Ascending indie singer-songwriter Marina Laurendi drops her latest single “Neighborhood Kids” ahead of her “Stay Mine” EP debuting in August. “Neighborhood Kids” is a sweet and sultry hometown ballad, perfect for slow summer days. The music crescendos throughout, starting with simple acoustic guitar, piano and light synth until it culminates with a face-melting bluesy electric guitar solo at the song’s finale.
The sound has a wide variety of influences, including a folksy Americana vibe reminiscent of Brandi Carlile, melancholic indie pop evoking Lana Del Rey, and an edgier blues sound with notes of Gary Clarke Jr. Marina will also be dropping a stunning lyric video to accompany the song on June 27th.
On the new single, Marina said, “I wrote Neighborhood Kids after coming back home after years of living away. Seeing and re-experiencing my hometown in the summertime as an adult hit me with a wave of nostalgia-driving down the neighborhood streets at sunset, reconnecting with people I hung out with in high school- all of it brought back this youthful sense of rebellion, curiosity, and a sense of suburban restlessness that summed up my entire youth pretty well.”
Marina Laurendi lived in New York City before returning to her hometown of Buffalo, NY, as so many young people have done after the pandemic. Rather than dwell on leaving the big city, Laurendi takes a different approach, leaning into her roots, and adopting the “everything happens for a reason” attitude. She sums it up perfectly at the end of the song when she croons, “Bittersweet baby, I got nothing to chase it. The music’s been here but we don’t wanna face it. Nothing feels different when I’m hanging with the neighborhood kids.”
Marina Laurendi is an artist/ singer-songwriter who fuses elements of cinematic pop, alternative rock, and singer-songwriter lyricism to create her unique sound. Poetic and moody with catchy melodies and haunting vocals, her music is steeped in personal experience yet universally relatable. A Western New York native, Marina grew up as a theatre performer and moved to NYC shortly after college to perform Off-Broadway and around the East Coast.
Her music is heavily influenced by the pulse of the city along with the quiet nostalgia of her roots. Marina has recently performed at notable venues such as The Bitter End in NYC, Hard Rock Cafe in Niagara Falls, Nietzsche’s and Mr. Goodbar in Buffalo, and The Orleans County Fairgrounds (Tedfest V). Her music has been featured on Thunder 102 in Sullivan County, in Broadway World and NYS Music, and has earned her spots on dozens of independent Spotify playlists. Her latest single “Gramercy” received rave reviews with All Music Magazine calling her “a force to be reckoned with”.
