What’s the story behind your latest song/album?
“Burning” came out of a time when I was really scared and angry about a lot of things in my own life and in the world. One part of that was a doctor with a particular knack for making me feel like a broken piece of machinery. That inspired the second verse. But more generally the song is about how isolating it can be to be angry, to be grieving, especially if the people around you aren’t feeling the same way. It also has a lot of fire imagery. I wrote it during wildfire season, when the air smelled like smoke and the sky was dark, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the fire that burned my neighborhood when I was a little kid.
Is there a specific moment in your career that felt like a turning point?
Starting to record and release my songs two years ago was a big moment for me. I’ve been writing songs and playing them for myself my whole life, but I’d mostly thought about it in terms of my own personal entertainment and emotional processing, and sometimes I’d perform them, but that wasn’t really where the songs were coming from. It’s been really fun to start to think of the songs more as an object I’m creating, and to think about how someone else might experience those songs.
Who or what has been inspiring your music lately?
A lot of the songs I’ve been writing recently have been inspired by my friends and family. Some of these songs sound like love songs, and they are, but not romantic love. Others, like “Ernestine” or “For Rosalie” are really clearly songs of support. Those are my favorites, the songs I’ve written for specific people, to tell them how much I love them and how proud I am of them.
What was the first concert you attended?
My first concert was “The Indigo Girls.” I went with my best friend when we were 14 or 15. They were amazing! There’s a little reference to that hidden in “Ernestine,” a song I wrote for my best friend, along with references to Our Poem (Christina Rossetti’s “The Goblin Market”) and a lot of other shared experiences.
What’s next for you—any exciting projects or goals on the horizon?
Yeah, I have some new music coming up! I’m working with a producer for the first time, which is really fun. I think that’s going to help me get closer to the sound I really want for these songs, but it’s also just been so much fun to have someone to talk to about the songs. She really gets what I’m trying to do with them, and I love those moments where I can feel that shared vision start to take form.
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