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PEOPLE 3 | Stouffville Sun-Tribune | Thursday, April 21, 2016 Her songs of pain, death are killer with fans, critics Coma baby, with your sick head the doctors saved you, but you're still dead through your scalp i would like to reach in so i could pull out the monster you've been Coma Baby by Nicole Dollanganger BY SANDRA BOLAN n late 2011, up and coming singer/ songwriter Nicole Dollanganger wrote Coma Baby about a friend who was going through a terrible trauma. The Stouffville resident uploaded the song onto her blog with the intention of taking it down 10 minutes later. But reaction to the song was "overwhelmingly sweet" and enough to encourage Dollanganger to truly follow her passion. The 24-year-old Stouffville District Secondary School graduate continued to write and record songs in her bedroom and bathroom. Dollanganger released her first album Curdled Milk ­ online in 2012. She followed that up with Flowers of Flesh and Blood (2012), Ode to Dawn Weiner: Embarrassing Love Songs (2013) and Observatory Mansions (2014). Last year, Dollanganger's music caught the attention of another Canadian singer/ songewriter ­ Grimes. Dollanganger released Natural Born Losers on Grimes' new label ­ Eerie Organization. She also opened for Grimes on tour late last year. There was only one problem, make that two, leading up to the tour. She had no band and Dollanganger hadn't performed live before. However, Dollanganger, her boyfriend and now songwriting partner Matt Tomasi and another musician pulled together I sbolan@yrmg.com three local shows before they headed to San Francisco's legendary Fillmore, which is where they kicked off their tour with Grimes. "I have terrible stage freight. Even playing for 10 people is horrible for me," she admitted. On tour she was playing to 3,000 people a night. The tour was a "wild experience" filled with endless highways, dumpy motels, tears and laughter. "It was a hard but incredible time," she said. Dollanganger's music also caught the attention of Rolling Stone. In October, the magazine named her one of the 10 new artists you need to know. "Just something I never could have imagined," she said of the accolade. Dollanganger's music also caught the attention of Rolling Stone. In October, the magazine named her one of the 10 new artists you need to know. In reviewing Natural Born Losers, Rolling Stone wrote, in part: "Dollanganger's often morbid lyrics are paired with light alt-rock distortion and a singing style that barely rises above a whisper, never calling attention to her lyrics no matter how unsettling they become." Friends, personal experiences, landscapes and just maybe the horror movies she grew up watching with her dad, inspire Dollanganger's lyrics. "People universally understand death and universally understand pain," she said. Dollanganger tried writing light, fluffy Friends, personal experiences, landscapes and just maybe the horror movies she grew up watching with her dad, inspire Stouffvile's Nicole Dollanganger's lyrics. pop songs but they "didn't feel right with me." After performing in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Nashville and Texas and watching Grimes command the stage, Dollanganger's writing is a little different now as she considers how they will translate live. Tomasi has a recording studio in his basement, but Dollanganger still prefers to record her vocals in her bedroom. For more information, go to nicoledollanganger.com