It’s a testament to Laner’s strength of vision, then, that the end product still feels distinctly, unmistakably her, with the record capturing the same balance of sincerity and impish humor she emits in conversation. There’s the fluttering woodwind and Disney-princess plucked strings of album opener “I Get the Feeling,” or the icy swoop of her vocals as she sings the surrealist lyrics of Cocteau Twins’ “Cherry-coloured Funk” in a perfectly judged cover, or the disarmingly catchy chorus of “Knives Out,” with its strange but effective culinary metaphors for love. (“If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen,” she sings wryly.) Or there’s the epic album closer “Get Real,” with its lightly syncopated, trip-hop-inflected beats and swirling, cloud-like synths, over which she seems to reference her mercurial self-image: “Through the screen, you can be anyone you wanna be,” she sings. Eclectic as it may be, there’s a sophisticated and self-assured throughline to it all. Laner even coined her own mini-genre: “I decided that I was making ‘evoca-pop’—evocative pop music,” she says.
You can also hear the influence of her new home base of Copenhagen, where she moved after falling in love with a musician by the stage name of Nature Boy. (He’s a product of the city’s Rhythmic Music Conservatory, along with the likes of Erika De Casier, Smerz, and ML Buch.) Laner notes that she felt increasingly out of step with the “indie sleaze” movement dominating the music scene in New York, despite “respecting everyone who was a part of that and enjoying watching it happen.”
It’s in the Danish capital that she’s found her fashion tribe, too. While touring with Polachek a few years ago, Laner reached out to the cult-favorite designer Nicklas Skovgaard, who immediately offered to lend her an outfit for the show. The pair have gone on to become close friends, with Laner walking in his spring 2026 show. (When I connect with Laner, she’s wearing a hot pink top by the designer with asymmetrical snap buttons, as well as a hair tie she refashioned into a ring with bobble-like spheres the size of ping-pong balls.)
Photo: Anika Larsen
Photo: Anika Larsen
As a hardcore tourer and troubadour, she’s also looking forward to bringing the record to life through future live dates—and to introduce a few additional theatrical flourishes. “I always have at least one fan going—it just adds so much to have wind in your wig,” she says. “It automatically creates so much drama and movement, even if you’re standing perfectly still. So yeah, I’m stanning the fan.”
