ANCHR’s Artist of the Week: Poise

Poise is the brainchild of the NYC based songwriter and musician Lucie Murphy. I recently caught Poise on tour opening up for Pinegrove, and it was one of those support sets where I immediately went to Spotify to save some of the band’s songs because they were that good.

Photo Courtesy of Poise

Murphy grew up in Manhattan, admiring the diverse music scene of the city thanks to her dad’s love for any and all types of music. “He was always keeping an ear to the ground musically,” Murphy says about her dad. Unfortunately, Murphy ended up losing her father in an unexpected and sudden manner, and that grief was the catalyst behind her debut album Vestiges, released in 2021. Murphy displays transparent and introspective outlooks on the record, which also explores her devastation around the start of the pandemic and the cancellation of Poise’s first tour.

Murphy persevered through the challenges and found comfort through this creative outlet, stating that “a lot of this record is about finding confidence and learning to put myself back together when bad things happen.” Murphy primarily wrote the songs on Vestiges in a Vermont cabin that she stayed in during the summer months of 2020, in a space that allowed her to focus more on her artistic process. Once the skeletons of each track were composed by Murphy, she invited fellow musicians Sam Skinner and Theo Munger to help flesh out the arrangements. The end result is a multi-faceted album that showcases both a refined delicacy and a controlled power in Murphy’s vocals, paired with sweeping and exploratory melodies.

If you get the chance to catch a live show from Poise, don’t miss the opportunity. The band will be on tour with Pinegrove throughout most of August, and you can see the full tour dates here.