The photography of Maren Klemp is a glimpse into the dark, a place where sight has not totally failed us, working along the borderlands of what Klemp calls the invisible disease, these unforgettable images are not just about novel aesthetics, although that is the import of any artistic undertaking, they are also, admirably, an attempt to erase the stigma attached to mental illness, to document what the inside of one's mind feels like, gripped and paralyzed in the dark throes of depression and cognitive collapse. These are stories of life split from within, occupying two worlds, the surface and the inner depth of mind and body. Klemp works with the unseen as a way of making it seen, heard, tasted, felt, alive, real, and unforgettable. AHC: Part of your goal with photography, admirably, is to raise awareness of mental illness through your work. Could you talk us through your approach and philosophy behind this, and also about your book, Between Intervals? Maren: Yes. I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder a few years back, and although it was a relief to get to know what I had been struggling with for so many years, it was hard to learn that I would probably struggle with this disease for the rest of my life. I suddenly felt an urge to document what I was feeling, so I drew sketches and started planning the images. By placing myself in front of the camera it was easier to convey the message of the image, and I have been working with self-portraiture ever since. In 2014 I travelled to Charleston, South Carolina to work with Jose Escobar, a photographer and at the time, a professor of literature at the College of Charleston. Jose first contacted me on Flickr saying that he loved my work. After a while we discovered that out work «spoke the same language» and we decided to make a book together, and the result is «Between Intervals». The book contains a beautiful foreword by Jose, and my portraits mixed with Jose’s dark and isolated landscapes of the American South. AHC: You've referred to your work as a plunge into the darker regions of the mind, and since that must be such an intense creative process, I wonder what you do to find islands of respite, peace and calm, after the grueling intensity of the work? Also, can you explore some of the reasons why it is so necessary that we confront these darker regions of ourselves, in art but also in our own lives and psyches? Maren: The whole process of creating an image is emotionally draining to me. I go all in, and I reveal a lot about my own thoughts and state of mind through my work, but when I have finished an image that I have been planning for a long time, I feel an inner calm and relief. I have received so much feedback from people all around the world, and many of them have thanked me for publishing this work and told me that they can relate to the images. This makes it all worth it, and gives me the feeling of creating something important. There is still a lot of stigma attached to mental illness, and I believe that by confronting and educating people on this matter, we can remove some of the stigma and the shame that comes with having a mental illness. AHC: What first drew you to photography? Was there a specific moment in your life or turning point where it became clear to you that you were being called to create? Maren: As a teenager I wrote poetry and short stories, but I was also searching for a way to express myself visually. I had no talent for either drawing or painting, so when I started experiment with my new camera given to me by my father, I realized that I had a talent for photography, and I have been eating, breathing and sleeping photography ever since. AHC: Your series Whisper in the Mist has an almost fairy tale like quality, are you inspired by folklore and fairy tales at all and has it informed some of the photographic narratives, especially behind this series? Maren: Yes, I am inspired by fairy tales. The Norwegian folklore is both dark and beautiful, and I always try to incorporate some elements form it in my work. My favorite one is a story about a female character named Huldra, a beautiful woman from the underworld with a cow’s tale. AHC: Who are some of your artistic influences? Is there anyone outside of the art/photography world whose work has impacted your own, or who just generally inspire you, writers, filmmakers, musicians etc? Maren: I’m inspired by painters like John William Waterhouse, Odd Nerdrum, Jana Brike and Edward Hopper. I also find inspiration in the poetry of Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton and Edgar Allan Poe. AHC: What is the first work of art/photography you encountered that took your breath away? Maren: The very first work of art that really took my breath away was the book Immediate Family by Sally Mann. It completely changed the way I approached my photography, and spent hours and hours