Lauringer's boundless adventure: "I always want more"

Once you have met Laura Auer-Grumbach, aka Lauringer, her artist name, you are no longer safe. The Academy of Pop Music student could have an imaginary conversation with you and then write a song about it!

In London, she was in the subway and got talking to a random man. "He was a 'stranger on a train,' and I thought he was a beautiful person. He got off at Green Park. We hadn’t talked much, but I thought he was cute." In Laura’s mind, the conversation continued. "I thought we would be a good match, even though I didn’t really know him. I used to get that on the bus all the time. If I saw beautiful people there, I hoped they would be there again the next day." 

That feeling is what Lauringer’s song Green Park, part of her Imaginary Conversations Collection, is all about. That collection is part 1 of her graduation project, six songs about conversations she would have wanted to have had with people in her life, but was afraid to have.

From Hamburg to Enschede 

But first, we must hop back – like Laura’s mind, which often wanders – to the beginning of Laura’s career. She studied English in Graz, Austria, her home country. "I was only 17 when I started university. I knew then that I actually wanted to study music, but I wasn’t ready for it yet." At a pop music programme in Hamburg, she met like-minded people who advised her to look into the Academy of Pop Music in Enschede. "I knew then that singing was the only option for me. I didn’t want to do that in Austria and auditioned at schools in Osnabrück, Hannover and Enschede. I decided on Enschede, because it seemed like a fun challenge to learn Dutch." She initially wanted to apply for the Voice major, but during her audition, the lecturers said she wasn’t at home on voice. "I auditioned with a song I wrote myself, so I was advised to take the Singer-Songwriter major. Which was great, because I am truly a singer-songwriter; I love both singing and writing equally."

"I always want more"

Laura, with her studies not yet fully completed in Austria, found herself in a programme in a new country where she did not speak the language. "I only knew how to say a few numbers and 'I' and 'you' in Dutch." Not a problem for the inquisitive Laura, who loves languages. She speaks English well ("I can express myself better in English than in German," she says, smiling), and also a bit of Spanish and French, which she learned in Austria. "I have broad interests and like many things. It’s in my nature. I always want more." This natural curiosity came in handy during her studies, which are quite broad. "That’s what I was looking for," she says. "We were taught music management and pop history. I find it useful to have a broader education, but you have to learn to set priorities, which I still find difficult. I find it hard to stop - I always want to learn another language, or another subject!"

Exotic German 

The study went smoothly, even as an "exotic German." "There are quite a few Germans at the Academy of Pop Music, and they have become my best friends as well. Partly because of that, I didn’t find it difficult to get used to life in the Netherlands." Laura also passed (almost) all of her subjects on time. Not bad, for a person who tends more towards the chaotic side. "I’m not very structured. I have no set plans; I'm always going back and forth. But during my studies, I was always involved with Lauringer, which was always the common thread. It wasn’t linear, but neither is life."

Beginning of an album 

This led to her finals. A collection of six imaginary conversations, the one with the guy on the London train, for example, but also a song to her boyfriend who wanted to break up with her – and what he would miss about her – and a song to a friend she had lost contact with (which has since been restored when Laura played the song for her). "It was very therapeutic to write those songs. They show how I developed in the years I studied here. It’s not an EP, it’s a collection. That’s important because the sound is quite different, but that actually shows that development." Laura also got a start on an album before her finals. "That’s the next step, making an album. I need time and money for that."

Defying fate 

Pre-COVID, Laura was doing pretty well. She performed at the Overijssel Ambassade during Eurosonic and was selected for the Pop Music Round. But now she has to start all over again, in another city to boot. She has not yet decided where. "I think it will be Hamburg or Berlin. London would be ideal, but now with COVID-19 and Brexit, that's a bit harder. I am now defying my fate, sending applications to Hamburg and to Berlin and looking for accommodation in both cities. I could teach music, or maybe do something with my English studies. I might also take a master's programme." Deliberately being open to what life may throw her way, Laura finds something constructive to take from whatever comes her way, whether it be a programme, job, or new friend. So the next time a girl on the train stares at you a little too long, check out Lauringer’s YouTube channel a few weeks later. Laura may just have written a song about you.