Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Interview with Lenka, 5.24.13



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. 
  
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. 



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.


  
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 CafĂ© 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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