If you had only seen Lenka
in the music video for her omnipresent single, “The Show”, you might
expect her to be breathy, demure, and full of wide-eyed wonderment, but when
the Australian singer-songwriter called in from Silverlake, CA to chat with me
on May 24th, 2013, her smooth, deep voice and calm assuredness let
me know instantly that Lenka is a woman who is very much in charge of her own
destiny. Since the 2011 release of her sophomore album, Two, Lenka
has become a wife to long-time partner and artist, James Gulliver Hancock, and
mother to their now one-year-old son, Quinn. With the upcoming release of
her third studio album, titled Shadows, and a world-wide tour that will
take her through North America, Asia, and Europe, it doesn’t seem that life
will be slowing down for Lenka any time soon and she seems just fine with
that. Despite all of the impending excitement, Lenka had an air of dreamy
ease about her as we chatted, which seems only appropriate given the fact that
her upcoming album was written specifically as a collection of lullabies.
Read on to find about what Lenka has missed about Los Angeles, how becoming a
mother has impacted her as an artist, and how you can get a piece of art made
by Lenka just for you.
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| Courtesy of BB Gun Press |
A: Hi Lenka! How are you doing?
L: I’m doing well. How are you?
A: I’m good! Are you getting a little downtime in
before the big touring push?
L: Well, I’m a mum to a one year old, so it’s not so much
downtime as it is baby time. You know, getting the baby settled into the
time zone, finding a sitter, finding the good parks—stuff like that.
A: Well, I know that you lived in LA for a little while
several years back. Is there anything that you’ve missed about LA or
anything that you love to do when you make it back here?
L: I love that you can go out and get a meal that’s super
healthy, but really tasty. It’s just such an ingrained part of the
culture in LA; everybody’s health- conscious and that’s really great.
Also, there’s this sort of vibe to LA, this energy, that’s hard to describe
exactly, but I do miss it and I do feel it as soon as I touch down. It’s
probably just a combination of everything, even the bad stuff, like sitting in
a car on the freeway. There just is this certain sort of cool thing that
LA has that I like. It’s more spread out here, you know? It’s not
very high density so it feels so spacious. Everyone always talks about
the beautiful California weather, and I think that’s partly to do with the fact
that you can see the sky all the time. You can see space with palm trees
dotted in between. You don’t get that in most highly populated
cities.
A: You will release your 3rd studio album, Shadows,
on June 4th. Could you tell us about what your perspective was
with this album?
L: It’s pretty specifically a lullaby album. It’s quite
dreamy and relaxing and mellow. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to
do, so it was a passion project. I’ve always loved those kinds of albums
and my first two albums were not like that at all. They were quite
dynamic and attention grabbing with big, loud choruses and drums.
With Shadows, I wanted you to be able to put it
on, lie down, and, if you fell asleep, the music wouldn’t disturb your
slumber. Part of my concept was that I kind of want the music to go into
people’s subconscious when they dream. It’s a sneaky way for me to get my
words into your head and that was very much a conscious thing for me when I was
in the studio; I was always saying to the musicians, engineers, producers, and
mixers, “Don’t let anything get too spiky or too dynamic. Just keep it
really smooth and mellow.”
Also, I wrote and recorded this album when I was pregnant
and had a small baby. I was done with the album by the time the baby was
six months old. I actually was recording with a tiny baby, a three month
old, in the studio. So, some of the songs I released quite specifically
as lullabies for him, and also in a way for myself. But even when I was pregnant,
I guess I just kind of got into this snuggly zone and wanted to feel like I was
nurturing myself and my future baby.
There’s actually one song on the album that I wrote from
the baby’s perspective when he was in the womb. I put his heartbeat on
the track, so it’s called “Two Heart Beats”. The experience of having a
baby has sent me into a very reflective time in my life. I really feel
like it’s the next chapter happening to me now and that’s really made me look
back at the previous chapters of my life. So, the themes of the album
really started to shape into a lot of stuff about memories and regrets, hopes
and dreams, where I’ve come to so far, and what’s left in the future.
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| Courtesy of BB Gun Press |
A: You have been running a pre-sale campaign for Shadows on PledgeMusic and people who participate will receive crafts from you!
L: Yes! I made all of the crafts myself. I just like
doing crafting. It’s a hobby and I’ve always liked it. With the
pledge campaigns, the money from everything that the fans purchase goes towards
the artists’ projects. In this case, it was going towards the artwork
that goes with my album: videos and photo shoots and album artwork and then, in
turn, all the kinds of stuff that fans get like posters and set
pieces.
My husband’s actually my art director so it’s a very
in-house job, we make things together, and that becomes what I tour with and
use in music videos. That stuff has always been as interesting to
me as the music. I love the visuals side of my career and I’ve always
been a very visual person. It’s about trying to connect to the fans
through that world, so I’m trying to make it a little bit more physical and
visceral by sharing with them things that I’ve actually made.
A: Your music videos have always been very dynamic. Can we
expect any new videos for any of the tracks from Shadows any time
soon?
L: Well, there is a video that's going to come out with the album release. It's pretty amazing actually and I'm really proud of it. It's for the song, "Nothing Here But Love", the first song on the album, and we made my body into a landscape, sort of like a train set model. Most of it is shot really close up with a micro lens, but then you sort of slowly realize that it's actually a body. It's more sophisticated than anything me and James have ever done before. I have done pretty cool videos when other people have directed them, like a bit more elaborate ideas, but this is the first time we actually challenged ourselves to do it. We worked with a props maker who built the pieces on my body. It was really cool and I'm really excited for people to see it because so far everybody that has seen it has been pretty flabbergasted.
L: Well, there is a video that's going to come out with the album release. It's pretty amazing actually and I'm really proud of it. It's for the song, "Nothing Here But Love", the first song on the album, and we made my body into a landscape, sort of like a train set model. Most of it is shot really close up with a micro lens, but then you sort of slowly realize that it's actually a body. It's more sophisticated than anything me and James have ever done before. I have done pretty cool videos when other people have directed them, like a bit more elaborate ideas, but this is the first time we actually challenged ourselves to do it. We worked with a props maker who built the pieces on my body. It was really cool and I'm really excited for people to see it because so far everybody that has seen it has been pretty flabbergasted.
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| Courtesy of BB Gun Press |
A: Well, that’s pretty exciting, and I’ll look forward to
seeing that! Shadows is being released on Skipalong Records, which
is a label you started. Can you tell us about what Skipalong Records
means to you and what your vision for the label is?
L: Well, it’s quite simply just a way to put out a record
really. I wasn’t intending to make my own label until my managers
basically said, “You have to be a label if you want to put out a record.”
So, I made a record company, and it was a really nice feeling because I’ve
finally become independent. I’ve always been someone that’s wanted to
have creative control, and I’ve always done everything anyway. Now I’m
putting a name to all of that.
At this point, I’m not signing any other acts, but I
guess the idea is there for the future that maybe Skipalong Records could
become more than just me and that it could represent other artists who are
about ideas that are similar to the ideas that I’m about. We’ll see, but
it is exciting and the feeling of freedom and liberation is awesome. I’m
absolutely loving being independent!
A: I know we need to wrap up but I really do appreciate the time
that you’ve given and I am so excited for the album release and your upcoming
shows at Hotel Café in
Hollywood on June 3rd and 4th!
L: Thank you.
A: Have a wonderful rest of your day and have so much fun on
your upcoming tour!
L: Cheers!
Check out the new music video for "Heart to the Party"
from Lenka's new album Shadows here:
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