WEBVTT - Annahstasia 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:23.436 Pushkin, soaring, lush, and steeped in soul. Anastasia has a 0:00:23.516 --> 0:00:27.276 voice that feels distant and intimate all at once. She 0:00:27.356 --> 0:00:29.596 was scouted in high school for a career in pop music, 0:00:29.956 --> 0:00:32.316 but after some strange dealings, set out down the road 0:00:32.316 --> 0:00:35.836 of self discovery. What she uncovered about herself and her 0:00:35.916 --> 0:00:39.116 artistry you can hear on her serene new album Tether, 0:00:39.716 --> 0:00:42.836 easily one of my favorites this year. The album was 0:00:42.876 --> 0:00:45.556 recorded live in studio and is stripped to the bone, 0:00:45.716 --> 0:00:49.196 allowing her voice in poetry to shine through, unencumbered by 0:00:49.276 --> 0:00:53.356 any clumsy production. I spoke to Anastasia about her journey 0:00:53.396 --> 0:00:56.116 through music to this album, which includes earning a four 0:00:56.196 --> 0:00:59.756 year degree, opening for Lenny Kravitz and co starring and 0:00:59.796 --> 0:01:07.476 Kendrick Lamar's Luther music video. This is broken record, real musicians, 0:01:07.716 --> 0:01:16.196 real conversations. Mhmm. Before getting into the conversation, here's Anastasia 0:01:16.236 --> 0:01:18.196 performing her song Satisfy Me. 0:01:28.436 --> 0:01:37.316 Ah through the craven that you won't have they a 0:01:37.636 --> 0:01:39.116 very good time. 0:01:43.436 --> 0:01:49.596 I wonder where you so you didn't have. 0:01:49.716 --> 0:01:55.316 The answers all alone? 0:01:57.636 --> 0:02:07.196 And you wonder treads so lightly over mountains. 0:02:06.636 --> 0:02:12.036 And rivers and valleys, dolls. 0:02:12.596 --> 0:02:13.996 And you under. 0:02:16.916 --> 0:02:18.436 I gets sorry. 0:02:19.876 --> 0:02:25.276 As of history is in no way repeeding. 0:02:25.236 --> 0:02:25.316 So. 0:02:31.036 --> 0:02:33.396 Satisfied, me. 0:02:38.316 --> 0:02:51.236 Satisfying. How called you all a bad day? 0:02:53.276 --> 0:02:57.796 I think you chose realized kind of game we have 0:02:58.116 --> 0:03:06.236 to play. How am always looking for the upside? 0:03:07.396 --> 0:03:12.996 Trying to stay off line? When for the world to breathe? 0:03:16.716 --> 0:03:25.316 And you wonder why see sky? It's because of money 0:03:25.436 --> 0:03:36.916 outside and I'm looking, and you wonder I dream so freely. 0:03:38.156 --> 0:03:50.556 It's because I'm never ever really all that's sash fine. 0:03:49.636 --> 0:04:04.916 Satisfied, silence, FI satisfied. 0:04:20.156 --> 0:04:26.116 Oh man, you could say anything. Lyrics could mean anything, 0:04:26.996 --> 0:04:30.676 you know. Oh my god? When did you figure out 0:04:31.916 --> 0:04:36.076 you had that voice? This voice, the voice that you have, 0:04:36.236 --> 0:04:39.276 it's like the most gorgeous voice. 0:04:40.996 --> 0:04:43.436 Well, I mean it developed over years, but the first 0:04:43.436 --> 0:04:48.076 time I realized I could sing somewhat was when I 0:04:48.116 --> 0:04:53.156 was fourteen and I did a school talent show and 0:04:54.076 --> 0:04:57.636 it was mostly everybody else's reaction. I was like, well 0:04:58.556 --> 0:05:03.316 what And my voice has dropped much since then, So 0:05:03.916 --> 0:05:05.516 I think that was the first time I realized I 0:05:05.516 --> 0:05:09.716 had a tool that I could wield or begin to home. 0:05:10.036 --> 0:05:13.796 Wow. So before the talent show at fourteen, were you 0:05:14.756 --> 0:05:18.396 interested in singing. Did you sing a lot or no? 0:05:18.396 --> 0:05:18.476 No. 0:05:18.836 --> 0:05:22.596 My parents aren't musicians, and they're both in creative field. 