Rock and Roll Is a Nerd

office— Are you in the car?

I am. I'm taking my boyfriend's little sister shopping.

I scrolled down your instagram feed last night. A picture of David Bowie greeted me at the very bottom, posted in 2017 or so; what about him?

Bowie is a whole kind of entity, his clothes; his moves; THAT movie, The Man Who Fell to Earth. I just love it. I mean, I’m Bowie obsessed, aren’t we all?

Both on and off stage?

Totally. Just the other night I found a new video that I’ve never come across before of him rehearsing for his Thin White Duke Tour and it’s as good, if not even better, as when he’s performing it. I spend a lot of time watching similar videos, I call it “The Youtube Game".

The what?

The Youtube Game. It’s similar to Apple Music, you click on the video then you bounce onto whatever recommendation comes next, you keep on clicking til you find something you haven't seen, something new, or whatever you’re happy with.

In other words, we don’t mind the algorithm stalking us.

I actually love it.

Are all your platform’s explorer pages as accurate?

I think so, yes. I mean it’s crazy how fast they change and adapt. If I like one photo of the Kardashians, suddenly Kim is all over the place. But mine’s pretty catered to me, pretty Beatles and Kate Moss, the classics. I generally love instagram.

It's been such a long time since I heard anybody express that lately. I more so feel like people have been complaining about drowning in the nothingness.

I totally get that, but then again it's a good sphere for inspiration. You just gotta watch out. I love a rabbit hole, though. Nonetheless it has obviously really revolutionized the way that artists are in charge of their image, you have more access to curating your own persona which I think is cool. Back in the days it used to be different, depending on what label or agency you signed with, and then you would have to go with whoever they said you should be.

Do you feel like you have control over your own image both when it comes to acting, modeling, music?

I do. I’m sure it depends on what team you're in or what people you surround yourself with. I met Thurston Moore [from Sonic Youth] and his wife [Eva Moore, previously Prinz] at the Cannes Film Festival a few years ago. At that point, I wasn’t looking for anybody in particular, I was set on producing my songs on my own, but then we started hanging out more, going to gigs together in London, and eventually I showed them my music.

I’m guessing they liked it?

They did, they wanted to put it out on their label, which is more than I could have even imagined while I’m starting out; I mean I admire Thurston so much.

Sometimes admiration shy people away, have you always been open with sharing your work to whomever comes along?

That’s definitely something I’ve gotten more confident with. Naturally, I’ve been around music — written songs here and there — since I was a teenager, but until recently I used to keep that for myself. I think my dad plays a role in that on both parts, while being who inspires me it also made me feel like I did not want to go down a similar path, or that I’m not going to be enough. Because of that I hid as a guitar player when I started out, but I realized rather quickly that I didn’t want to be in the background. I mean the mysterious guitarist is always so cool in the darkness behind the singer, but I’m too eager to be in the back.

I see that rebellious kid refusing to break into music because it’s her father's thing.

Definitely, I set my mind on becoming a ballerina initially.

I love a ballerina.

Me too, I did ballet for years. I first picked up the guitar when I was around 14, and felt that I had the knack for this. So I eventually surrendered to music… now I’m 24 and wished I had started out earlier.

14 sounds pretty early to me.

People start when they’re like 5!

Well, then you're not old enough to write your own lyrics. We could hold that against them. Your entry point was the lyrics, saying you wrote as a teenager?

Yes, but in relation to music, lyrics have probably always been the most daunting thing for me. I would constantly make tracks on my computer and then feel like I didn’t know what to say, what words to use, what to talk about; do people even care or is this just stupid?

But once I started finding my own style that pressure easen up. However, it’s still challenging, there are so many things but then nothing at the same time; none of it makes sense.

How did you find your own style? I feel like that’s easier said than done.

It’s not something you can just order, I think it has to do with experience. I’m not talking about experience in the industry but in life in general, you know, as a 14 year old obviously I had no clue of what I wanted to say. Thus words felt scary for I couldn't really pin them to anything, or anchor them somewhere. But as life gets harder, and you get older, you naturally find fragments to write about. 

My dad being a rock purist, we only listened to stuff like The Beatles, which I love, but as I got older and I started diving into music history and references of my own — The Breeders, Pavement, Sonic Youth — I found a new narrative which I previously didn’t even know existed. That definitely opened my eyes to more ways of writing.

There’s a line from your new EP, “I’ll help you find your golden gun, because you are a sinner.” When approaching writing from your own experience, do you write for yourself or do you write to be understood?

I write for myself, to get through what I’m going through. It’s all very personal, but by being just so I think that’s what makes it universal as well. Some people like to write quite literally, I don’t. I prefer to skip around, to have something that doesn't necessarily make sense to me make sense to someone else, or vice versa. Those were words that sounded nice together, I’m glad they resonated with you. That’s what's cool about music. It doesn't have to say anything, it just has to feel. Similar to how painting affects us.

Coming back to Bowie on that note, or The Beatles, Pavement — several of your references really — they all had such a stark effect and affection on their audiences, in your very own opinion, could that be something that's gone missing in the broader music scene today?

There was definitely something in the water back then. Rock and roll was new, punk was new, The Beatles were the first to ever experience that crazy fandom fantasy. It was also new to write your own music back then, you know that Elvis didn’t write his own songs for example? So when The Beatles got together and wrote they really tapped into a deeper level of the phenomena. At the same time though, I think what we experience in music today is that everybody steals from everybody to some extent, but what we tend to forget is that likewise did the artists back then. It's a never ending borrowing from each other. Coming back to your question, I think what is lost is the general rock star of the good old days. The artist today could never be the same, it has to do with social media, the exposure, but also the fact that they spent so much more time on doing what they were doing back then.

I felt like they had more time than we did. Or at least less “stuff” to fill up their time with.

The longest record that anybody has ever taken their time to produce is The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper's”.

I like how this conversation is slowly turning into a history lesson, you’re nerdy with your details.

I could talk about this all day.

But what about your boyfriend's little sister, then?

[Grins]

Is this information you’ve dug out from the deep ends of a library or your vintage magazines; where does it come from?

I spent the last decade trying to learn everything about The Beatles, so I’ve accumulated facts over the years, but I’m still learning.

The algorithm is our bittersweet tutor….

Coming back to “stealing” — who have you stolen from in regards to your upcoming EP?

I was listening to an endless amount of, again, Pavement, Sonic Youth and Breeders. Most likely, that shit rubbed off on me. The EP itself was recorded on my computer, in a closet in Paris, at my Godfather’s house. 

From a Godfather's closet to a tour. I heard you started out in LA, on Valentine's day no less.

I did, it was an awesome kick-off.

I’ll come see you once you come to the East Coast. NYC on February 27th?

Indeed.

Best of luck until then. Happy late Valentine's day!

Happy Valentine's!