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10 Questions with ... Lissie
June 24, 2019
Have an opinion? Add your comment below. I have friends who like to sing, who are good singers, but they don't feel like their voices are as strong as they want. And I'm like, "You know, your vocal cords are a muscle." Any exercise that you do, if you're going to be stretching and lifting weights, you use those muscles, so it just gets stronger and stronger
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1. Was there ever a time when you thought about not being a musician?
No, not really. Ever since I was a kid, I was making up songs and singing. I always say I got like delusionally confident in my 20s -- I was pretty bold. The only time where I maybe thought I would want to try and find a new relationship to having a music career was in 2015. When I was dropped from my major record deal and it was like, "You know, I'm not really enjoying myself so much and music's not feeling super-fun right now. I'm going to buy this farm in Ireland and move back, and maybe even go back to school."
2. What were thinking of doing?
I wanted to just drive around with my guitar to make money and sort of re-approach it all. But then I made My Wild West, and it came out and then it reminded me, "No, this is what you're going to do. You like this." But I was able to at least find a better balance, hopefully, or a little more control in how I've approached things since then
3. Your new album, When I'm Alone, is a celebration of all of your past albums. What finally made you decide to put this kind of a collection out?
It's funny because I've actually been getting a lot of opportunity to talk about it, and I was a little shy about that, because I was like, "I don't really want to make that big of a deal out of it." Rather than being something new, I was approaching it as this like supplement to my existing catalog for people who already maybe know and love these songs. If new people find me that way, that's great,too.
4. How did the recording come about?
I was doing some promotions for my last album Castles, and by doing these sorts of industry showcases, I was performing without a guitar and just with a piano player. It was so freeing to have all this space around my voice and for the piano arrangements pulling the emotion out of the songs that maybe weren't as well represented in the kind of bouncier produced versions.
By last summer I went over to Berlin and I started recording it, then finished it in pieces throughout my tours into this past fall. We wrapped it up right before Christmas. Then I went on this Norwegian tour, where every venue had a grand piano, and I was worried, like, "Are people going to get bored?" Or, "What's this going to be like?" But then I just was able to settle into the songs and put my body and a lot of raw emotion into the performance.
5. What was it like picking and choosing which one of your songs to put on this album?
Well, it was a pretty fluid, natural process, to be honest. I already knew from having done these little showcases that it's like, "Well, what are the songs that people are going to know?" Also, in making this record, as I reflected on the past 10 years, "When I'm Alone," was this song that did really well for me, especially overseas, and it led to everything that came after that and me being able to have a career. What a gift this song has been because it's totally transformed my life!
So, in making this record, I thought about which songs were the more high-profile ones. I also picked songs that maybe weren't at all piano-vocal songs because I've had some songs, through the years, that are kind of already in that stripped-down sort of way. I was almost deliberately picking the more-produced songs, to just strip down, as just a way of reconnecting to my songs and finding different emotions in them.
I really need to credit Martin Craft and Jo Dudderidge, who played piano on this album, because they really came up with the arrangements. I could give them a sense of tempo, or emotion, and give them some ideas, but, essentially, they were the ones who came up with their own re-interpretations and arrangements.
6. What other songs stand out from the collection for you?
"Everywhere I Go," which I have been performing for years. "In Sleep" is very different stripped down. Plus, some covers like of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" and Dixie Chicks' "Cowboy Take Me Away."
7. Was it emotional at some points, revisiting some of these older songs of yours?
Yeah, I can kind of fall in and out of it, because I've had so many years to live with these songs and perform them.
8. This album really showcases your voice and it's still so incredibly warm, rich, and has a beautiful tone. How do you take care of it, and keep it at this level?
I have friends who like to sing, who are good singers, but they don't feel like their voices are as strong as they want. And I'm like, "You know, your vocal cords are a muscle." Any exercise that you do, if you're going to be stretching and lifting weights, you use those muscles, so it just gets stronger and stronger.
I'd say that just comes with putting in the hours, I warm up my voice anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour, without exception, whenever I sing. The day of the show and before the show.
I have a really great vocal teacher in L.A., who gave me some warm-ups. So, as long as I do those and I sleep, I think it has allowed me to strengthen my muscles over the years.
9. Can you talk about your support for the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC)?
I'm so glad to be working with them. It's something I didn't know would even be a possibility until, maybe within the last year or so. I've always sort of followed NRDC, because I consider myself somewhat of an environmentalist, now that I'm living on this farm.
It's a lot of what I was hoping to do with my acres, just getting out of conventional farming, and putting it into conservancy, or into hay, or things that will allow the earth to heal to a degree. I've always admired their efforts to protect our planet. It's such a no-brainer.
Of course, we need to. Everything that we fight and we worry about is completely irrelevant if we don't have a planet that can sustain life. So, I admire what they do, and so that it was when I realized that there was something we could do; take a dollar from every ticket sale and give it to them and their efforts.
10. How did present yourself on the tour to support this album?
It's not a rock show. It's a very raw, kind of intimate, soul-bearing evening of music. Where the piano is beautiful, and my performance is kind of unrestricted. I don't have my guitar. I don't really have anyone that I'm needing to be playing off of as much, except for the piano player and I, who I have a very good unspoken connection. There are lots of big, high, long notes. I'm being self-indulgent, I suppose. Just being able to use my voice to its full capacity and really let it kind of shine and push through.
Interview by Leah Brungardt
Photo Credit: Bill Reynolds -
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