0:05:22.596 --> 0:05:26.956 They're they're in fashion. And I didn't really have any 0:05:26.956 --> 0:05:32.436 particular interest in singing or music or anything. And the 0:05:32.476 --> 0:05:35.396 way that I thought, oh, maybe, well I wonder if 0:05:35.396 --> 0:05:39.916 I can sing is actually kind of messed up. I 0:05:39.996 --> 0:05:45.076 went to this school that was predominantly white, and a 0:05:45.116 --> 0:05:47.756 lot of the kids would bully me because probably was 0:05:47.796 --> 0:05:50.836 the first black person that they had ever seen, and 0:05:52.836 --> 0:05:56.596 one of the lung the many stereotypes that were shouted 0:05:56.636 --> 0:06:00.276 at me. They were like, they would ask me to sing, 0:06:00.636 --> 0:06:03.196 like at lunch or after school, and they call me 0:06:03.236 --> 0:06:06.276 a jukebox, and they like, sing us a song, jukebox, 0:06:06.276 --> 0:06:09.116 sing us a song. And of course I would never 0:06:09.276 --> 0:06:12.836 sing for them, because you know, I'm not I'm not 0:06:12.956 --> 0:06:19.316 a pantomime. And but for some reason, like became a 0:06:19.316 --> 0:06:23.996 warm in my brain and I went home and I 0:06:23.996 --> 0:06:26.516 I was like, let me just try and sing something. 0:06:27.236 --> 0:06:29.556 So I think I first song I tried to sing 0:06:29.676 --> 0:06:33.036 was Whitney Houston's I Want to Dance with Somebody of 0:06:33.076 --> 0:06:34.116 the songs. 0:06:33.796 --> 0:06:37.236 Ever, I love that song so much, But that's wild 0:06:37.236 --> 0:06:39.596 that that was the first song you chose, I'll say 0:06:39.716 --> 0:06:43.716 that you couldn't have picked the worst starting point. Though 0:06:43.716 --> 0:06:44.716 it's all worked out. 0:06:45.196 --> 0:06:47.836 It was very hard to sing and not in my 0:06:47.836 --> 0:06:51.276 my range at all. Even at that point. It was 0:06:51.276 --> 0:06:55.756 too high for me, and I think I I learned 0:06:55.756 --> 0:06:58.436 it fully, but I was like, this doesn't feel quite right. 0:06:58.436 --> 0:07:01.396 So the song I learned after that was Valerie Amy 0:07:01.396 --> 0:07:04.196 white House's version, and that's the one I performed at 0:07:04.196 --> 0:07:06.756 the talent show and you know, everybody their socks that 0:07:06.836 --> 0:07:09.316 day because they're like, oh wait, she actually actually you 0:07:09.356 --> 0:07:13.316 actually can't sing. And yeah, that's how I fell into that. 0:07:13.396 --> 0:07:15.396 And then my music teachers at school kind of took 0:07:15.436 --> 0:07:19.116 me under their wing and taught me vocal jazz. I 0:07:19.116 --> 0:07:21.876 was a musical theater. It was just wherever I could 0:07:22.076 --> 0:07:24.956 get some sort of music education through my school, I 0:07:25.036 --> 0:07:29.036 did because there wasn't like money for extracurricular and stuff, 0:07:29.956 --> 0:07:32.396 so I just learned that way for many years. 0:07:32.476 --> 0:07:34.996 What was your parents' reaction to you, to my voice, 0:07:35.036 --> 0:07:35.636 to your voice? 0:07:38.076 --> 0:07:42.116 I think they were surprised. I can't remember. Oh yeah, 0:07:42.156 --> 0:07:46.436 my dad, when I first started writing songs, I think 0:07:46.436 --> 0:07:50.356 I played one for him and his reaction was eh, 0:07:50.476 --> 0:07:53.676 you're pretty good. You should write twelve more. And I 0:07:53.716 --> 0:07:55.996 was like, twelve, Like I just for one and it 0:07:56.036 --> 0:08:00.156 felt like the hardest thing I've ever done. He's like, yeah, 0:08:00.156 --> 0:08:02.156 but if you're serious about it, you should write twelve more. 0:08:03.116 --> 0:08:05.196 And if you'd write twelve then I'll take you seriously. 0:08:06.556 --> 0:08:09.116 Until then, I'm just going to assume this is a hobby. 