studying her work, something I still do to this day. There are so many layers of stories and expressions in her work, that I discover something new each time I open this book. AHC: Are there times when you become blocked creatively? What do you do to rekindle inspiration? Maren: Yes, absolutely. If I feel completely blocked I often meditate in order to get my creativity flowing. I also go to thrift stores and flee markets in search for interesting props, or drive around for hours searching for interesting locations. I also go for walks in the woods to see if I can find something that I can work with. I used to panic if I felt blocked creatively, but I have learned that every artist experiences this from time to time, and that it will pass eventually. AHC: Do you have any upcoming exhibits or new projects you'd like to tell people about? Maren: I just had a solo-exhibition at Galerie LIK in Vienna this April, and at the same time I participated in a group-exhibition in Galleria Civica, Desenzano, Italy. Although both exhibitions are now closed, my work is still available at Galerie LIK. I am also planning on publishing a new book with my latest work, which will be the sequel of «Between Intervals». All images © Maren Elize Klemp (provided courtesy of the artist) For more visit marenklemp.photoshelter.com/index
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5/17/2017 0 Comments Poetry by Scott C. KaestnerLucidity the mathematics of your aquatics have me questioning whether or not you feel the flow? it was a cloudy morning rain in the air liquid diamonds lucid lazy vibrations. Mama Speak Mother Earth is our provider, our hostess, mama to us all. And she says, “Here it is… existence, our planet, the sun, the moon everything in between. A beating heart and a brain a rocky path with beautiful vistas ups and downs - a chance my child to enjoy the view or be eaten alive.” Mark Twain Dances on My Ceiling In my condo by the bathroom sink there’s a part of the popcorn ceiling that looks like a dancing Mark Twain I try to find him when I’m brushing my teeth. Some days I do, some days I don’t, but every day I look and on those days he appears let him know that I’m a writer and from Missouri too have visited his boyhood home and spent hours frolicking about mighty rivers his only reaction is to keep dancing and I hear a banjo being plucked. So I begin to dance too, together, we dance a morning jig after a few minutes I rinse my mouth, the music stops so does the dancing and look up to him and offer up his words “Sanity and happiness are an impossible combination.” Her There she was glowing in the sapphire night. Her image imploring the virtue of light over darkness eternity in her eyes. We made love under the full moon we howled at time at life at us passing by. Bio: Scott C. Kaestner is a Los Angeles poet, writer, dad, husband, and humanoid who believes that by ingesting art we can ease our appetite for destruction. Google ‘Scott Kaestner Poetry’ to peruse his musings. 5/16/2017 0 Comments Poetry by Ruby McCannOde to the Pasta King of Scotland it was watching you that did it your gesturing hands, now slicing cutting, chopping, your poetic guttural tormenting tongue, teasing, and me silently sitting when you pushed the switch, something turned in me, something red lit up within a living-breathing thing something I thought lost, left behind in a country, I no longer longed for where I ran to, and from, to run this out of me but it grows and grows is growing, like hunger running and failing to forget taught me how some things are not to be forgotten, or left behind upon my return there was you and the heart of your eyes on New Year’s Day even then I saw it, in this bitter cold country I’d abandoned now you’re here, after love- making not before, cooking dinner as I watch baffled, feeling the awkwardness of it all, food prepared by the same hands that earlier reached for my nakedness and I don’t know what to say to erotic lips that kissed, untouched unseen, forgotten flesh alive I just watch and listen unable to contain or express myself because I’m afraid, (of what?), I’m weak right now with you, it’s what you do to me but now I know, what was once long ago left behind, lost, is again burning through me and I wonder where I picked up this fear of living and why? because in this moment of watching and listening, right now in this kitchen I’m full again and it’s all your doing Coming Back wind song through lashing rain saturates like that sassy lady upstairs singing all raspy, heavy, harsh hard-hitting, tear-stained, washed-out, grey-blue notes contained in water pierced by wind and I’m trembling filled with her leaving no space for anything else but dark madrigals howling over a thousand yellow moons, over hilltops treetops, rooftops choralling down blackened chimneys as a strutting Indra escaping Ravana eyes everywhere screaming