Lonnie Gunn is an emerging, Brighton-based musician who subverts the imagined innocence of girlhood. I had a chance to talk to her about queerness, body horror, and maturing as an artist.
Do you think your sexuality plays a significant role in your music?
Yes and no. I think that was always important to me growing up, because I knew fairly early on that I was queer. When I was about 13, I discovered this band called Tegan and Sara, who are both lesbians, and they’re very out. Even though the songs weren’t evidently about their queer experiences, being queer women means that it is inherently a part of who they are. I think what I want to do with my music is show people that I’m gay. I do think what people can take away from my music is that there is this sort of universal feeling of growth and struggle and love, so all of these things that I write about are just super normal and human and painful for everyone. It’s definitely important to me, but I wouldn’t say my songs are about it. They just wouldn’t exist without it.
Watching the music video of ‘Dog in a Hot Car’, I got a Billie Eilish feel from it. I don’t know if that was something that you pulled from her intentionally. Do you want to mould your image to unsettle people by embracing the macabre?
I’ve had an attraction to that sort of stuff my whole life. I have something called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, which causes a lot of physical health issues. I think anytime I do these sorts of things that are vaguely inspired by body horror in general, a lot of them are a metaphor for how I feel about what my body’s going through. So artistically, the whole project has this sort of teenage girl thing mixed with elements of death and decay.
Breaking Glass Magazine
I’m not too familiar with your earlier stuff, but do you think your style has adapted at all? Has it become darker or grungier?
Part of the reason that you probably haven’t heard any earlier stuff is because I wiped so much of it. This funny thing happened, where when I first started releasing music, I was so lacking in confidence in my own style. I was going for something that I thought was kind of me, but was mostly influenced by the people I was working with, and then I met my current producer, whose name is Stephen Ansley. When I met him, he was like, “I’m going to make you play all the instruments and write all the parts.” (laughs) I wasn’t very good, but it changed the whole project. ‘Dog in a Hot Car’ was the first song I wrote, where I pretty much wrote every part. Since then, the ability to go with my gut has made the music change a lot. So, with the upcoming releases, things are heavier for sure.
I saw that you did a support act for Tummyache in London. You were described as ‘a rising name in the alternative scene,’ by the ticket company Dice, which I thought was quite cool (Lonnie laughs). Is that daunting?
It’s going to sound silly, but about time! It’s funny because it took me so long to feel that way. I think the confidence comes from genuinely knowing that I’m working crazy hard. Even having this conversation, I’ve spent pretty much the entire day just back-to-back hustling on this project. So, being a rising name in the alternative scene, I think that’s really fun. That makes me super optimistic, especially with these songs that I have coming out. I can’t wait to see them mean something to people.
Another article you may enjoy: https://thebadgeronline.com/2025/10/long-fling/