0:08:09.516 --> 0:08:09.796 Wow. 0:08:10.036 --> 0:08:12.196 And so that was his reaction. My mom was a 0:08:12.196 --> 0:08:16.956 lot more generally supportive, you know, showing up to any 0:08:16.996 --> 0:08:21.756 performance that I had and always always being very proud 0:08:21.796 --> 0:08:26.836 of me and smiling from the sidelines. But it wasn't 0:08:26.956 --> 0:08:30.556 like they're not showbiz parents. They're not the type of 0:08:30.556 --> 0:08:33.196 parents that like, just because I was good at something, 0:08:33.236 --> 0:08:35.196 I was now suddenly like we're going to try and 0:08:35.756 --> 0:08:38.556 you know, make a buck off this kid kind of energy. 0:08:38.636 --> 0:08:41.356 So it was really left up to me if I 0:08:41.716 --> 0:08:43.756 wanted to pursue that. They're like, oh, that's cool. You 0:08:43.796 --> 0:08:47.476 have that gift that they left me to figure out 0:08:47.516 --> 0:08:48.316 what to do with it. 0:08:48.476 --> 0:08:51.556 Was that a typical response from your dad? Like that 0:08:51.716 --> 0:08:53.596 kind of is that how he sort of oriented? 0:08:53.796 --> 0:08:58.316 Ye, He's like a very serious artist. So he was like, 0:08:58.316 --> 0:09:00.276 if any of my kids are going to be artists. 0:09:00.276 --> 0:09:03.116 I need them to understand what that means, like what 0:09:03.156 --> 0:09:06.716 that role in society and in the world is. What 0:09:06.796 --> 0:09:08.516 it is to be an artist. It's not like a 0:09:09.436 --> 0:09:11.716 it's not a light thing, it's not a casual thing. 0:09:11.796 --> 0:09:14.796 It actually comes with a lot of responsibility to observe 0:09:14.876 --> 0:09:18.316 and distill the world, and then also honing your craft 0:09:18.436 --> 0:09:23.236 and your ability to execute an idea from thought to fruition. 0:09:23.476 --> 0:09:27.276 It's like it's something that I was taught at a 0:09:27.316 --> 0:09:30.156 young age and taught to take very seriously. So I 0:09:30.156 --> 0:09:33.876 think it translated into my music to all my other mediums, 0:09:33.916 --> 0:09:38.436 like that dedication to process and to craft. Yeah, just 0:09:38.516 --> 0:09:41.116 so I can feel like I'm doing my job as 0:09:41.116 --> 0:09:41.916 a artist. 0:09:42.156 --> 0:09:43.876 How old were you when you when you brought that 0:09:43.916 --> 0:09:44.796 song to your parents? 0:09:45.356 --> 0:09:46.476 It was fifteen. 0:09:46.236 --> 0:09:48.676 Fifteen, So what do you do at fifteen? And says, right, 0:09:48.836 --> 0:09:51.236 did you write twelve more? Did you? 0:09:51.276 --> 0:09:51.436 No? 0:09:51.476 --> 0:09:53.236 I didn't write twelve more. I think I got to 0:09:53.396 --> 0:09:56.636 like seven, but none of them were as good as 0:09:56.636 --> 0:10:02.076 the first one. So I got discouraged. And then I 0:10:02.116 --> 0:10:04.436 was doing covers with my friends and like a you know, 0:10:04.556 --> 0:10:07.236 high school band kind of thing. We were singing a 0:10:07.236 --> 0:10:10.196 lot of Bill Withers and read out Chili Peppers and 0:10:10.556 --> 0:10:15.836 Pink Floyd and shit, and I just went into study mode. 0:10:16.316 --> 0:10:18.596 I was like, actually, I don't know enough about writing 0:10:18.676 --> 0:10:21.676 songs to be writing songs yet. That's what I realized. 0:10:22.996 --> 0:10:26.076 Did you have an ideal at that time when you're 0:10:26.116 --> 0:10:29.036 like fifteen sixteen of like what a songwriter was or 0:10:29.076 --> 0:10:30.596 what a song a good song was? 0:10:30.956 --> 0:10:34.116 Yeah, I mean my reference point was Bill Withers and 0:10:34.236 --> 0:10:39.636 Nina Simone. Those are my two favorite songwriters at that chapter. 