Jenny Lewis

admin on Jun 23rd 2006

During the opening tracks of Jenny Lewis’ solo album “Rabbit Fur Coat,” there’s a decidedly M. Ward feel to the flow of things. With all the quality of a veteran songwriter nearly twice her age, Lewis embraces touches of gospel, hymnal, traditional folk and blues while recalling the great white soul classics – all coming together across the racing strings of an acoustic. With that in mind, the M. Ward factor was the first thing on my lips when I sat down with the Rilo Kiley singer before her debut Irish performance.

I’m a big fan of M. Ward…
Me too!

…what did you think he would bring to the project?
Well I think there’s a magical quality to his records, they’re really timeless. They occupy this weird place in my brain when I listen to them – it’s like nothing else. So I kind of just hoped that he would do whatever he does for his own songs on my songs. I didn’t know how that would turn out because when I went up to Portland, some of the songs weren’t even finished. So we sat down and he played guitar with me, and it was so seamless, so easy working with him. We recorded like five songs a day and I think we work really well together.

A lot of questions are being asked on ‘Rabbit Fur Coat’ – is that reflective of the time you wrote them, or are they just things you’ve always wondered about?
I think songs tend to reflect how you feel in any given period; you know, they’re not necessarily life lasting, burning questions. I think these ideas just come up in songs and perhaps they’re just passing thoughts, you know? They’re not quite as important as they become later when you actually record them and people ask you questions about them.

Well I’ve always wondered whether, when you’re playing the songs every night, if it’s kind of like re-living a certain moment, or maybe even exorcising your demons a little bit…
(Contemplatively) No…
…or is that you just don’t think about them?
No, it’s not like a big therapy session up there on stage every night, and there are a lot of stories in the songs and made-up characters and plots…so not all of the characters necessarily lead back to me. But I think every night is different, some songs feel better on certain nights and I just try to find the honesty as far as how I’m feeling in that moment. Performing the song on the spot relates it back to a more personal thing that’s happening to me rather than the songs which aren’t necessarily always personal.

Yeah, I was going to mention the storytelling on the album; do you think you might have a book in you one day?
I don’t know if I have the patience or the true talent to write a book.

Well what about an autobiography? You seem to have had a pretty interesting life…
Yeah, that would be great…just to tell the story of my family. Because I come from a long line of performers: my father was a harmonica player, my mother was a singer, my father’s mother was a dancer on vaudeville, so I think it’s an interesting lineage of crazy show people.

How have you found the solo experience so far?
It’s great! It’s been really carefree, you know? There’s not that much riding on it, because I haven’t put a lot on the line for this. It’s kind of funny when you work really hard doing something, because it has a different effect. I’ve come into this and the whole process has just been carefree and easy. I recorded the album quickly, mixed it in three days, the touring’s really great, and I feel like good things are coming because I didn’t put too much on it.

So it doesn’t feel like a gamble?
Yeah! I’m doing it exactly as I want to, there’s no compromise, and you know, if it didn’t work out initially, I guess I could have always gone running back to the band.

Given the stripped-down nature of album, I’d imagine a more intimate setting could be a contrast to the bigger venue gigs you would have experienced with Rilo Kiley and Postal Service…
I think with Rilo Kiley we always have a moment that’s small and intimate, and I think a lot of the songs on this record stem from some of the tracks on ‘More Adventurous’, the last Rilo Kiley record. There were some stripped-down, kind of pop-country songs and I think I kind of elaborated on that idea. So I think a lot of the same elements are there…but for the most part we are a rock band and there are no electric guitars on stage for this, which is nice.

But in terms of the atmosphere at the shows, though – is that different?
Yeah, it’s completely different. Completely! Because it’s a very deliberate show, it’s kind of theatrical, and everything is the same every night. We play the same set, and it has dips and bobs, but they’re calculated, almost. Whereas with Rilo Kiley, we’re a little more willing to change up the set and have a more spontaneous thing.

With such a personal record, and arguably more of a specialised audience, it’s probably going to give you a bit more of a hands-on relationship with the feedback from the audience. If you found that – on an individual basis, anyway – you were really touching people and relating to them with Rabbit Fur Coat, would that feel more rewarding than being part of a bigger, commercially successful band?
(Puts chin in her hand, pondering the question carefully.) You know, it kind of feels the same as with Rilo Kiley because I write the songs in that band and I definitely put my heart into it. Plus, you know we’re really not any big rock stars or anything, we haven’t really been played on the radio much, so it’s still the same kind of feeling within the band. But with this there’s a lot more on me, so if someone doesn’t like it, then I tend to take it more personally.

I know Laura Nyro and Loretta Lynn were big influences in making this album, but are there any modern artists within relatively similar brackets that have caught your attention?
Gillian Welsh – she’s great. She actually came to our show in Nashville and sang with us on a song. That was so amazing, just to see her up close and to hear that voice coming out of her. I’m such a huge fan. I really like Will Oldham; I’ve never seen him play live. I love Bonnie Prince Billy; ‘I See a Darkness’ is such a great record.

Finally, and I hope this doesn’t sound too ridiculous, but I have to say there’s definitely something about the album cover that reminds me of ‘The Shining’.
(As I say the sentence, the expression on her face rises up with excitement only to fall disappointedly on those final two words.)
Okay, you’ve heard that before then…
(Nods patiently)
Oh, well at least you weren’t mortified by the comparison…
We didn’t really intend to do that, we took a bunch of pictures for the artwork inside the album and that was one that really was the creepiest, so we opted for that to be the cover. I was like “that’s it! That has to be the cover.” It’s really eerie…

And with that, I get up to leave, thanking her for time. Perhaps a little taken aback that an interviewer has managed not to touch upon her child acting career for once, or maybe that the interaction felt more casual than professional, she seems somewhat disappointed as I excuse myself. As I walk away, all questions answered but now wondering if I was leaving prematurely nonetheless, I turn back to see Jenny Lewis still sitting at the table, pensively poking at her smoothie with a straw as the sunlight streams in to The Village’s now-empty hall. I don’t know why, but it’s an image that will stay with me.