Bishop Takes Rock

- Claire Lobenfeld

BISHOP BRIGGS IS TRYING TO EXPLAIN WHAT it’s like to tour with Coldplay at the age of 24 and before releasing a debut EP, but she can’t help focusing on the catering. “They have vegan treats, catch-of-the-day fish, a selection of smoothies and pastries,” she recalls. “To be sharing a stage with such an iconic band is an amazing experience, but also to have such iconic catering” — she cracks a goofy grin — “provides a lifelong memory.”

Briggs had released only two songs when she got the call to open for Coldplay in 2016: “Wild Horses,” which featured in a 2015 Acura commercial and became a Shazam-based breakout, and “River,” which rode a heart-baring hook to an unexpected amount of alternative radio airplay. Briggs, whose range conjures the soulfulness and startling depth of Florence Welch, is one of just nine solo female artists to crack the top 10 of Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs chart in the past five years.

Still riding high from last summer’s arena run, Briggs has begun to prepare for a pivotal professional stretch. On April 14, she’ll release her self-titled debut EP on Island Records; a day later, she’ll play Coachella, then kick off a 25-city North American trek that will eventually lead to Lollapalooza and Panorama. When Briggs arrives at a coffee shop in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake nabe, her raven hair in two topknots and an o-ring fetish choker around her neck, she is spry and chatty in spite of post-rehearsal exhaustion. “I’m freezing right now, because I was just drenched in sweat,” she tells