Stranger to Myself<\/em>, explores PTSD, grief, and isolation following her recovery from a major vehicle accident. Built on cinematic swells and anchored by Laura\u2019s striking operatic vocals, the track fully embodies her emotionally raw, atmospheric songwriting.<\/p>\n\u201cthe fool\u201d carries the listener through coiling bridges and mounting tension, evoking the feeling of being trapped in relentless waves of thought and emotion. There\u2019s a sense of beautiful misery throughout, devastating yet captivating, like a modern-day Greek tragedy. Even in its darkest moments, the song remains mesmerizing, balancing chaos and elegance while Laura\u2019s vulnerability transforms personal anguish into something deeply universal.<\/p>\n
The accompanying music video captures this atmosphere of rumination and instability, mirroring the song\u2019s emotional unease while maintaining intimacy. The result feels deeply personal, as though the viewer is witnessing a secret being shared for the very first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe world just kept spinning. We hit the ground again\u2014I thought I had died. Everything went black for a second. And then, suddenly, the van stopped. The g-forces vanished, but inside me, the spinning didn\u2019t. My body was still. But inside, I kept tumbling.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s Laura Hickli, describing the car accident that changed her life and nearly shattered her relationship with music. stranger to myself, Hickli\u2019s full-length debut moves through her journey from fracture to revival.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s the point of being alive when it can all be taken away so quickly?\u201d<\/p>\n
Hickli\u2019s unfiltered recollections are shaped by fear, shock, and survivor\u2019s guilt. They appear in Stranger To Myself\u2019s<\/em> darkest passages, grounding the album in raw, unguarded vulnerability.<\/p>\nDuring a 2023 U.S. tour, Hickli\u2019s van skidded on ice and flew off the road, spun 180 degrees into oncoming traffic, careening backwards off the highway and rolling three times down a 50-foot hill. As it tumbled down the hillside, Hickli felt everything slow down, watching her belongings rise around her, suspended in eerie stillness, time stretching the space between life and death. It was just 24 seconds, and although there were no severe injuries, Hickli was painfully affected. In the months that followed, writing music unpacked what her body had survived, yet her mind could not accept.<\/p>\n
Stranger to Myself<\/em> is a sonic journey towards healing. Music holds immense power for Hickli; it\u2019s how she processes, how she connects, how she survives. Across the album, she confronts grief, fear, and dissociation on her path to acceptance and growth. Two emotional currents run throughout: songs rooted in loss and anguish, and others cautiously imagining a future beyond survival. These contrasting tones live side by side, creating an unsettled emotional world that reflects trauma and recovery. Through this darkness and despair, light emerges.<\/p>\nOn \u201ccall it off,\u201d Hickli repeats, \u201cWish things stayed the same \/ I wish things never changed,\u201d regretting having ever left home instead of staying \u201cunder the covers.\u201d Her lyrics pair with swelling, uplifting musical arrangements, a tension that captures the strange coexistence of sorrow and hope. Stranger to Myself<\/em> continually pushes and pulls, capturing the complexities of pain and resilience.<\/p>\nOn \u201cwake up\u201d, Hickli\u2019s sounds lighter and more expansive. Her lyrics still acknowledge struggle, while the melody is gently optimistic. These moments form the album\u2019s foundation; growth comes not from erasing trauma, but from acknowledging it without letting it rule.<\/p>\n
Stranger to Myself<\/em> is an emotionally turbulent experience; a meditative reflection in limbo, only to culminate in a climax of sound. Harsh, raw instrumentation reverberates throughout, intensity dispelling the tranquility of seconds prior. The songs that emerged aren\u2019t pretty, polished reflections; they\u2019re unsettling and painfully human. Recovery has no clear finish, but creation has given her connection, and now Hickli feels less alone.<\/p>\n\n