Lara Ruggles - Anchor Me

“With her soaring vocals spread across a progressive indie-folk production throughout, she is returning to us with one of her more emotive efforts to date here.” – Flex Music Blog

“With Anchor Me, Lara Ruggles invites listeners to join her as she uncovers the lessons etched into her own story. It’s a space where loss and love coexist, where returning to oneself brings peace, and where being brave enough to let go can lead to something new. It’s the kind of truth that’s easy to grasp in theory, yet rarely voiced so openly in life—especially when sung.” – C-Heads Magazine

Lara Ruggles’ new record Anchor Me, her first release under her own name in 9 years, is a return to form, a rediscovery of Ruggles’ vulnerability both in lyricism and production. Ruggles grew up 40 miles outside of Tucson on 7 acres surrounded by cattle ranches, her songwriting emerging from the isolation she felt. Eventually she moved to Denver, from where she spent the better part of a decade touring and performing, firmly rooting herself in the Colorado folk scene. In 2016 she returned home to Tucson where she started her project Sharkk Heartt, which allowed her to explore songwriting through infectious electro-pop anthems that marked a distinct departure from her previous sound. It was only recently that Ruggles found herself collecting songs (and writing a few new ones) that didn’t seem to have a place to go, songs that felt too intimate and personal for Sharkk Heartt.

The songs on Anchor Me are compassionate and warm, even while circling deep pain and loss. The arrangements are left open, alternating between piano ballads and understated folk-rock that allow Ruggles’s powerful voice to soar through the mix. Whether she is delivering a gut-punch of a realization or a contemplative rumination, the songs feel close, tangible, and real.

In the record’s opening track ‘Love Me Instead,’ Lara Ruggles examines the complexities of love with a tender heart. Here she allows herself to make mistakes, to be an unfair lover, to ask more of a partner than they should have to give. From its gentle introduction to its swelling choruses laden with rich harmonies, guitars, and harmonium, the folk ballad hinges on the simple, yet powerful hook: Could you love me instead? The song becomes a practice of empathy, of meeting others where they are. “Love often looks much different in practice than what we ask of it.” Ruggles says, a centered truth that sets the tone for the rest of the record.