Daily Vanguard

February 11th, 2008

Blog Extra: Per Se interview

Here’s the rest of a long transcript from last week’s feature on musician Anne Adams, who goes by the moniker Per Se. Also there’s an MP3 after the jump.

MP3: HERE

Note: Transcript is somewhat unedited, please forgive small punctuation errors.

Interview conducted by Shane Danaher

Your arrangements, especially on recent material, seem spare but exquisitely detailed as well. How do you decide what instruments/overdubs/sounds a song needs to bring out its strongest arrangement?

I don’t think I do decide. I just hear it. I listen to the song until I hear a missing part, and then I sing or play it in. These days, it’s less a process of trial and error, than of hallucination and actualization.

Of course, when I was in the studio … it’s customary to workshop an arrangement—to “try things on” a song, stick with the stuff that works, and shuck off the stuff that detracts. To be honest, I lost myself in that process for a while, because it seemed more accessible and fun than the dreadful slog for studio-perfect performance.

But there was also a lot of wasted tape, and a lot of exploration that dead-ended. Because most of the time when I was trying to “explore,” it was because I was reluctant to push for the sounds that I already knew I wanted to hear. I figured if I tried everything else first, it would legitimize my original instincts. I’m afraid I dragged several musical friends through an exhaustive process of elimination. Now and in the future, I’m just going for what I want. I’ve done enough laboratory testing.

How do you think the long interim between when you began performing your music and when you actually recorded it affected what wound up happening in the studio?

I think it improved the tracks, because I’ve learned a lot in the time I’ve been picking at the project. Performing teaches you a lot about arrangement and technique. Collaborating and disagreeing with people teaches you, too. And in the time I’ve been recording,–due in part to it taking so long and involving so many folks–I’ve gained some perspective. I’ve seen the trajectory of how trends well up and play out. It’s made me ultimately stake less of my success on this project, knowing that there’ll be others and that it’s a blip in a greater continuum.

I don’t know what would’ve happened if I’d gotten everything that I was playing, perfectly recorded and released, six years ago. For one thing, the content would’ve been rarer. These days, there’s a cacophony of clap-tracks and pretty harmonies, issuing forth from young ladies in pretty dresses. When I first started playing in Portland, there were a lot more wah-wah pedals and dirty tee shirts, and, frankly, a lot more men. So, someone like me was more of an anomaly on that scene. I guess I didn’t exploit that to the fullest, but I don’t regret that. It’s been better for me, to grow without scrutiny. I’m better at everything now, than I would’ve been if people were always paying me attention.

The music being made right now is a lot more vibrant, too, than it was just a few years ago. More women, more community, more individual consumer influence via the internet, and—sadly, some dire world politics—have really improved the state of art. When I started trying to record, Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park were topping charts, for goshsakes. Now, it’s the Decemberists and Feist. It’s like my music was cryogenically frozen, and is thawing now that they’ve found a cure for the disease.

You’ve been known for giving very emotionally involved performances, do you think being so emotionally open when onstage is something that comes naturally to you or have you worked intentionally towards that goal?

The thing I work at, is inhabiting a song while playing it live. The lyrics I’m singing obviously voice thoughts I was thinking at a different moment. But, to bring them across, I have to re-access the original feelings. I have to picture the scenes and people I’m talking about. That’s a conscious effort, for sure.

Onstage, I have to suppress thoughts like, “My ankle is tangled in a cord; is this mic feeding back? When do I stomp to start the next loop? Does the sound guy hate me? I think he hates me.” I have to think, “My heart is breaking/ I’m under the ocean/ I’m a fallen angel/ I’m a lonely old lady…” So, a show is happening on two levels: the one with logistics—gear, set list, strategy…. and then the other level, which hovers a bit above, in frivolous and tragic reverie. It’s a thought discipline, definitely.

I’ve read that you majored in English, and in listening to your songs it’s clear that you don’t use words unnecessarily. When you’re writing do you develop a lyrical idea and then create a mood to match that or does it work the other way around?

Usually, a few lyrics just come with the music. Sometimes, all of them do. I just keep singing a song to myself until it sprouts all its lyrics. But this method takes a while. A lot of songs remain unfinished, because I can’t just decide what to put in them—it has to occur to me, and sometimes it never does. It’s beyond my control, it’s whispered to me by the ghosties. And you’re right about not wasting words. If I were trying to consciously write the words, there would be a lot more wasted ones. I’m pretty verbose; it’s only my subconscious mind that’s moderate.

You’ve mentioned that you’ve worked as a freelance writer, do you think that the talents from that field transfer at all to your ability to craft interesting lyrics?

Oh, definitely, writing feeds writing. But most of the freelance stuff I’ve done has been to other people’s specs, and not always creatively stimulating. Um, there’s art and then there’s craft. There’s a craft to fitting words together, and then there’s an art to exploring emotion and meaning. All my writing is an exercise in craft, and some of it is art. In Per Se, hopefully all of it qualifies as art, enhanced by craft.

What have you got planned for the next few months with Per Se and your other endeavors?

My dance card is pretty full with my aforementioned dream dayjob [working on the production of a feature length stop animation film]. I’ll be in Portland, playing a few shows, and when the album bounces back from New York, I’ll publish—label or no. I’m looking at possibly doing some tasteful track licensing, too, if the option arises. When I have spare time, I will kiss someone.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 11:34 pm and is filed under Mindloop. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.