Giuseppe asked some questions to Lindsay Anderson, Ken Dyber and Joseph Costa, that are three of the four members of L'Altra, a Chicago-based group on indie label Aesthetics. You can also read the italian version of this interview.
Giuseppe Marmina
Sodapop: The wait is over. Your second album's out. What are your feelings about your new record?
Lindsay: Overall it was created and we worked our best on it, so I'm very proud of us and think we produced some nice work. It was a difficult record to make because there were a lot of feelings to deal with between members of the group and relationships in my life. I felt emotional through the process, and not necessarily the tender sort of love that I felt in making Music Of A Sinking Occasion. Artistically, I was searching far more than ever, which was great, but also confusing. I wanted to make sure I was being honest in everything I was doing. I feel like more time could have been spent on mixing the record. I listen to the songs now and have mixed feelings, sometimes loving every bit of it and sometimes wondering why we made the choices we did.
Ken: I think it's alright.
Joe: The more I listen the more I like it. I think it's a bit more challenging than Music Of A Sinking Occasion, but in the end richer.
S: Your music is soulful and has an inestimable evocative power. What do you try to convey when you write and play songs and how much of your personal experience is there in your music?
L: So much of it is personal, based off of the way I'm feeling about my life, my relationships and what I see happening in the world. It comes straight from my heart or soul first and then gets processed mentally. It works just right is when my mind and heart come to a nice understanding of each other. However, I think Joe & I lyrically try to take our personal experiences and shape them to have a more universal message. It's not just about us, it's about how we're leading parallel lives to many people in this world. I'm not the only person in the world that feels like this. Music is our way of understanding and maybe helping people feel better.
K: L'Altra is an extremely personal band, it can't helped but be transcended throughout the music and the way it's written and played.
J: My music's the theme to my life, my soundtrack and it's inevitably personal.
S: The sweet voices of Joe and Lindsay do sound perfectly together. Is there a particular attention you put on vocal harmonies in the recording studio or are your vocals born out of improvisation?
L: We have worked hard to improve our vocals and pay particular attention to getting them right. I naturally hear harmony first, so if Joe comes up with a melody, it's very easy for me to sing the harmony. As for harmonizing with myself, I just love it, and usually try a few takes in the studio to come up with something interesting. I think my most favorite harmony on this record is in Ways Out. I came up with the lower line on a few of the "I'm way out" lines that really altered the feel of the song. It made it darker.
J: I can barely speak, let alone sing. I think Lindsay helps me sound better than I really am.
S: In this new record you had many guest appearances, but will your sound be different live without all the instruments played by your friends and how will this change your songs?
L: Our sound has always been different live. I like how the four of us take the songs, that have been crafted in the studio with lots of additional instrumentation, and strip them down to a four piece. There is more of a sonic quality in our live set that I love. It doesn't change the songs, really, just is another way to play them. I'm excited to play these songs a lot to see how they can be played differently, though the song will remain the same. We have played shows with some of the other people, like Fred on cello & Rob on accordian. Marc Hellner will be playing with us more to create some of the melody lines on the record. We've also been using the computer to get more of the melodies in our live set. I hope though that the songs can stand on their own whether being played by just Joe & me or by a full orchestra.
K: We wrote the songs without these folks, but, I'm not playing with L'Altra anymore, so the live show is definitely going to be different, non of us really know how much different at this point.
J: Songs are based on feel and vibe and no matter whose there those will not change.
S: I know you are gifted artists in other fields, besides music. Joe's photographs are amazing, Lindsay's webdesign is simply wonderful. Are your collateral artistic activities related to your music's moods? Would you like to write a little bit about your artistic backgrounds?
L: I'm the sort of person that needs to be doing a few different activities at once, otherwise I lose my creative energy. For example, I am completely burned out on webdesign right now, because I've been doing it all winter. I'm really looking forward to touring so that my life can consist of music everyday. I'm sure I'll get tired of touring and then be able to come back home refreshed. I like to put equal amounts of energy & thought into all my projects, this means taking breaks.
K: No. Lindsay's design and Joe's photos don't have much to do with our music. The music stems from itself and actually comes from this really dark, ugle practice space, which is maybe why people say our music is sad or whatever... it's really cause our practice space depresses us all quite a bit.
J: Everything I do artistically comes from the same things/experiences. I think different mediums only alter the translation slightly.
S: Ken, your bass player, is also the owner of the label that releases your records. Do you feel like you are artistically more free to play what you feel deep inside or would it be the same if you released your records for another label?
L: I don't think I could release a record in which I was not artistically free to do what I wanted. Working with Ken has shaped our music, though, because I think he thinks of music in more of a label sort of way...emphasizing genres, groups, specific sounds. His thoughts on our songs are usually different and interesting. I hope that he continues to give us his input for the next set of recordings that may not include him.
K: I play what I want to pretty much, as we all do in all our songs. We all give imput to one another for ideas, parts, etc... the label stuff doesn't ever come into my mind when I'm trying to write music. I am starting to work on my own solo stuff actually, which will definitely be much different sounding then L'Altra, this much I can assure you.
J: We have never had any pressure from ken besides from showing up for rehersal on time.
S: Ken is going to move to Portland and leave the band. What does this mean for the band? Will you be looking for another bass player?
L: We've been playing with a bass player so that we can tour with this record. I'm not sure what we'll do for upcoming recordings.
K: Not sure anyone really has any answers for this one... I've already left the band. I know they're working on a live set without me and maybe they will find someone else to play bass, maybe not, only time will tell. Maybe they can tell you more about this, I have no idea what's in store for L'Altra in the future at this point.
J: We are currently playing with Bill Lowman from Bosco & Jorge/The Aluminum Group. It is definitely different, and at first felt a bit weird. But I think we will all be happier in the end.