What settings (either physical or emotional) do you find to be the most creative for you? Where do you draw inspiration from?
For songwriting, well, it’s all about timing. I have very little control over it; if I try to control it or force it, the creative flow stops. I also need space to create. You’re not going to make anything if you don’t make space for it. So I definitely need privacy, because songwriting is a very personal and vulnerable process. It can be a huge challenge. You put so many judgments on yourself.
Most of the songs that I write come out and I go, “Whoa! How did I do that?” It’s such an amazing feeling afterward. Usually, they come out as a full package like a little baby. (Laughs) They’re always developing inside.
So is being inspired about songwriting different from being inspired with drawing up a melody?
I think being a musical person, melodies are always running through your head. Like…I’m doing the dishes or riding my bike and I hear a melody. They are always spinning around in my head. But songs come from profound experiences that I’m going through, and what I’m feeling needs to be expressed in a song.
Is it mostly an overwhelming feeling of sadness, loneliness, or even happiness?
Sadness, yes. Sometimes happiness. It’s usually sadness or longing, a pining feeling. A few of my favorite songs have been farewell songs. When I’ve lost something, I know I’ll never have it back again. Many songs help me gain some sense of closure.
I have a couple of favorite songs from you: “Angel Island” and “Sleepwalk.” How did you come up with the title “Angel Island”?
“Angel Island”: I met a couple of students who were from England. They lived in San Francisco for a year. We became super close. On their last weekend here, a group of us went to Angel Island and camped.
It was a goodbye song. I was saying goodbye to those friends and also saying goodbye to that era. It was a very special time, and I’m really fond of that song. It’s also an homage to San Francisco.
Can you tell more about “Sleepwalk”?
“Sleepwalk” is kind of meditative. I feel like the message is pretty direct, but it’s about me pining for somebody and conjuring a presence in my head. I wanted the dream to come true.
It takes place in this shadiest section of Market Street. I used to live over there, so I guess that’s why I can visualize it so well. It didn’t become fully realized until my friend Nathan Blaz (Geographer, Honeycomb) helped me arrange the string parts. “Sleepwalk” is my favorite song on Many Seasons.
Will you be touring to support your debut album?
Yeah, I [toured] the West Coast during the first week of May, and I’m going to Europe in June. I will be on tour with Honeycomb. We’re going to try and collaborate as well as play separately. We hope to tour together as much as we can at this point.
In the future, if things take off for Honeycomb or for me, we may not be able to. Who knows? I would like it if we could always tour together, because we share musicians and, most importantly, we are like family. I’ve also been fixing up an old school bus, and I’m super excited to fill it with all of my favorite musicians and take it up and down the coast!
– Q&A and photos by Cecilia Austin