Four years ago, Sharkk Heartt singer-songwriter Lara Ruggles found herself driving to Tucson, Arizona to move in with her dad and stepmom. Lara was 30, enduring heartbreak, reeling from a band breakup, and unable to keep her bills paid. She was feeling rudderless and bracing for the start of the Trump administration.

“I was questioning the hell out of myself,” the Tucson, Arizona-based artist recalls. “I was writing songs that were bigger than me, finally – that dealt with things in the world on a larger scale than just me and my own emotional experience. These songs gave me purpose in a time when I had lost the thread.”

Sharkk Heartt’s debut, Wars Our Mothers Fought, features these seismic songs. They are culled from a transformative and tumultuous time during which Lara internalized the necessity of intersectionality in activism. Spurred on by her close relationship with several LGBTQ friends, the realization that “no one is liberated until everyone is liberated” hit home. The resulting, impactful 7-song album from this epiphanic time features moody downtempo electro-pop music paired with sharp political and cultural commentary. Sharkk Heartt’s music would fit snugly on a Spotify playlist alongside artists such as Vagabon, Broods, London Grammar, and Florence + the Machine.

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