rain billowing into ballads of our forbears’ harnessing wind song wind song my ansister sing me my song tell me my story wind song sing me back Bio: Ruby McCann has been working with writing and writers for more than twenty years. She provides writing workshops, advice, writes Blogs and works across artistic disciplines to inspire new work. She loves reading, the colour yellow, storms, rain, the ocean and walking. Walking inspires Ruby’s writing. She is the current Chair of the Scottish Writers’ Centre supporting and promoting writers living and working in Scotland. "Being an independent artist is a constant hustle," says Lola Rhodes, "and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve always loved being scrappy, paving my own path towards the things that I want." The L.A. based singer-songwriter is to be admired when it comes to building an audience, utilizing platforms like Periscope and Patreon, Rhodes is nose to the grindstone in almost every capacity and aspect of her creative career. And, by all indications, it's payed off. Her self titled debut, which is available via Bandcamp and other outlets, bears the mark not only of building something with your own hands, but of possessing an unbeatable determination and spirit. "Music connects me to myself in ways I didn’t know that I needed to be healed" says Rhodes, "and it connects me to my listeners in the same ways." AHC: What has this journey in music, so far, been like for you, the highs and the lows, and what life lessons do you feel you've picked up along the way? Lola: Music has definitely taught me a lot about myself, things that I probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to explore without it. Being an independent artist is a constant hustle and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve always loved being scrappy and paving my own path towards the things that I want. It’s definitely a family trait! This year has already been such a killer year releasing my album, growing my digital fan base through platforms like Periscope and Patreon and collaborating with super talented folks from all around the world. I try to never get addicted to the highs because I know a low will be waiting for me right around the corner. There are a lot of lessons to be learned in that respect and how you choose to navigate through your life. AHC: What first drew you to music and what was your early musical environment like growing up? Were there pivotal songs for you then that just floored you the moment you heard them? Lola: My earliest, fondest memories of music revolve around my dad. He introduced me to so many different genres growing up and probably without even realizing. Soul, funk, motown and gospel were some of the genres that I first made a connection with. Kirk Franklin and Tower of Power I can remember listening to and just being blown away. The sound of the band, the melodies and the incredible emotional force that drove through the vocals really resonated with me and still does to this day. AHC: Do you remember the first song that you ever wrote or played? Or that first moment when you picked up a pen and realized that you could create whole worlds just by putting it to paper? Lola: Yes, I do. It’s called “Our Melody” and it was written on the banjo, which I just played like a guitar because I don’t know how to play the banjo, and I strummed it out with a piece of cardboard because I didn’t have a pick. I still have the original recording, too. The cardboard stroking the strings really added to it, I think! I started writing music as a way to communicate in the relationship that I was in at the time because I could never just say what I was feeling and be understood. I literally wrote him songs if I had anything to discuss (which was a lot) and he would actually hear me and see me. It felt empowering and I haven’t stopped since. AHC: Which musicians have you learned the most from? Or writers, artists, filmmakers, teachers/mentors etc? Lola: Whenever I get asked this question, I always think of my high school drama teacher, Mr. Randolf. I remember being in his class and we were discussing the different actors and artists who didn’t necessarily fit the mold and who were able to become successful by creating their own work. At the time, I was studying musical theater (I went to a performing arts high school) and I didn’t want to hear any of that. My plan was to audition and get the roles! The only problem was when I got to New York, I wasn’t very good at auditioning. Oops! It wasn’t until I was pretty set in my singer songwriter ways that I stopped and said, oh my god..Mr. Randolf was on to something! His words always stuck with me and they allowed me to believe in myself and my craft and make it into a reality. AHC: What do you think makes for a good song, as you're writing and composing, is there a sudden moment when you know you've found