Edited by Clark Fannin
You played a lot of stuff off the new album tonight. Do you have a particular song right now that's your favorite to perform?
I think it was the last one that I did play tonight, which I think I still wouldn't know the song titles, but it's probably like, The World Won't Get Me. But tonight, a song called Tonight (haha) was my favorite. And I think it's just, I don't know, sort of random how different songs feel. Like, I feel more present or engaged with them on different nights. And then I think it's going to happen again at the next show, and it always surprises me how different songs feel to play on different nights.
Have you played Sleeping Village before?
I have. Yeah. A few times. Last time, it was a special show. I played with Avey Tare. Do you know Animal Collective? (yes) But yeah, I love playing here. It's cool.
How did you get in contact with Chanel Beads? How did this show get set up in the first place?
We met way back in the day in Seattle and just, like, stayed friends since. So he just asked me to open and I was really excited. Yeah, that's that story.
As someone who makes music in a similar vein, is there anything about their music specifically that draws you to it?
Like, so much. Where do I begin? I think the drums are really cool. I don't quite know how he makes them. And they sound really singular, but also reminiscent of other things in a way that's, like–I was standing with someone and they were like, "The drums are kind of reminding me of Timbaland right now." So, the drums. But also the songwriting just has so much emotion. It's both very expansive and patient, but also at the same time, there's always new ear candy that's piquing your attention. So it's cool how it does both of those things. It's meditative and also really exciting and never boring. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. I love their music so much.
Tonight you were performing solo. If you could have anyone and anything on stage with you, what or who would you have up there?
I'm sort of right now into playing alone and focusing on the performance elements and just moving and like really engaging with the emotion of the song and letting myself move around. And so it's scary, but there's something I like about being alone up there. but I've also definitely fantasized about a drummer. Have you ever seen Caribou live? (no) Yeah. It's just, like, an awesome drummer. Yeah, I think electronic music when there's a live drummer and I don't know, probably some other people playing. It'd be cool to have someone on bass. It can bring a more organic vibe to it and more…tactile? But yeah, for now, I feel excited about playing alone.
On your newest album, Elapsed Kiss, there's a lot of acoustic guitar. Would you say a lot of the time the acoustic guitar chord progression comes first, or does it often get added later for additional texture?
I think for that record it was often coming first and inspiring other things. But there are certain songs where it came later. And there were also songs where I would take a recording of acoustic guitar and really chop it up and place it, and it was really fun to hear, like, okay, if I chop this up and place random sections of it together, how is that gonna sound? That's how the song, "Dream About It," kind of came to be. And another song, off my unreleased album. I'm still super excited and into chopping up guitar and then roulette, like, randomly place them together and deciding if it sounds cool, and it often does. And it's stuff I couldn't write. I think that's what's cool about sampling. If you chop something up and manipulate it, it sounds nothing like it did prior. If I was just at a blank canvas, I could never have written that, or thought of that, or come across that. So it's just exciting. It's like a treasure hunt.
What DAW do you use, mainly?
It's always been Logic Pro. I've been interested in Ableton, but I just feel like it took so long to learn one I'm not going elsewhere. I love using Logic.
Do you have analog gear at home that you use a lot, or are you mostly working on your laptop?
So I have a Minilogue synth and I like that. When I had a tour I did in 2019, I played that. A lot of songs I did with like no tracks on that tour and I used this TR-8 drum machine, Minilogue, and I had like a vocal pedal to double and add reverb. But my favorite is software synths: the freedom, how much you can really turn dials and customize. I love sampling, and I love plug-ins, and I love fucking up a sample and making it unrecognizable. But yeah, what really excites me is not analog gear right now. It's like sampling certain software synths. Also Labs. Do you know Labs? (no) It's this website, or, I guess, company, and they have a lot of, like, really good musicians recording like harp or choirs and it's all MIDI so you can just play it like that. They just launched a subscription. Shout out Labs–sponsor this. Yeah, they just launched this kind of subscription thing that I was looking at today and I will probably buy. They have things like drums through cassette to give it, like, an interesting quality. I find their software instruments to have a lot of variety and add a lot of, like, a live touch to music that you make in a DAW without having to record live instruments.
I know you've used a lot of field recordings in the past, and you've gotten a lot of your own sounds. I'm kind of curious, at this point, in 2024, when you're creating music, how much time would you say you're spending getting those field recordings versus afterward processing them?
I don't lately use many field recordings that I've recorded. I'm, like, scouring the internet. I played a song tonight called "I'm So High." It's going to be on my next record. And I just went on Freesound or YouTube and I'm finding, like, thunderstorm or cricket. One of my best friends who mixes and masters all my music, her name is Angel, her artist name is Fire-Toolz, she told me that that song, the way I used the field recording, sounded really, like, a computer in a natural landscape. I don't know. Have you seen those memes of computers on a beach and like the waves are coming? (i think?) I feel like when I think of a field recording, it's like, I'm making the song and I'm like, "ooh, I want thunderstorm." I don't necessarily have a thunderstorm pre-recorded, so I'm not going back into my field recordings and placing them in songs. I'm just, in the moment as I'm composing, thinking, like, thunderstorm or cricket would sound cool here. So that's what prompts me to go on the internet and just grab what I can. And I feel like I'm so different because I'm always aiming for that whole blend of like, this feels natural, it doesn't. It just ends really abruptly. That doesn't happen in nature.
You have, by normal standards, some pretty unconventional methods for producing music. Do you have some sort of consistency in your workflow that kind of streamlines the creative process, or is it just kind of spontaneous whenever motivation and creativity hits you?
