By: Jamie Steinberg
Photo By Henry Hu
Q) How would you describe your sound?
A) Indie folk / americana / alternative pop.
Q) Who are some of your musical influences?
A) So, so many! From Bach to Nina Simone via Bob Dylan, The Police, Led Zeppelin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, John Martyn, Alex Harvey (SAHB), Gordon Lightfoot, Supertramp, Fleetwood Mac, Björk, Beck, Sam Fender, The Who, T. Rex, Buddy Rich, Jacqueline du Pré, The Smiths, The Normal, Joy Division… STOP ME!
Q) Talk about the story behind your new song “The Car.”
A) I wrote it during Covid, inspired by a favorite song I was listening to a lot called “Warm Leatherette” by The Normal. I thought about how a car crash and a breakup live in a similar world somehow and wanted to write a song about a relationship using the crash as a metaphor…
Q) What do you think it is about the song that fans connect to?
A) I think, I hope, it’s honesty. I hold the emotion of the broken relationships I’ve had within me, as we all do, and I channeled that to write the lyric…
Q) How does the video for the track play into the message behind it?
A) First, there are no tricks – everything is handmade, just like the music. Authenticity is very important to me as an artist. For the scenes where the car is driving high-speed with the countryside behind, I was on a high-speed train with the car propped on my bag leaning against the window. [smiles] Literally. I think it also taps into the vanity (fancy car, the blonde Barbie) of doomed relationships and the childlike approach to filming, the homemade set in a cardboard box, represents our naivety… but also that this is a memory, a past relationship, not of the now for me but of the then….
Q) What are some themes you explore on your new album Held Here Together?
A) A lot of it has to do with repair, I think… and resilience… I don’t think this was initially intentional, but it was by the end..
Q) Why is the artwork for the album especially meaningful to you?
A) It is meaningful because it shows a collection of my best friend’s toys, held together as they always are since their marriage some years ago… they placed them there together on a shelf in their home, unifying the toys that had given them individually comfort as children, now joined together as they are in marriage…
Q) What is your songwriting process? Do you need music before you can create lyrics?
A) I don’t need the lyrics, but sometimes I do have them. I write every day; sometimes a melody inspires a lyric, sometimes words sit in my notebook until I hear a melody I think belongs with them. I really believe songs are like people, that words and music have a sort of destiny to be together. When you find the right words and music that go together, the song works instantly, like falling in love…
Q) How much of a hand do you have in the production of your music?
A) A big hand, I co-produce all my music.
Q) My favorite songs on the album are “Winter Rose” and “Lay Lady Lay.” Which song(s) holds a special place in your heart and what makes it so standout to you?
A) “The Film” and “The Boy and The Swan” are favorites of mine. I like the loneliness of “The Film” and “The Boy and The Swan” and I’m very happy with the story and how the song builds too…
Q) What songs off your album are you looking forward to performing live?
A) All of them!
Q) What do you hope listeners take away from listening to Held Here Together as a whole, either as a message or emotion?
A) That we can fix ourselves. We can be broken, but we can put ourselves back together again, maybe not as before, but that’s ok…
Q) Who would you most like to collaborate with on a song in the future?
A) I change this answer all the time as there are so, so many people, but Dolly Parton, Paul Simon and Sam Fender all work for me. [smile]
Q) What artist/musician are you currently listening to and why do you dig them?
A) I’m enjoying Gerry Mulligan after watching an amazing documentary about him… He’s very underrated, in the UK at least, as a jazz great…
Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?
A) Just thank you. You give what I do true worth and meaning. Creating art is worthless really if it doesn’t connect, so making the connection to you all means the world…