the right mix, that perfect angle of light, so to speak? Lola: Realizing you’ve written something really special comes in different forms for me. A song doesn’t get recorded or go on a record unless I really believe in it and it resonates with me lyrically and melodically. There are certain songs that have lines that I’m really proud of and those songs as a whole usually stick around for a while. Becoming more open minded with my writing and music, it’s hard to judge a song immediately because if it isn’t the right song for me, maybe it can fit a different artist or even genre better. AHC: Do you consider music to be a type of healing art, the perfect vehicle through which to translate a feeling, a state of rupture/rapture, hope lost and regained? Does the writing and creating of the song save you in the kinds of ways that it saves us, the listener? Lola: I like to be cheesy and say that music was my first language because that’s what it felt like. Still to this day, to try and communicate with just my words and speaking voice is a constant struggle. Ask anyone who knows me! It’s a disaster. Music connects me to myself in ways I didn’t know that I needed to be healed and it connects me to my listeners in the same ways. What I love about music is that it is universal and so is the meaning of songs. I’ll write a song about something personal and specific, but the listener connects to it in his or her own way and it’s a beautiful connection that we get to make that we probably wouldn’t have had the chance to make under different circumstances. I find this to be an incredibly powerful form of art and something that I will need for the rest of my life. AHC: When you set out to write a song, how much does 'where the world is' in its current moment, culturally, politically, otherwise, influence the kinds of stories you set out to tell? Lola: As of recently, I have written some political songs because it’s the only way I can try and wrap my head around what is going on in this crazy world. My usual muse is love and exploring the relationship we have to it as humans. Not just love for another being, but the love you have for yourself that tends to take you on its on rollercoaster from time to time. AHC: Do you have any words of advice or encouragement for other musicians and singer-songwriters out there who are just starting out and trying to find their voice and their way in this world? What are the kinds of things that you tell yourself when you begin to have doubts or are struggling with the creative process? Lola: I remember when I first started out I was fearless. I would write anything that I was feeling. Then I got a little more critical of myself overtime and became quite miserable. Luckily, I found my way out of that dark place and I’m back at a more understanding, fearless state. Just keep writing, no strings attached. Not every song has to be a hit. You have to get certain ideas and things out of your head so just let yourself release them. It makes you a better songwriter, period. When you start to become critical of every single thing you write, it’s a nightmare and you end up coping out to the old “writers block” excuse. Just. Keep. Writing. AHC: Do you have any new projects you'd like to mention? Lola: As of right now, I am focused on releasing my debut album and getting that to reach as many ears as I can. While doing that, I am constantly collaborating with producers and DJs all over the world. There’s a lot of new music to come and in a slew of different genres! Lola's self-titled debut can be purchased via lolarhodes.bandcamp.com/music Official website: www.lolarhodes.com/ 5/15/2017 0 Comments The Modern World by Colette PhairThe Modern World They sent your grand children to outer space Instead of feeding mine Nebulae, dwarves, and holes with nothing in them Meant more to Him than blood, tears, and sweatshops So should it really come as a surprise That there was no one up there Waiting in the dark heavens? No intelligent design, Plan B, get-rich-quick, trickle-down, climb-the-ladder, or make it to the top Just another Old Wild West, A cowboys-and-Indians space colony Atlas scrawled on the back of a losing lottery ticket That no one ever found But what you didn't know is that We danced to the music of our foremothers in costumes we stitched ourselves That sounded better than late-night commercials telling you to save us Fit better than a three-piece suit or orange jumper We worked the earth with our own hands Kept both feet firmly on the ground And dug our own way out of hell Image - craig Cloutier creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ Bio: Colette Phair's latest novel, In Your Shadow, is inspired by the science of epigenetics and tells the story of how political trauma can be passed down through generations. She is also the author of Nightmare in Silicon and Purgatory and has been published in The Apocalypse Reader, Women's Studies Quarterly, and New Dead Families. Colette has worked and volunteered for a number of progressive nonprofits and political campaigns. