Can you delve into how your fondness of David Lynch led to inspiring your anticipated new album, In The Style of David Lynch?
Besides being a huge fan of his art, what actually inspires me most about him is his willingness to take what’s in his head and put it into a film or music or art. I was reading an autobiography of his and there was this section about how artists have to be down to allow themselves the time to make art… to sort of chase the idea down, and more than that to believe that it’s a worthy endeavor. He makes pretty polarizing stuff, and when he started out no one had to “give him permission” or anything like that, he just sorta did it and put it all out there, and I just think that is so, so cool. It truly inspires me to do the deep dives, and to be brave, get my shit together, and just make the stuff that’s floating around in my head.
Your music is consistently fully realized, powerfully produced, it’s clear how much of yourself you put into it. How has your songwriting evolved in the years since moving to America?
Wow, thank you so much first of all haha. When I first moved to America I was in a prog-rock band, so the songwriting was very collaborative and much more conceptual, as opposed to being about my singular experience in this world haha. So a lot of my writing was focused on guitar parts and arranging/producing. It was only when I left that band that the hard work started of writing about my own experiences. I think my songwriting has become more refined in the years (at least I hope so haha!) while keeping a bit of a tilt in it (a nod to my music school/prog days).
We’re fans of your always-entertaining social media accounts. How vital do you see the role of TikTok, IG and the like for artists and musicians these days?
Wow, this is a really good question and it kinda keeps me up at night sometimes haha. In the beginning when Tiktok popped up I was mad haha. I didn’t wanna spend any more time focusing on things outside of making the art. Then I kinda dipped a toe, and now I’m ~in it~ with Tiktok and IG etc… I think I’m starting to see that it actually is part of making the art. I can’t do anything regarding my art if I can’t find joy it. Like even the most mundane stuff… mixing, tuning a vocal… making a tiktok video etc… cuz once there consistently isn’t joy in it, it’s like “why am I doing this?” So basically, I’ve found a way to find the joy in all the social media stuff. And you know what, I think people just wanna know you as an artist outside of your EP or whatever. I think they wanna know about what kinda person you are, and I’m okay with that. But to be real, even my social media accounts are a “character”… much like my music is. It’s one aspect of my personality blown up. I feel more comfortable with that than trulllyyy showing my raw, human emotions all the time. I like a little privacy.
We’d love for you to tell us a bit about how your new single “Electrosexual” and how it fits into your overall body of work… When did you write it? Were there any collaborators involved? We know you enjoy working in conjunction with some of your contemporaries. We love it, by the way!
Thank you! Yes, Electrosexual was co-written with Mori Einsidler. Mori’s been co-writing my songs with me for a few years now. It was written last summer (I think? Haha) when I was in a pretty unconfident space. Like with my body, my sexuality, my ambitions. I don’t know, I think I was really feeling the repetitiveness of life and missing shows a lot. So that day when I was going into the zoom writing session with Mori I decided to flip the feeling on its head. I told her I wanted to write about a person who’s like SO HOT that when someone else is intimate with them that that person gets recharged or energized from the experience haha. So we ran with this electricity concept and went very over the top with it. It’s kinda tongue in cheek, but it also helped me feel better. In terms of how it fits into the whole EP. That main synth part in Electrosexual was written in a space of 2 weeks when I wrote a ton of instrumental demo ideas for the EP, so it slots in pretty well with everything else.
The music video is entertaining and almost otherworldly at times. Particularly that scene in the middle! What was it like working with SK Studio again on the creation? How did you two originally meet? Who came up with the concept this time? Was it fun to create?
I always love working with Spencer (SK Studio)! We wrote up a bunch of treatments for the music video and actually it was a friend of mine, Eddie Barton, who mentioned that an arcade could be a cool setting for the video for Electrosexual. So then I scrapped all our other ideas and I re-wrote the storyboard in 2 days and that’s what we shot. I wanted to reference Lynch’s move “Lost Highway” all over the video. I’m not sure how many people will catch it but it has a bunch of Easter eggs. And besides that, that scene in the middle is shot for shot a scene from Lost Highway haha. It was really, really fun to create. So grateful to be able to have an experience like that… I mean, I had a director, cinematographer, choreographer, dancers… it was wild.
We’re thrilled to see you’ve been playing lots of shows this year! How have those shows been and what are your plans for the rest of 2022?
I’ve been loving playing all these shows! Being on stage is a really important part of this whole thing for me, it keeps the creative wheels turning and keeps me feeling aliveeee haha. April 28 I’ll be at Resident in LA, and May 31 – June 6 I’ll be on tour with Glassio and Prinze George, can’t wait!
