PREMIERE: Laura Elizabeth Hughes shares 'Two'

Laura Elizabeth Hughes first exploded onto the Dublin music scene in 2012, when she began covering songs on her YouTube channel. Her acclaimed self-titled debut EP earned her a well-deserved Most Promising Act nomination in our Hot Press Readers Poll, so we are naturally delighted to premiere her latest track, 'Two'.

The song is about solitude for Hughes, who said: "it's watching on from your messy little bubble at other people getting on with how life is right now, wanting to know how they were doing it. It's me, piano, and quiet thoughts.

"I started writing 'Two' last May," she explains. "I was sitting at home with no motivation, no concentration, too much time, and my own head ,which is a little bit of a recipe for disaster. I was looking at social media and everybody putting out content and doing live streams and being productive and I felt I was failing at getting on with things. I had just started to feel, in March, that my life was getting on track in all aspects, and Covid pulled the rug out from underneath me – which in hindsight it did to everybody, but it felt like a very lonely time."

Hughes took a break from music before returning in 2018, but her already lengthy music career has led the young singer-songwriter to support the likes of Dermot Kennedy and Billie Marten. In fact, the stage is where Hughes feels most at home. "I'm missing gigging so much right now, that I guess some of the beautiful stage sharing I've done would be a career highlight," she says. "I've supported some wonderful acts and getting to find and share a new audience in their fans is always a highlight."

'Two' comes from Hughes' forthcoming EP, We, Myself, I, which is due for release on March 5th, 2021. The sparse production and gentle piano sees Hughes allowing her voice to take centre stage.

"I've definitely ridden and crashed a wave of production over the past while, and think I've settled into something a little more stripped back, which feels more in tune with what I write," she explains of her latest material. "I try not to worry too much about sound, the bones of what I do has to be honest and the songs will sit where they need to sit sonically."

Listen to the song below.