Five Minutes with Gelsey Bell

She's named after a ballerina, is an experimental vocalist, a member of the music ensemble thingNY, and a doctoral candidate at NYU. Plus Gelsey Bell is also a unique and engaging songwriter and performer, and a fan I instantly became when I first saw her five years ago. Now she has a new album, and a release show at Vivaldi this Sunday.  Indie Sounds asked her all about it.


Photo by Lauren Rockman

Indie Sounds: You have a new CD coming out.  What's in the tite - In Place of Arms?

Gelsey Bell: Well, first of all, the title was inspired by a drawing of Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York from 1758 that clearly marks its Place of Arms, which is a beautiful shape, like a star and a heart. I liked the title of the album being read simultaneously as multiple things, both being about being within the safest place, the Place of Arms of a military complex, where all the explosives are kept, the part most defended, and using the meaning of 'in place of' of real arms holding you.

Music is something I often go to when there are no physical people to go to instead, so all these songs in some ways are a surrogate of the presence of a loved one and in that way the album is in place of being held, or ' in arms.' I think there is poetic crossover with the two meanings of the title and I think they both describe both my feelings about the songs and what the songs often explore.

IS: Tell us about making it - the who, where, what?

Gelsey: The making it was long in the coming. First of all, the album would not be what it is without my producer Chris Tabron. He has been a huge source of support and the nitty-gritty of making everything happen, as well as a wonderful creative collaborator. Meeting him and having him believe in my music has been an immeasurable blessing.

Every song has a different instrumentation to fit the content of the song and most parts were recorded separately, so the whole process just took a lot of time and many many recording sessions in many many different places literally across the country, from northern California to Michigan to New York City. All together, 16 other musicians contributed to the album, from rock guitar to jazz trumpet to a professional tap dancer to a string quartet to a percussionist that normally sticks to the noise scene. I even recorded an a capella three-voice track with the microphone on my computer in the bathroom of my old apartment in the East Village (yeah lo-fi high-reverb acoustics).

Playing with all the other musicians was really wonderful and while piano is still the main accompanying instrument most of the time, in two cases I prepared the piano with rubber, clothe, and feathers, and for one of the tracks I taught myself how to play harmonium.

IS: How would you say in compares to 2005's Under a Piano?

Gelsey: The textures of the sound, because of all the different types of instrumentation, make it very different. But my voice and songwriting style hasn't changed that much so it's clearly an album by the same person. In fact, some of the songs are written from the same time period that the first album was made, but I held off on recording them because I never felt like just piano and voice did them justice.

IS: When is the CD release party?

Gelsey: The CD release party is Sunday, September 12th from 7-8:30pm at Caffe Vivaldi. So soon! And it's going to be a really fun night. I'll be playing my first live show ever with a band: Andrew Livingston on bass, Evan Honse on trumpet (both of who recorded on the album), and Jake Goldbas on drums. 

IS: How will you be promoting the CD?  Where can people buy it?

Gelsey: So I'm doing all my distribution through CD Baby, like I did for the first album. You can buy it from their website or from iTunes or all the other myriad of digital distributors. I'm actually only doing a limited release of the physical album and am, I hope, elevating it to an art object. Though I've had the CDs themselves professionally reproduced, a designer and myself are making all the cases by hand and that involves sewing buttons, special folding of parchment paper, and a wallet-sized photo hidden within the package.

Since so few people buy CDs these days, I wanted the CDs they bought to be something really special. So they'll be a little bit more expensive but filled with a whole lot more love. Growing up I would constantly be giving my family members little art objects I made, collages, clay sculptures, etc., so it kinda feels like that with a more mature aesthetic.

IS: What else have you to say?  And what's next?

Gelsey: Well, first of all, thanks for all your questions! Next, I'm just hoping to start playing a lot more shows and ideally with this newly formed band. Performing my songs live really took a backseat while I was recording the album, so I'm excited to get back out there again.

I also have a number of other artistic projects in the more avantgarde realm, but I'm working to make more time for my own songwriting and, though I've never been a great business manager for myself, just keep on with it in my own way. After taking all this time to make something precious, all I can really do is hope people like it, right?