Laurel

English singer-songwriter-producer Laurel Arnell-Cullen crafts sparkling, soulful alt-pop. Building on the atmospheric production of her debut single “Fire Breather,” released independently in 2014, she issued her first album, DOGVIOLET, in 2018. Later partnerships with Chrome Sparks yielded the synth-driven “Best I Ever Had,” featured on the 2020 EP PETROL BLOOM, and “You’re the One,” included on 2021’s LIMBO CHERRY. Opening 2023 with the single “Change,” she explored light touches of ’80s pop and sophisti-pop; the track appeared on the following year’s full-length Palpitations.

Raised near Southampton and now London-based, Arnell-Cullen declared her intention to sing at age five. At thirteen, exposure to Laura Marling prompted her to acquire a Spanish guitar and explore folk styles. Already composing material, she began performing her own songs at local venues within a year. After secondary school she spent two years studying business and music performance in Portsmouth, simultaneously uploading original tracks to the internet. In early 2013 a home-recorded electro-pop demo titled “Blue Blood” surfaced online and attracted attention from music blogs. She soon moved to London, secured management, and launched her official career with “Fire Breather” on her own Next Time Records imprint in early 2014. Months afterward came the three-song EP To the Hills, followed in December by Holy Water. The 2015 mixtape Allelopathy preceded her signing with Counter Records, which issued the EP Park in late 2016.

By that point she had refined a more layered approach incorporating electric guitar, live drums, keyboards, and dramatic production flourishes. DOGVIOLET arrived on Counter Records in August 2018. After switching to Communion Group she released the smoother PETROL BLOOM EP in late 2020, featuring a track co-written and produced by Chrome Sparks’ Jeremy Malvin. In April of the next year she independently offered another Chrome Sparks collaboration, “You’re the One,” later collected on LIMBO CHERRY. Arnell-Cullen joined Damon Albarn and Caroline Polachek among the guests on Flume’s 2022 album Palaces. The following April she partnered with IMPERIAL for the breakup single “Change,” whose sleek lite jazz-funk recalled ’80s sophisti-pop. Dynamic synths, crisp drum-machine patterns, and flowing bass lines defined her updated style—accessible yet free of nostalgic pastiche—while retaining her gift for incisive melodies and lyrics. Further work with Chrome Sparks and with writer-producer Kyle Shearer, whose credits include Carly Rae Jepsen, Dua Lipa, and Rina Sawayama, shaped her sophomore album, Palpitations, released in 2024.