Playfully poignant Philadelphia pop-folkie Laura Mann had been part of the city’s musical consciousness for decades — through the three-part harmonies of Elysian Fields in the late 1980s, her own soulful solo career beginning in 1994, and the punk-inflected Laura + the Lifeboys in between — before stepping back from performing to build something new.

That something was The Living Room at 35 East, an intimate 40-seat listening room in Ardmore that Laura Mann opened in 2018, filled with couches and comfy chairs, where Jeffrey Gaines, Freedy Johnston, and Phil Nicolo performed. Philadelphia Magazine named it Best Small Music Venue in its Best of 2019 issue, and it went on to earn Main Line Today’s award for Best Unique Live Music Venue in 2020 before expanding and relocating in 2022 to accommodate national touring acts.

Laura Mann and the Making of Plain as Day

With The Living Room established, Laura Mann returned to making music. Her 2019 album Plain as Day — her first release since 2010 — arrived at a release show at World Café Live with Vernon Reid, Greg Sover, and Gloria Galante on the bill. The record was produced by Charlton Pettus, guitarist and producer for Tears for Fears, at Shabby Road Studio in Sherman Oaks, CA, and features a duet with Freedy Johnston on a reimagining of “Eyes Without a Face.”

“I haven’t released an album since 2010, and I felt it was time to express some things,” Mann said at the time. “One of the themes on the album is that we take the time to slow down and really listen to one another.”

To keep the project close to home, Laura Mann finished Plain as Day with Phil Nicolo at Studio 4 in Conshohocken, giving the sessions a dense yet aerated sheen that reflected both the intimate scale of the songs and the community of collaborators behind them.

Laura Mann Beyond The Living Room

Mann closed The Living Room in April 2024 after six years, citing a desire to return to writing and performing. She spent time in Southern California recording new material with Pettus and Dan Navarro, and returned to the Philadelphia area to perform in 2025 and 2026. Her continued presence in the Philadelphia vinyl and independent music community makes Plain as Day a document worth revisiting — a record that captured a working musician reclaiming her voice after years of building a stage for others.

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A.D. Amorosi

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