0:10:40.036 --> 0:10:43.556 And so yeah, the bar was definitely said high. 0:10:43.756 --> 0:10:45.556 It's a high bar, but a good bar. That's a 0:10:45.596 --> 0:10:50.476 good bar. Yeah, both, and both really different because Bill 0:10:50.556 --> 0:10:56.316 is so Bill Withers was so matter of fact indirect, 0:10:56.916 --> 0:10:59.956 there was no and it wasn't about he had I mean, 0:11:00.156 --> 0:11:02.156 he'd every once in a while like have a vocal 0:11:02.236 --> 0:11:04.036 run that'd be like stunning, but he was even his 0:11:04.116 --> 0:11:07.356 delivery was pretty just matter of fact, folky. He didn't 0:11:07.396 --> 0:11:09.596 want a lot of wisdom in it, you know. And 0:11:09.716 --> 0:11:13.196 Nina could just you know, great songs, great pick picked 0:11:13.196 --> 0:11:16.356 great songs, but then also could similarly maybe to you 0:11:16.436 --> 0:11:19.036 like she could also just sing nonsense and you're gonna 0:11:19.076 --> 0:11:20.716 be even raptured, you know, it's. 0:11:20.596 --> 0:11:24.516 Like, yeah, yeah, she had this like yeah, like you 0:11:24.836 --> 0:11:28.476 put you put it very plainly. It's like Nina had 0:11:28.516 --> 0:11:32.596 this magnetism and it was for me the way that 0:11:32.676 --> 0:11:36.676 she performed the songs, that's what I was learning from her. Yeah, 0:11:36.716 --> 0:11:38.836 because yes, a lot of the songs were picked as 0:11:38.836 --> 0:11:43.956 she wasn't writing them, and her the way that her 0:11:44.036 --> 0:11:46.436 voice made those songs come alive in a way that 0:11:46.716 --> 0:11:50.876 when other artists sang them it just wasn't the same. Yeah. 0:11:51.116 --> 0:11:54.316 I learned from her theatrics in that sense of the 0:11:54.356 --> 0:11:59.636 importance of dynamics and tone and the presence that you 0:11:59.676 --> 0:12:02.196 bring to a word or to a form. Yeah, the 0:12:02.196 --> 0:12:04.396 emotion that you bring to it and what that actually 0:12:04.436 --> 0:12:09.356 is when you break that down technically. And then with Bill, 0:12:09.396 --> 0:12:12.956 where there's yeah, exactly, a very matter of fact storytelling, 0:12:13.036 --> 0:12:17.076 like Okay, this is the history. Yeah, and there's not 0:12:17.156 --> 0:12:19.316 a lot that gets in the way of hearing the story, 0:12:19.756 --> 0:12:22.276 which I think is really important for songwriting. It's like 0:12:22.356 --> 0:12:26.556 balancing the poetic language with here's what happened, Here's what 0:12:26.596 --> 0:12:29.276 I want to tell you, and then delivering it in 0:12:29.316 --> 0:12:31.276 a way where people feel your words as well as 0:12:31.356 --> 0:12:31.836 hearing them. 0:12:32.156 --> 0:12:36.316 Yeah, do you think of yourself in any way it's theatrical? 0:12:36.836 --> 0:12:39.196 Yeah, yeah, gently so. 0:12:39.596 --> 0:12:44.836 Gently so in life or only in song. 0:12:46.276 --> 0:12:51.916 I think I live cinematically, Yeah, more cinema than the theater. 0:12:52.196 --> 0:12:55.716 Theater I associate with like a dimension. It's like there's 0:12:55.716 --> 0:12:58.996 so many there's planes, where a cinema is more five D. 0:12:59.356 --> 0:13:03.196 It's an experience, or a theater. It's like you are 0:13:03.276 --> 0:13:06.116 viewing something and there's a front stage, there's a backstage. 0:13:06.156 --> 0:13:11.556 There's like literally layers, whereas life to me feels more 0:13:11.556 --> 0:13:17.516 like a movie with infinite camera setups and and plot 0:13:17.556 --> 0:13:18.676 lines and options. 0:13:19.676 --> 0:13:22.356 It's the magic. It's like, it's the magic you get 0:13:22.356 --> 0:13:24.076 from a movie. That's what you feel in life. 0:13:24.116 --> 0:13:25.836 That's what I feel in life. But that's what I's 0:13:25.876 --> 0:13:27.796 what I pursue in life. I think it helps me, 0:13:28.076 --> 0:13:30.476 Like as a songwriter, if you're you live in that 0:13:30.556 --> 0:13:33.276 mentality of like your life is an unfolding story, then 0:13:33.276 --> 0:13:37.316 you're constantly processing it in that way, it makes it 0:13:37.356 --> 0:13:42.476 a lot easier to to condense. Or when you're hearing 0:13:42.516 --> 0:13:46.036 somebody else's story, or you're you're witnessing somebody else goes 0:13:46.036 --> 0:13:49.476 through something and you you immediately put it in that framework. 