ALESSANDRA SCHADE—Where are you Zooming from?
ORION SUN—I'm in Brooklyn right now, Crown Heights. New York by way of Philly. But I was raised in South Jersey. So, the Tri-State raised me. What do they say? It takes a village?
AS—Yeah, exactly. You've lived in so many places. Is there one spot that feels most like home to you?
OS—It's interesting, because I've been going to Philly recently because of band practice, and I'm driving through Jersey and my hometown. And even though I love the familiarity of driving through New Jersey and being like, Oh, I don't need the GPS, when I come to New York, I'm like, Okay, I'm back. So New York feels like home to me.
AS—Your music is a sanctuary for so many, in part, because your songs just emanate this warmth and intimacy. So, I'm curious how you foster that within your own life... Where do you find refuge? Is there a specific place where you can completely unwind and just let the day go?
OS—I would say my apartment. But even, like, my room in my family house back in the day always felt like my space and most like home to me. I realized that I could cultivate that space anywhere. I proved that to myself earlier this year. In February, for my birthday—I never really have parties—but I just wanted to get together with some friends because of the pandemic and with so much going on in my life. It was funny, like going on the second day even, that space started to feel like home because of what it was filled with and the energy that was there. So, it can be anywhere I really choose to settle.
AS—You're a nester.
OS—I don't know. Yeah, I guess. I hope that's, like, a chill thing?
AS—It's like a little bird taking all the nicest twigs to make their home! Especially during quarantine, we all needed that. How did that time impact your creative process?
OS—During the pandemic and coming off the Hold Space For Me projects, I was working on things but nothing was really coming. And that was okay, just to be makin' stuff, even though there was nothing I really wanted to share. I was just like, Damn, this is hard! So, I needed to get back to myself. Like, what do I like to do? So, I started going outside and doing a bunch of shit and it made me real- ize, even though I love making music by myself, I just really missed seeing people that I just banked on seeing, based on, you know, I'm working, you're working and we're bound to see each other. You know what I mean? When are we actually going to see each other now? So, I was like, I have to make this happen. It's a mix between, yeah, I want to work with a lot of the greats, but I also just want an excuse to...
AS—See your people!
OS—Yeah! So, things started to come together. And I realized that I love making music in this way. I just have this desire to be in every single aspect of my art. And I found working on Getaway that that is still possible, while also letting go of certain things, and letting other people really shine.
AS—I want to congratulate you on Getaway. Literally from the first track "intro”—it wins you over in seconds. Is there one song on Getaway that's your favorite?
OS—I think “intro” might be my baby. I produced that one and I got Yuli [Margaux Whitney] to do the strings on it. She's such a genius. I'm gonna pray that she can do one of the LA shows—or both—with me. I haven't really met a lot of people like her. I showed her what I had chopped up maybe twice, and she just went in there and to this day, I'm still just like, Girl what the fuck? And the bass, oh my god! Everything really came together. I think that was my baby also because I had second guessed it, which is really funny in retrospect. You know how it feels when you overthink and then you start doubting yourself and then you just have to be like, Well, I remember a version of me that really liked it.