rockyourlyricsYour new EP “Kitsch II” has just been release, can you share with us the most difficult moment of its preparation? Any crazy/funny behind the scene?
Jane Eyre was one of the first songs I made while learning how to produce, so that was probably the biggest learning curve I’ve faced yet.
Once I learned the basics in Ableton and started to feel more comfortable with producing and writing on a laptop, everything got a lot more creative and a lot less technical. Once Jane Eyre was finished, I felt like I had really found my sound, and with that foundation set I was free to experiment with more peripheral sonic interests.
Making Valentino was another great milestone because I experimented with making my own samples—some of the percussive sounds are a slowed-down kiss and a bite into an apple, which were fun, if not a bit funny to record.
How do you usually write the lyrics of your songs?
I’ve been writing poetry since I was really little, long before I knew how to make music, so I’ve built up a catalog of sorts.
As I write new tracks they usually bring their own lyrics into the fray, but if I need to supplement them I just reference that catalog and pull the lines that interest me and see if they can be manipulated to fit the song.
In rare cases, when my mind isn’t made up about lyrics at all, the writing process is much more about sound than semantics.
I sing gibberish until I find something that pairs well with the song phonetically, and then try to mold the random syllables into lyrics.
What is the best verse you ever wrote?
You choose!
red shift
oh, redshift red
the beady eye of the camera mapping tangoes in your head
I would be the one to spackle all the black holes in your space
and still forget the two ever-accumulating in your face
red shift
oh, redshift red
the beady eye of the camera mapping tangoes in your head
ambition is the cotton bliss that seals you from the fresh-cut itch
and honey there is nothing wrong with knowing that it’s only
kitsch
—————————— —————————— —————————— —
Jane Eyre, you wear
me like a glove
in the goodnight fist-fight
you’ve been dreaming of
so honey, please spare me
your postpartum shove
oh all in good time, you will open your eyes
and I’ll be that New Wave kind of love
cause there’s 13 ways of looking at your face
in the mirror
—————————— —————————— ———-
steel philia
you’re a birthmark devout
and I won’t stop
’til I’m golden
I’ll bring it home
I’m my own reformative
Trophy Daughter
aspirin of diaspora
no you can’t build
on intention alone
I’ll drive the moment
to its crisis like a
Trophy Daughter
What was the soundtrack to your childhood?
Sade, Billie Holiday, Enya, Tchaikovsky, New Order, Mandy Moore, Dean Martin, Debussy, Elvis, Hilary Duff
What was the first record you ever bought?
No Doubt’s Greatest Hits
What has your journey in the music industry been like up to now?
Really unpredictable and exciting!
I starting putting out music in college, and then I left after two years to tour with a surf rock band.
When it was over the idea of going back to school was excruciating, so l I started working as a freelance writer while producing my first EP and planning a tour of my own. After the first EP was released I started planning a move from Florida to New York which I just completed about six months ago.
Before and after the move I was finishing my second EP and that just came out this February.
So at this point it’s really exciting just to take a breath and kind of assess what I’m meant to do next! I feel like all the puzzle pieces are finally coming together.
What inspired “Anyone Else” the second song released from the album?
Anyone Else and Providence were originally one song that I wrote and would perform on electric guitar.
It was a stripped-down ballad and probably the only song where I addressed romantic love in a completely idealist, naive way.
I wrote it after several different trips to Providence and New York City, several years before I moved to NY. While Providence compares two people making love in a literal sense, Anyone Else is a bit more of a figurative representation of how being in awe of a city parallels the feeling of being wrapped up serious romantic love.
I grew up in a beach town in South Florida, and I’ve wanted to live in a big city for as long as I can remember. Realizing that they lived up to my expectations was one of the most exciting things about growing up, since there was always this fear that the grass wouldn’t be greener on the other side.
I was visiting Providence one time in the winter when I saw someone throwing snowballs at a window to get someone’s attention and it was just one of the most beautiful things I had ever seen.
I don’t know if it was the novelty of the snow or the city or all just a coincidence but I felt like the whole town was coming alive in this little vignette.
I wanted to write about the fantasy in the mundanity, both in my relationship and the cities it was blossoming in.
Are you ever scared of revealing, aspects of your personal experience, to strangers through your music?
More often than not I think I fear that I’m the only one who understands my lyrics! If you can figure anything out about my personal life, I definitely would be more impressed than embarrassed.
What inspired “Valentino”?
I wrote Valentino when I was still in Florida and I kept seeing people in New York being hired to DJ or play at fashion shows.
I had a really old voice memo where I was just singing “Valentino” because it helped me remember a melody I came up with, so it instantly came to mind when I decided I wanted to try and score a fashion show.
Everyone enjoys music that makes them want to dance, but I also think that nothing beats the feeling of walking down the street to a really great song.
With Valentino, I tried to write a song that sounded like walking in heels, a bit jagged and on the edge, but equally as empowered.
The lyrics are a collection of a lot of ideas that I thought paired well with that feeling, but it mostly focuses on mental health and classism.
What is the best show you ever played?
I don’t know about performance-wise, but from a sentimental standpoint, my EP release at Baby’s All Right just a few weeks ago was a real highlight for me.
I never had a release show for the last EP, so this was kind of like a celebration of both Kitsch and Kitsch II, and the audience was super supportive and energetic.
The venue was going hard with the fog machine, the light show was unbelievable, and I even saw some people dancing and singing along!
What are your plans for 2018?
I’ll be playing more shows and hopefully planning a tour!
I’ll also be releasing a video/short film and some collaborations I’ve been holding onto.
I’ve already started a few ideas for new songs, but I’ll be saving those for a full LP, so the end of the year will probably consist of going back into production mode.
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