I've been a fan of Lisa Jaeggi for some time now, so it's good to see her getting a little push along from the folks at Modern Vintage. Today, the label releases her album Epic Epic, so it seemed a good idea to catch up and get the scoop.
Indie Sounds: You're releasing your album - Epic, Epic - today. So can you describe its sound? Your sound? What should fans expect?
Lisa Jaeggi: At the moment, I'm particularly inspired by combinations of catchy-driving melodies and beats and meaningful-moving lyrics. I like the power of simplicity and, at the same time, the majesty of the anthemic. I think about artists like Arcade Fire, Local Natives, Lykke Li, Lauryn Hill, Bon Iver, Ted Leo and Jose Gonzalez, and I can't put my finger on what it is about what they create musically, but it's something I staunchly pursue.
With Epic Epic, I tried my best to capture everything I love in the music I'm moved by, whether it be pop, folk, soul or indie rock. These songs are the mellow-moving-gritty-soulful-epic-sweetness that resulted. In addition, there were a lot more resources at my disposal with this album, and most people will be able to hear that ... more instruments, fuller sounds and arrangements, as well as more musical input from the people with whom I worked.
Download Epic Epic at iTunes.
IS: Tell us about making the album - where was it recorded and all that, and who was involved?
Lisa: The folks at Modern Vintage Recordings (MVR) set me up at Mission Sound, not far from my apartment in Brooklyn. We recorded the backbone of the album in two days with drummer Shawn Pelton and percussionist Bashiri Johnson, two incredibly sweet and talented musicians. We had never played together before, but the producer and engineer Oliver Straus recorded the three of us live playing something like 15 songs that first day. From there, we basically added the rest of the instrumentation, mandolin, organs, guitars, backup vocals, keys, etc., which took the better part of a year.
It was tough for me because I didn't have a clear concept of how I wanted the final sound to be, I had only played and heard my music in a mostly acoustic format. I can write and play songs no problem; arranging instruments, figuring out backup vocals, and mixing tracks are not my forte. MVR's Jason Cummings was fantastic in that respect ... he helped me with the harmonies and also with cutting a lot of the extraneous instruments. Jason said it best about me when he said I "don't like anything that sounds like anything else."
IS: To backtrack, how did you get your start in life and music?
Lisa: My life before NYC: born in Tallahassee, FL, raised in Washington DC and Silver Spring, MD, College in Greensboro, NC. I took piano lessons briefly as a child but it wasn't until high school, when my father bought me and my brothers an acoustic guitar, that I really got into making music. The guitar actually hung on the wall for a while before I decided to teach myself how to play it. In general, I've always been good at picking up new things, especially creative and artistic outlets. I'd look up guitar chords online and write and play songs to entertain my friends.
Writing songs led to starting an all girl rock band - we weren't terrible, but please don't ask me to ever listen to our recordings. I'll cringe every time. College was when I really started taking music more seriously. I played open mics, recorded "albums" on my computer, burning CDs to put in jewel cases that had pictures of my face on them. Really artsy pictures of my face. When I graduated college, and thought about what I wanted to do, music was the only thing that came to mind, so instead of wasting money at grad school studying something I wasn't passionate about I moved to NYC.
IS: So the move to NYC ... what was the reason for that, and what have you been up to musically since arriving?
Lisa: I moved to NYC in the fall of 2007, after working a summer in the Silver Spring, MD American Apparel, garnering as many leotards and pairs of booty shorts as I thought I'd need to make it as a musician in New York. A wise move, indeed.
I actually almost moved to San Diego to play music because I didn't think I'd like the city grit and bustle of NYC, but something in me changed last minute. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I had friends in NYC ... who had couches. My first year, I must have played every open mic in the city (many thanks to said friends who attended those brutal nights), eventually working my way up to booking my own shows, and then most recently to playing with a band (two rad friends/musicians who moved up about a year ago). I also self-released an album the summer of 2009, called Oh Lady You Shot Me, which I worked hard to get into as many hands as possible. MVR ended up hearing it and asked me to join their roster the summer of 2010, which is when we started working on Epic Epic.
IS: Now, what's the plan to go out and promote the album, locally and around?
Lisa: I can't wait to tour and play cities in the USA and abroad. I imagine it's one of the best ways to spread my music, connect with fans and get the album into the hands of new people. I'll continue to book shows in NYC with my two bandmates - there are venues here I enjoying playing more and more each time. The label also has a great PR team, working on getting press, placements, radio play, etc. I'm not the best at self-promotion or social networking, but I believe I'm in good hands when it comes to that aspect of my music career.
IS: And beyond the album, what else is on your musical agenda?
Lisa: We just finished filming a music video for All The Good off the new album. It's in the editing stages and hopefully will be released in the coming weeks. The concept is terrifically epic and the participants and crew were amazing. I definitely plan to do as many videos for this album as possible ... I am equally as visually oriented as I am musically, so film is such a complete form of expression for me.
Aside from that, I constantly write new songs, much of which I post on my blog So So Apropos, a kind of musical diary. I am incurably compelled to try seek out and compose "the perfect song", which is absolutely unattainable but at least the quest keeps me writing!
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