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and escapes America whenever possible. Waiting for the Wreck Everything about her was a lie. The pink glove on the ground, Obscured by dried crimson leaves. The blank gaze, masking her need. She suddenly realized she might be alone For the rest of her life. She did a poor job hiding the damage. He sat her down and held her close, Handed over the key, Before telling her the terrible news, reluctantly. She clung to the scrap of driftwood, Splintered and bobbing in a black sea-- Praying for daylight, For union with the god. For the sacred water To sweep her away To the depths, Then back to the shimmering surface. Reborn, in the red morning. Bio: Susan Cossette is the author of Peggy Sue Messed Up . . . and other poems. Her work has appeared in Rust & Moth, Adelaide Literary Magazine, and Clockwise Cat, among others. She is a recipient of the University of Connecticut’s Wallace Stevens Poetry Prize. By day, she is communications director for Voices of September 11th, a nonprofit that works with those impacted by mass violence and terrorism. More of her work may be found at https://musepalace.wordpress.com. 5/14/2017 0 Comments Poetry by Linda Anne AttertonFrostbite The frost is thick It turns the grass to wire The ground to stone The trees are wrought of iron The sky is crystal blue I want to touch The hand that cast this spell To hold it tight So when you want mine back The frost will answer you Frisson The thrill of waiting knowing you will come, The frisson spun between us with a glance, A hundred strings you tug and softly strum, A look that twists and locks me in a trance, Until we are alone and I go where you lead, Leave the world outside as you shut the door, Match you want for want and need for need, Your weight upon me, clothes upon the floor, The sweetness after holding tight to you, For you are disappearing from my hands. I wish but there is nothing I can do, If this I cannot have then this I keep, If love can do no more it understands, I tuck the sadness in and go to sleep. Forgetting to breathe I ask if you want tea or wine, You pour the wine. The bees hum in the roses, I rhyme off their names, As if introducing you, The sun climbs a topaz blue sky, Petals land in my hair like pink butterflies, You brush them off and I forget to breathe, You lazily ask if any other colour is allowed, I go to cut you the only yellow rose, Come back and you are gone. Don't make me dream you Go Go make me a memory box. Take the wood from our bed, Line it in silk cut from my wedding gown. Scent it with petals from my favourite rose, The ones I held before my hand was yours. Carve it with the smile you gave me, The first time I woke in your arms. Forge a golden key from the glow, Bathing my face when our child was born. Fill it with keepsakes from each place we shared, Then lock it and give it to me ~ As you walk out the door. Wonder I wonder if they will be pink or yellow, Veins of crimson bleeding into cream. They vanish all I see is you. You are all that I believe in, Hope will never stretch to them, If I take them back I know what they will do, They will shrivel in a drawer where I will leave them, With all the the other things I kill, In the house that used to be a home. I cannot look as far as spring, I cannot melt the ice around my heart, I cannot tell you what the tears are for, For the bulbs you hold inside your hand, Or the woman locked inside my mind. I will write and tell you later, How she used to turn faith to flowers, How she used to have a garden that she loved, When love was not so dangerous to do. I watch you fill the bag with tulips, Knowing I can never show you her, It is enough that you believe in me. Bio: Linda Anne Atterton was born in Scotland near Glasgow. She studied at Aberdeen, Oxford and Cambridge Universities, qualifying as a Clinical Psychologist before moving to work in Norfolk in 1991. Her specialty is brain injury. At seventeen, she was winner for her age group of Lallans magazine competition for a Scottish poem. Since returning to creative writing after a long break, she has published poetry in the UK and Ireland, in Abridged, The Moth, and Far Off Places, as well as being included in several anthologies. Her sonnet Banished won Litro's Shakespearean Sonnet competition in 2014. Running On Sand is her first novel. It began as a short story, Are The Stars Hot or Cold, which reached the semifinals of Carve Magazine's competition in 2014. The idea came from a flash fiction piece (Sea Defences, published in Litro) and from a poem, Toy Suns, published in Abridged. She lives in Norwich, about twenty miles from the seaside village where the book is set. Song of a Drowned Lazarus The