0:13:49.916 --> 0:13:54.396 But then that requires, yeah, a certain propensity for drama, 0:13:54.636 --> 0:13:57.396 not in the like toxic sense, but in the sense that, 0:13:57.516 --> 0:14:01.236 like the contrasts that are naturally there in life are 0:14:01.276 --> 0:14:03.996 a lot to chew on, and if you open your 0:14:04.036 --> 0:14:08.356 heart to like feeling all of it, it is quite intense. 0:14:08.436 --> 0:14:11.876 It's quite intense, and up and down mountains valleys. It's 0:14:11.956 --> 0:14:17.076 it is theatrical without even adding much to it or 0:14:17.116 --> 0:14:18.836 doing much to make it so right. 0:14:19.076 --> 0:14:21.596 I've been thinking about that a lot myself in general, 0:14:21.676 --> 0:14:24.316 Like the drama is a better way. I was thinking 0:14:24.316 --> 0:14:26.556 of theatrics myself, but drama is a better way I 0:14:26.556 --> 0:14:29.316 think of explaining it. You hit on something more interesting. 0:14:30.796 --> 0:14:33.116 But Nina, so Nina as this person who could be 0:14:33.196 --> 0:14:38.916 simultaneously dramatic or theatrical but also like impossibly cool at 0:14:38.956 --> 0:14:41.436 the same time. It's a really hard balance, and I 0:14:41.916 --> 0:14:46.236 think I worry even for myself, but in general that 0:14:47.756 --> 0:14:50.316 in the quest to be cool, we've lost what it 0:14:50.396 --> 0:14:52.356 is to be dramatic and the actual and there's a 0:14:52.396 --> 0:14:54.036 lot of fun in that. You know, there's a lot 0:14:54.036 --> 0:14:59.436 of music and music especially when you lose that, there's 0:14:59.476 --> 0:15:02.476 an element missing, and it is that formative elopment, the 0:15:02.476 --> 0:15:06.516 way you say something versus just saying something, And there's 0:15:06.516 --> 0:15:08.756 so much of that in you're saying, which I think 0:15:08.796 --> 0:15:12.956 is why, like your album is so deeply resonant, you know, 0:15:13.036 --> 0:15:15.716 within not to put you on the spot, but it 0:15:15.916 --> 0:15:17.636 just came out and I feel like no one's had 0:15:17.676 --> 0:15:21.356 a bad word to say it, that's heard it, you know, yeah, yeah. 0:15:21.356 --> 0:15:24.076 I mean I'd be interested to hear if they found one, 0:15:25.356 --> 0:15:28.676 because so yeah, it's it's it was crafted with so 0:15:28.756 --> 0:15:32.756 much consideration, so many, so many viewpoints, over so much time. 0:15:33.396 --> 0:15:36.276 Not that I was making it in the desire to 0:15:36.316 --> 0:15:39.876 please anyone, but my attempt was to make something that 0:15:39.996 --> 0:15:43.316 felt so innately human that everybody could find themselves in it. 0:15:44.116 --> 0:15:48.516 Joni Mitchell said once that if you if you listen 0:15:48.556 --> 0:15:50.756 to a song and you see my face, and I failed, 0:15:51.636 --> 0:15:53.396 but if you listen to a song and you feel 0:15:53.516 --> 0:15:56.996 you see yourself, then I've done my job. And so 0:15:57.116 --> 0:16:01.396 it's like that process of trying to remove my a 0:16:01.516 --> 0:16:04.956 censortain level of my ego from the music. I think 0:16:04.996 --> 0:16:07.316 it's what has led to the people resonating it with 0:16:07.876 --> 0:16:10.636 it in this way, because it's not it's when they're 0:16:10.636 --> 0:16:13.316 listening to it, they're hearing their own experience, in their 0:16:13.316 --> 0:16:13.996 own story. 0:16:14.476 --> 0:16:16.036 How do you get there? How do you get to 0:16:16.076 --> 0:16:20.556 the point where you can create something that's personal but 0:16:21.636 --> 0:16:22.676 your ego isn't in it? 0:16:22.916 --> 0:16:24.916 Oh, goes. I think back to that need with that 0:16:24.956 --> 0:16:26.596 coolness that you were talking about in need to add 0:16:26.676 --> 0:16:31.716 It's like when you do dive into the extreme extremities 0:16:31.756 --> 0:16:38.076 of life, it also brings about a certain level of objectivity. 