That's a really good question. I feel like that's something that, like, people think about a lot or struggle with. When I was first making music, I felt like I couldn't do it unless I felt a big feeling, motivation. And it took a long time, but I feel sort of disciplined with it now. Just because I know it makes me feel good to continually do it. I make music a lot. A lot of my free time I'm doing that. But sometimes, like, I played a song tonight, it was, a slow piano, kind of, like, ambient, I don't know if you remember, towards the end (yes). That was different, like, that was just, like, I was really sad one night, and I just, like, made that. So oftentimes it's discipline, like, I'm gonna sit down, I'm gonna chop up some drums. and see what happens, and then songs come from that. And then other times, it comes from not knowing what else to do when I feel a big way.
How or when do you know that a song is finished?
It can be so hard. Like, it can torment me. There is, often, though, this "puzzle piece fitting," and, like, "the puzzle is done" feeling. I don't know exactly what contributes to that, or, like, what. It's just a feeling, like, it's just a sense of, like, nothing is missing, or nothing's really bothering me. Yeah.
What did you listen to as a kid?
Oh, love this question. My mom was obsessed with Enya. And I feel like it shows. It was like Enya in the car all the time. And still a big Enya fan. I remember these specific moments as a kid, like really little, or like, let's say elementary school, feeling, like, stunned by music. Like I was in my cousin's basement, and I think, like, "Without Me" by Eminem came on, and I like stopped and I was like "What is this music?" It also happened with "Believe" by Cher. I think I was on a road trip and it came on. I remember looking out the window and being like, "Wow." As I got older, I got really into classic stuff. I was into Neil Young. I still am. I love Neil Young. Elliot Smith. I got into electronic music mostly after high school. I didn't get it, or I just wasn't exposed to good stuff. It was a lot of, like, dubstep, which can be cool but there was a lot of stuff I just wasn't connecting to.
How much do you think your musical background as a kid is reflected in what you make now?
Well, I never did music, like, lessons or orchestra. I don't know. Just music was never a part of my life in a practice way, but I was, like, obsessed with music. Ooh, I left out, like, Avril Lavigne was big for me. Yeah. Wait, what was the question? (restated question) I don't know, what do you think? I feel like there are some, like, Avril Lavigne vibes. I feel really excited about music that's really normal but also really experimental and weird at the same time. That's some of my favorite stuff, I think, when it's like occupying these two worlds. Yeah, I think what I listened to as a kid really influences what I make. I was a dancer when I was young, so, like, when I first started making music, I would imagine choreography, and then make music that would go to it.
So, who are some of your favorite artists right now?
I always need a moment to answer that question…Chanel Beads. I've been in a big Cocteau Twins phase. There's a song, "Memory Gongs," by them. I think it's a record with Harold Budd that that song is off of. This isn't too recent, but when I was making Elapsed Kiss, I was really inspired by the artist Malibu, an ambient artist. Why is this always a question where my brain is just empty? Like, I wanna pull up the Spotify, you know? There was, like, a Bruce Springsteen song recently, "Sad Eyes," that I really love. The Silent Hill soundtrack. That's what's coming to mind for now.
How often do you get to go to shows yourself as an audience member?
Well, Chicago's great for shows. Last year for whatever reason, I was going less. I'm in a place right now where I'm excited to go more. I haven't been doing it as much as I have been wanting to. But I just came back from this, like, long trip, and I was with people all the time. And it's not that I was happier, but I was just, like, less on social media. Maybe I was happier. So yeah, I came back a few days ago and right now, in my mind, I'm really like, "I need to go to shows. I need to be around people." Like, I'm really motivated to do that.
Are there are real life places that you feel like influence your work at times, or influence specific songs?
Oh yeah. There's a song on Elapsed Kiss, "Sun Lifts The Weight," and I just pictured myself in, like, a desert in the car. There's something sandy, and hot, and, like, sedating. You know, like hot, dry, desert weather can be sedating. Palm trees moving slow. I don't know why, that song really just took me there. Other songs are not as obvious, they don't evoke a place as much.
What does your music look like in your head?
I was wondering if you could ask a specific song. Or I could just give a specific song. (sure, "Dream About It") I feel like there's something yellow and watery about it. But that middle section, it's more, I don't know if this is the right word, but, like, raunchy. Like, there's, like, a, it is so upbeat and fun, and then, like, the middle section just, like, the vibe really shifts and it gets slower. This is bad I'm saying this, but there's a sample, I think it sort of sounds like moaning noises or something. it's not. But like, if you hear a sound that sounds like that, I screen-recorded a person's TikTok live because they said, like, "I love you" in the TikTok live. And I just loved the way they said that. I think we have to cut this for liability. But I messed it up, so I don't think anyone would be able to tell. I think it's, like, anonymous. I definitely went on a tangent.
Is there any non-musical media that influences your work?
Yeah, absolutely. Like photos. I really like photos of liminal spaces. And yeah, I like David Lynch movies, and I like photography movies that are, like, subtly creepy–which makes it more creepy. It's, like, normal and creepy at the same time. I don't know if this is just me, but I feel like I can't escape there being something creepy about my music. I mean, I think that's what makes it cool. It's, like, what I look for.
What can we expect next from Lipsticism?
The next album. It's done. It's mastered. And I'm waiting to hear back from some people I'm working with about when it will be released. There's one other thing. It's not Lipsticism, but I'm in a band called Immaterialize, and we're also pretty close to finishing that record. So that's what's in the works.