heat cuts through silent streets like a knife Where the tourists once thronged Pushing wheeled suitcases along to The raucous cries of buskers and street beggars, Back in the old days, The days they only talk about in folk songs Around the illegal fires of vagrants In empty parking lots. And Once they prophesied rain, A biblical deluge that would wipe us all away, Sparing only those who prostrated themselves at the alters Of some god or another And were granted one of the coveted places in the city’s spires. But the flood never came and neither did the rains, And in the third year of the drought People more or less gave up on gods And trusted to their own luck. Which was about as reliable as the gods, But we didn’t know that then. Me, I was born in the third year of the apocalypse, A miracle baby they called me, When the drugs were bad and all around were testing sterile And my mother swore on whatever oath they cared to produce That she had never lain with a man. And they eye me oddly for it, Always a slight hint of a sidelong glance As I go by, As though, if there were any water to be had, I would walk on it when they weren’t looking. And, as it is, they bring their sick to me to be healed, Though most of them die on the journey across the badlands, And some have even called on me to feed the poor And the dying, But I have no powers to do their bidding, Only a slight unworldliness and two mis-matched eyes, One grey, one ice blue like metal. Which make me shudder when I read the memorial stones In what was once the courthouse square. And in my dreams I hear the sound of cross-makers And feel the cold kiss of nails upon my palms. Bio: Max Scratchmann is an award-winning illustrator and poet. He had a hit at 2016’s Edinburgh Fringe with Edinburgh in the Shadows (with Alec Beattie) and has performed at most major festivals including the Imaginate, the Kelburn Garden Party, the Glasgow Comedy Festival, the Edinburgh Celtic Festival and the Merchant City Festival. He was a competitor in the 2017 Scottish Poetry Slam Final and is the creative director of the spoken word theatre company, FREAK Circus. http://www.maxscratchmann.com 5/13/2017 1 Comment Poetry by Stephanie ValenteYOU’D THINK I WAS A WITCH OR SOMETHIN’ sure, why not? let’s spell-dabble tonight. there’s a crescent moon on my arm there’s lust in my ribs there’s curiosity in our throats – there worst thing that will happen besides broken glass, of course, is i’ll just get you to love me & love me more than your favorite dessert maybe it shouldn’t happen, like a surprise smile from a stranger, leaving you confused in the middle of the sidewalk on another forgettable afternoon. PRESS 9 TO MAKE AN OUT OF NETWORK CALL i want to give you lavender diamonds, even if you’re a champagne communist. i’ll always promise to stay a telephone ghost with the best late-night, unexpected texts. YOU VS. THE GIRL THEY TOLD YOU NOT TO WORRY ABOUT is she pretty? what is her hair like? does she know how to smile? does she have small hands? do ghosts visit her in dreams, too? does she wake up just to fall back asleep? are there people who listen to her voice? will you let me love you? probably not, but there’s no harm in practicing. i hear computers do it best. MY DEAD BOYFRIEND STILL FOLLOWS ME ON INSTAGRAM i wasn’t expecting you. truthfully, almost forgotten you turned up in heart-shapes late at night, always after 3 am you like my photos, you leave unicorn emojis, but you don’t speak i wasn’t concerned until you slid into my DMs. Bio: Stephanie Valente lives in Brooklyn, NY. She has published Hotel Ghost (Bottlecap Press, 2015) and has work included in or forthcoming from Danse Macabre, Nano Fiction, and Black Heart. Sometimes, she feels human. http://stephanievalente.com Photography by Katie Basile
Brooklyn based singer-songwriter Lara Ewen on out-of-tune pianos, The Ramones, her latest album The Wishing Stone Songs, and how music is a lot like love; you need someone else in the room to make it real. AHC: What has this journey in music, so far, been like for you, the highs and the lows, and what life lessons do you feel you've picked up along the way? Lara: I don’t think of music as a journey. It’s not something that moves along, and has a beginning and a middle and an end. It’s just always been there, and I expect it always will be. I hope so, anyway. The highs and lows that have come from music are so intertwined with the highs and lows of my life that they’re impossible to separate. That’s why my songs are quasi-autobiographical. The music is about life. If you want to know what I’ve learned — which is not a lot, to be honest — the best way to do that is to listen to my songs. AHC: What first drew you to music and what was your early musical environment like growing up? Were there pivotal songs for you then that just floored you the moment you heard them? Lara: Growing up in Jamaica, Queens, we