0:16:38.716 --> 0:16:42.556 It's like it's like looking at a roaring river and 0:16:42.716 --> 0:16:46.916 deciding to jump in that you have this agency and 0:16:47.156 --> 0:16:48.996 you can decide to be outside of the river watching it, 0:16:49.076 --> 0:16:50.516 or you can decide to be in the river, and 0:16:50.956 --> 0:16:53.396 when you have the strength to do both, and you've 0:16:53.396 --> 0:16:55.636 honed that strength over time to do both and not 0:16:55.716 --> 0:16:57.796 get overwhelmed by being in the river and going with 0:16:57.836 --> 0:16:59.876 the current and not being able to swim and just 0:16:59.876 --> 0:17:02.436 being like, well, I trust this, I'm going and then 0:17:02.676 --> 0:17:05.116 knowing when it's time to step out, I'm too exhausted. 0:17:05.196 --> 0:17:07.236 I can't handle this. I have to sit back and 0:17:07.316 --> 0:17:12.396 watch and observe the coolness. That's the calm, that's the objectivity, 0:17:12.396 --> 0:17:16.196 that's the be here now of it all, Like I'm present. 0:17:17.316 --> 0:17:22.076 Everything in this moment right now is fine. And with songwriting, 0:17:22.756 --> 0:17:25.516 it's like there's so many different phases. And that's why 0:17:25.556 --> 0:17:28.716 time is such an important ingredient in my work is 0:17:28.756 --> 0:17:33.036 because the thing happens, life happens. You experience the heartbreak, 0:17:33.076 --> 0:17:36.476 you experience, the trauma, you experience, the joy, the ecstasy, 0:17:37.396 --> 0:17:42.516 and it might in that moment it inspires you. But 0:17:42.636 --> 0:17:44.556 for me, at least, it isn'tn til months later that 0:17:44.636 --> 0:17:47.836 I can distill it into language or into a melody, 0:17:47.876 --> 0:17:50.596 into a song, and so then it comes out in 0:17:51.236 --> 0:17:53.236 one of my You know, when I'm sitting on my 0:17:53.276 --> 0:17:56.516 own practicing or writing. Usually while I'm practicing is when 0:17:56.516 --> 0:18:02.636 the songs come and it comes through or recorded or 0:18:03.716 --> 0:18:07.316 track in some way to reference it again, and then 0:18:07.596 --> 0:18:11.196 I don't really touch it for a minute, and then 0:18:11.196 --> 0:18:12.676 I come back to it and I'm like, Okay, what 0:18:12.716 --> 0:18:15.596 was I saying there? And is what I'm saying fair? 0:18:15.716 --> 0:18:19.756 Is it fair to the people involved? Have I considered 0:18:19.836 --> 0:18:23.516 all sides? What's the lesson that I learned here? Like 0:18:23.556 --> 0:18:27.756 I try and look at each experience, like how do 0:18:27.836 --> 0:18:30.196 I take myself out of this? And if I take 0:18:30.276 --> 0:18:32.716 myself out of this is there still a story here? 0:18:34.116 --> 0:18:35.916 And that's what I try to do with all these records, 0:18:35.956 --> 0:18:39.676 Like with Be Kind, like that was a if you 0:18:39.716 --> 0:18:43.396 wanted to break down the song, it's the front half 0:18:43.476 --> 0:18:47.836 is completely my life. It's little vignettes of my life 0:18:47.916 --> 0:18:51.796 that were going on at that time. Super niche, super specific. 0:18:51.916 --> 0:18:54.796 Looking at a pile of CDs under a tree. It's trash, 0:18:54.876 --> 0:18:57.996 but there's something beautiful about the trash, like dancing for 0:18:58.036 --> 0:19:01.356 three days straight to Moroccan music in July and New York, 0:19:01.956 --> 0:19:05.436 like you know, sleeping on a couch and wishing that 0:19:05.916 --> 0:19:08.156 I had this California King bed I didn't have to 0:19:08.156 --> 0:19:12.316 worry about Bill, Like. There are all these little moments, 0:19:12.356 --> 0:19:14.876 and I give you guys so much of my life 0:19:14.916 --> 0:19:18.556 and my experience. But in those you see that time 0:19:18.556 --> 0:19:20.676 that you struggle, You see that time that you like 0:19:20.916 --> 0:19:22.996 let