, and they're not hard tuned, there's something there, like the song “Coinstar.” I produced that song on my own, and I barely tuned the vocals and there's so many layers in it.
CRAVE: You’ve released a great deal of music prior to your first album. What would you say the difference between the artist you were when you first started creating music and who you are now?
REX LAURENT: I definitely like to put less stock in my identity as an artist. I think part of it is that I just feel better about what I'm doing, and I'm more in control, so I don't feel the need to prove. I think when I was starting, I wasn't really in the lead producing role all the time, and I had absolutely no handle on the visuals. It was like a desperate cry, as opposed to just putting something out and standing on it. And I also definitely created more reactively in the past, like something would happen and I'd write about it, and it's still like that. But I think I have more of a respect for like, the discipline now of trying to write daily and respecting that some songs take longer to finish.
CRAVE: What do you want fans to take away from Seller’s Remorse?
REX LAURENT: The answers lie within. I have always been really desperate for other people to tell me what to do, or for a place or another person to give me an identity and make me feel okay, but like being in constant pursuit of that is what robs me of my peace. I want fans to just know that the answer lies within.
Keep up with Rex Laurent:
Website / Spotify / Apple Music / Instagram / TikTok / YouTube