had a really old, shitty, out-of-tune piano in the living room. My folks never had the thing tuned. I don’t know why we even had it, but I liked to bang on it. My mom listened to a lot of country music, and we also listened to a lot of singers from the ’40s and ’50s, like Edith Piaf, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole. And there was a radio station, 1050 WHN, and they played all country music when they weren’t playing Mets games. So listened to that, and then also to WLIR, which played a lot of alternative stuff: Joy Division, Bauhaus, Blondie, that kind of thing. And I remember the first time I heard The Ramones. They blew my mind. There was a lot of hip hop in my neighborhood, and so that’s also part of the fabric of music for me. Still, when I started writing my own songs, they always came out country-sounding. I don’t know why. AHC: Do you remember the first song that you ever wrote or played? Or that first moment when you picked up a pen and realized that you could create whole worlds just by putting it to paper? Lara: I’ve been writing songs for as long as I can remember. I was writing songs when I was 5 years old, maybe younger. I used to make my brother put on shows with me in the living room, with me playing the piano and both of us singing. I also wrote a lot of poetry, which I am pleased to say has mostly been lost to the mists of time. AHC: Which musicians have you learned the most from? Or writers, artists, filmmakers, teachers/mentors etc? Lara: By far, I’ve learned the most from the people in the various communities I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of. I was in Boston in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, and that was certainly a big deal for me. That’s where I learned to play guitar, and that’s where I met some of the people who really helped me see that it was totally possible for me to get up on a stage and play songs in front of actual people, and not just, you know, in a living room for my grandma. And now in New York, the community here is just incredible. I know so many talented people, and I am lucky enough to be friends with some amazing musicians. If I start listing everyone, I’ll forget someone. But at this exact instant, the musicians I’m most hung up on are Jessi Robertson, who has a voice that will change your life; Niall Connolly, who is able to make me both weep and laugh within the same set, and sometimes even within the same song; Chris Michael, who released the best album you’ll ever hear last year; Queen Esther, who elevates the whole idea of what Americana is; Richard McGraw, who is almost indescribable, but kind of sounds like if Leonard Cohen were a lunatic preacher; Terry Radigan, who plays completely grown-up songs of heartbreak and hope; and Tuelo, who is just as close to pure spirit as you will ever hear. But there are so many more. The people playing music right now are the ones who teach me, every day. If you really want to know what I love most, you should come to the American Folk Art Museum some Friday evening. I host Free Music Fridays, a free music series there, and it happens most weeks, and I think the musicians who play there are among the very best in the world. AHC: What do you think makes for a good song, as you're writing and composing, is there a sudden moment when you know you've found the right mix, that perfect angle of light, so to speak? Lara: I have no idea. Honestly, if I knew the answer to that, I would just write like that all the time. most of the songs I write are awful, of course, and then something comes out and it’s not, and then it’s like you don’t want to touch it too hard for fear it’ll dissolve. And even when I write a good one, I never know if really okay until I’ve played it out live in front of a crowd. I need to hear it bounce back to me from the audience to tell if it’s really okay, because my best songs are conversations I’ve having with the audience. Like, when I’m done playing, I expect someone to continue to the conversation. AHC: Do you consider music to be a type of healing art, the perfect vehicle through which to translate a feeling, a state of rupture/rapture, hope lost and regained? Does the writing and creating of the song save you in the kinds of ways that it saves us, the listener? Lara: No. I love that it heals some people, but that’s not how it works for me. There’s no magic in it, any more than there’s magic in breathing, or eating. Or, if you want to be contrary, music is magical because everything is magical. It’s not any more magical than anything else. It’s people that give it power. Music has no magic without people. In that way, I suppose, it’s like love. AHC: What are your fondest musical memories? In your house? In your neighborhood or town? On-tour, on-the-road? Lara: If I told you outright, I’d have to kill you. Maybe one day you’ll hear about some