go and had fun. You see that time that 0:19:22.996 --> 0:19:25.556 that you found the mundane so beautiful that it almost 0:19:25.556 --> 0:19:29.436 made you cry. Because my experiences aren't unique to me. 0:19:30.036 --> 0:19:34.036 They're just refractions of our group experience. And then I 0:19:34.156 --> 0:19:37.956 zoom out and I say, and I deliver this mantra 0:19:38.836 --> 0:19:42.036 that has absolutely nothing to do with me, which is 0:19:43.196 --> 0:19:46.356 something that we've all been taught on some level, which 0:19:46.356 --> 0:19:48.636 is like, I won't do unto you as you as 0:19:48.876 --> 0:19:52.076 I don't want done unto me right, I want to 0:19:52.116 --> 0:19:55.516 treat you with kindness because I want to receive kindness. 0:19:56.076 --> 0:19:58.236 And I won't be heartless if you won't be heartless. 0:19:58.276 --> 0:20:01.036 I won't be callous if you won't be callous. That 0:20:01.076 --> 0:20:04.876 message is not it is not mine even it's it's 0:20:04.876 --> 0:20:08.276 it's it's when I've learned growing up in church. It's 0:20:08.316 --> 0:20:11.836 when I learned from multiple mentors and teachers of my life. 0:20:11.876 --> 0:20:14.756 It's like something that I returned to through all the 0:20:14.796 --> 0:20:17.836 noise of the front half of the song, all of 0:20:17.876 --> 0:20:21.276 these niche experiences. It's like the common thread through it 0:20:21.356 --> 0:20:24.716 is this human thing of Wait, actually, we're all here 0:20:25.716 --> 0:20:30.156 together now to love and to care for each other, 0:20:31.236 --> 0:20:33.836 and we just need to clear the noise and sit 0:20:33.916 --> 0:20:39.876 and listen to it. There's no ego in that move, 0:20:39.956 --> 0:20:42.036 but in that song, I kind of like dip in 0:20:42.156 --> 0:20:43.996 through the ego and out the other side. 0:20:44.116 --> 0:20:47.316 That's like your way in is thing ego. We'll be 0:20:47.356 --> 0:20:54.676 back with more from Anastasia after the break be kind. 0:20:55.716 --> 0:20:58.676 When you wrote the song, how done was it or 0:20:58.716 --> 0:21:01.556 how much of that work to strip some of your 0:21:01.596 --> 0:21:03.956 ego out of it. Did you have to do since 0:21:03.956 --> 0:21:05.596 you brought that up as an example. 0:21:05.796 --> 0:21:11.116 You know, not much, because I was quite humbled at 0:21:11.116 --> 0:21:15.196 that point by my life experiences. I had just moved 0:21:15.196 --> 0:21:17.716 back to California after trying to live in New York 0:21:17.756 --> 0:21:21.276 for a few years, and New York just destroyed me mentally, 0:21:21.716 --> 0:21:25.716 destroyed my health, Like I was not good. Oh, I 0:21:25.836 --> 0:21:30.116 was not well, and I'd run back to California with 0:21:30.116 --> 0:21:35.556 my tail between my legs. And yeah, I was sitting 0:21:35.596 --> 0:21:42.196 in the quiet of valley home and the sun coming 0:21:42.196 --> 0:21:45.756 through the window and gentle breeze of spring, and like 0:21:46.036 --> 0:21:49.556 just such a sharp contrast to where I was the 0:21:49.596 --> 0:21:52.276 noise and the bustle and the grit and the smog 0:21:52.436 --> 0:21:57.436 and the uh and I don't know, the song just 0:21:57.476 --> 0:22:00.476 came out. It came out, and the front half came 0:22:00.476 --> 0:22:03.796 out because I was just like trying to purge that experience. 0:22:04.596 --> 0:22:09.356 And then and then I literally said to myself, I'm like, okay, 0:22:09.396 --> 0:22:12.436 stop complaining, and then the second half came out. 0:22:13.036 --> 0:22:14.876 But the city in the same sitting. 0:22:14.956 --> 0:22:19.276 Yeah, I usually write my songs in one sitting two 0:22:19.436 --> 0:22:24.396 at max, but not in any large swath of time 0:22:24.436 --> 0:22:26.636 between the two, because it's like when it's coming through, 0:22:26.716 --> 0:22:29.956 you have to catch it to kind of like catching fish. 0:22:29.996 --> 0:22:32.756 They'res slippery and they might not come round again, so 0:22:32.796 --> 0:22:35.076 you gotta when it comes through. 