of those stories in some of my songs. Who knows? Maybe I’ve already put them into songs. AHC: Tell us more about the Free Music Fridays series at the American Folk Art Museum. It was named the "Best Manhattan Music Venue" for 2016 by New York Music Daily. Could you talk more about that? Lara: This is my seventh year working on Free Music Fridays at the American Folk Art Museum, and I book only original songwriters — cover songs are strictly prohibited, except for occasional performances of songs in the public domain. In that way, the music is a reflection of the museum’s mission, which is to help shape the way the art of the self-taught is understood. Most of our musicians are self-taught, at least in some way, and almost all of them are self-propelling, because the music industry isn’t handing out record contracts like it used to. The series has evolved based on what I wanted to see in the world: a listening environment, which benefits both the audience and the performer; where all the musicians get paid; and every performer is extraordinarily talented (but not necessarily famous); and no one talks during sets; and there is also wine. I do all the booking, and I’m also the sound engineer and the bartender. Did I mention we have wine? AHC: Do you have any words of advice or encouragement for other musicians and singer-songwriters out there who are just starting out and trying to find their voice and their way in this world? What are the kinds of things that you tell yourself when you begin to have doubts or are struggling with the creative process? Or what kinds of things have others told you that have helped push you past moments of self doubt/creative blocks? Lara: Don’t ever, ever ask someone what they think about your work. It doesn’t matter what other people think about your work. It only matters what you think about your work. Don’t set rigid and arbitrary deadlines for your successes or milestones. It’s your music and your work and it takes as long as it takes. Don’t knock having a non-music job. Some of the most amazing artists and musicians you’ve ever known had and have non-music jobs that allow them to pay the bills and be wildly imaginative and creative in their artistic endeavors. Don’t treat yourself worse than you would treat other people, and don’t be an asshole to anyone. It’s exhausting, for one thing, and it’s also a dick move. Ask for advice. Ignore most of the advice you get. Help someone out who’s not as far along as you, because it will help you see how far you’ve come and it’s also the right thing to do. Read books and poetry and dance a lot and go look at art and also flowers. And remember that it’s more fun to be the worst musician in the room than it is to be the best musician in the room. Surround yourself with people who are more talented than you are and you will never lack for inspiration or a sense of awe and humility. AHC: Your latest album is 2013's The Wishing Stone Songs. Could you talk some about this album and where the muses of this particular record lie for you? Do you have any new projects moving forward or musical ideas that are percolating for the future? Lara: The Wishing Stone Songs was born during a pretty dark time in my life, and those songs are essentially a record of the roadmap I used to get out of that period. Which is not to say it’s a sad album. It’s just a complicated collection of songs that are bound together by a common theme. While I was working on it, I imagined that The Wishing Stone was a dive bar that used to be much nicer, and that each of the songs on the album was the story about one of the bar’s regulars. That’s not explicitly stated anywhere on the album, but that’s what I thought. So that’s how I picked the songs. And I tried to tell those stories as truthfully as possible. I was lucky enough to have some of the very best musicians in the world playing with me on it, including Mark Marshall, Cat Popper, Tarrah Reynolds, Eleanor Whitmore, Kate Kilbane, Gerald Menke, Shaky Dave Pollack and a whole bunch more. And then I went nuts and had a 24-page fully illustrated book made, so the actual CD packaging is really just a work of art, thanks to Jennifer Noonan, who did the illustrations, and Gail Ghezzi, who did all the graphic design. I’m very proud of the whole thing. Now I’m at the very early stages of my next project. I’ve got a new collection of songs, and I’m not sure what fits together and what doesn’t, but I’m excited about exploring the stories. I haven’t decided how I’m going to release it all yet, or when, but I will be very loud about it when I do, and I’ll make sure to tell everybody. In the meantime, I’m easy to find on places like Twitter and Facebook and Instagram, and I have a website that I occasionally remember to update. |
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April 2024
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