0:22:35.396 --> 0:22:36.956 What is practice look like for you said, a lot 0:22:36.996 --> 0:22:39.996 of your writing comes from just out of practicing. What 0:22:40.116 --> 0:22:42.316 is when do you practice? And what does that look 0:22:42.356 --> 0:22:42.716 like for you? 0:22:43.316 --> 0:22:45.476 You know, practice is a funny thing for a musician 0:22:45.916 --> 0:22:49.596 who's become professional musician because then he's like, you actually 0:22:49.596 --> 0:22:52.756 don't even time to practice anymore, which is what even 0:22:52.796 --> 0:22:54.676 got you there in the first place, is all the practice. 0:22:55.636 --> 0:22:58.916 So now I have to like carve out time, and 0:22:58.956 --> 0:23:00.836 I haven't been so good at it, which is why 0:23:00.836 --> 0:23:04.636 I haven't been writing that much. But what it just 0:23:04.676 --> 0:23:08.316 looks like is practice. It's like just exploring the neck 0:23:08.316 --> 0:23:12.956 of the guitar, seeing different finding different chords, finding different tunings, 0:23:13.036 --> 0:23:17.356 finding different voicings, different melody lines. And then for me, 0:23:18.276 --> 0:23:19.996 when I find a new melody line or I find 0:23:20.036 --> 0:23:25.116 a new chord progression that almost directly inspires language. It's 0:23:25.156 --> 0:23:28.036 like almost like a synesthesia, but with words like hearing 0:23:28.036 --> 0:23:30.276 a sound and it reminds me of like a memory 0:23:30.356 --> 0:23:32.716 or a moment or a color, and then I just 0:23:33.596 --> 0:23:36.556 follow that I start describing it, and then it's like 0:23:36.676 --> 0:23:38.796 then it's just like pulling the thread. 0:23:39.156 --> 0:23:41.316 Is there any songs on the album that you found 0:23:41.756 --> 0:23:44.396 the melody on the guitar before you found the words, 0:23:44.636 --> 0:23:48.356 before you found your voice around it. 0:23:50.316 --> 0:23:52.796 Well, it all happens at once. I write all my 0:23:52.836 --> 0:23:56.796 songs on the guitar by myself in my room. Yeah, 0:23:56.876 --> 0:23:58.636 all of the songs were already written before I went 0:23:58.676 --> 0:24:01.356 into record the album, and then I just taught everybody 0:24:01.396 --> 0:24:05.276 the songs and we worked on the arrangement and recorded 0:24:05.316 --> 0:24:10.316 their band arrangement. But every single song that I write 0:24:10.476 --> 0:24:13.756 or put out is written in that way where it's 0:24:13.996 --> 0:24:18.076 me in this moment of practice with my guitar and 0:24:19.076 --> 0:24:25.156 they dance together the melody and my hands and the 0:24:25.196 --> 0:24:30.436 words and the lyrics. It's not linear the process, and 0:24:30.476 --> 0:24:33.076 sometimes it'll be like holes that need to be filled 0:24:35.116 --> 0:24:38.036 where I'm not quite sure what I'm trying to say, 0:24:38.876 --> 0:24:41.676 Like Villain was one of those. Like when Villain came through, 0:24:42.556 --> 0:24:46.676 I wasn't just in a very angry place, and that 0:24:46.716 --> 0:24:49.476 one it came the lyrics never changed. It came through 0:24:49.596 --> 0:24:54.916 like that done, but when I revisited it, I was like, Okay, wait, 0:24:54.916 --> 0:24:58.396 this isn't actually about my anger. Actually this is about 0:24:58.396 --> 0:25:01.796 something else. And then over time the meaning of the 0:25:01.876 --> 0:25:04.636 song evolved and that changed how I sung it wow, 0:25:05.196 --> 0:25:07.316 and how I performed it, because at first, it's like 0:25:07.316 --> 0:25:10.156 this angry song of like, just I don't want anything 0:25:10.156 --> 0:25:12.076 that you left. It's kind of it's kind of like, 0:25:12.756 --> 0:25:14.756