Anita Robinson

Viva Voce, indeed

Monday, June 22nd, 2009 | interviewZ, musiX, pdX | 1 Comment

Not enough has been written about the vocals of Viva Voce’s Anita and Kevin Robinson. Yeah, there are the great, no-frills rock songs, Anita’s rambunctious guitar twang, and that whole husband/wife angle—but their voices will melt your heart.

Viva Voce’s (pronounced Vee-vah-VOH-chay) latest record Rose City is exactly as I said—no frills, and the songs goes down easy. The Robinsons use their tools to great effect, putting together jangly pop that could have been born in the Paisley Underground, and occasionally brings to mind the shimmering brilliance of seminal Davis, Calif. indie rockers Thin White Rope. A compliment in the highest form. Kevin even sounds a bit like TWR vocalist Guy Kyser when he reaches for that low, smoky register.

Now if you read TDoL with any regularity (and I know you do), you know I’m in love with female vocalists like Barbara Manning and Neko Case. Add Anita Robinson to that list. Her voice falls in that same sweet and silky range—never leaping where it shouldn’t—simply strong and beautiful. And her vocals become even more striking when she’s harmonizing with herself (”Good As Gold”), or with her hubby on the album’s title track. It’s no secret why she was recruited by James Mercer to sing backup with The Shins in 2007 (a tour in which Viva Voce played some dates).

It’s been three years since the release of Viva Voce’s last record Get Yr Blood Sucked Out. In that time Kevin and Anita performed as Blue Giant (a noticeably more sparse and countrified project), before spending the better part of a year building a home studio. Viva Voce released Rose City—named after the Robinson’s home base of Portland—in May on Barsuk. The record took only a month to record, which is 0.00490196078 the time it took Axl Rose to complete Chinese Democracy. Rose City blends ramshackle looseness with lush production … it doesn’t hurt that there’s not a bad song in the batch.

Viva Voce just returned home from a month of touring, which freed up Kevin Robinson to answer a few ramshackle questions. Also, not a bad one in the batch.

TDoL: You spent a month writing and recording Rose City. What was the process like?
Kevin Robinson: It was a fast process. We didn’t squeeze the life out of ideas, just let it happen naturally. We tried to capture a moment in time you know? Very few takes are more than the first one.

The production is gorgeous.
Well thank you! I’ve produced a lot of records and I’m very happy with this one.

How have the addition of Evan Railton and Corrina Repp changed the band? Do you prefer it to being a two-piece?
We added them to the live lineup after we had finished the album by ourselves. Corrina and Evan had contributed some keys and vocals to the record and it felt natural to fade them into the live sonics.

You named a record and song after Portland. It seems you two have really fallen in love with the city. How has your songwriting changed from the days of living in Alabama?
I was really young when I lived in Alabama, so my songwriting then seemed a little green. I hope I’ve matured a little with age, but truthfully I like a lot of the same stuff I liked back then. It may seem strange coming from two southerners, but we really do love living in Portland.

Your Web site says you and Anita met at a punk show in an abandoned warehouse. Who were you there to see?
I can’t really remember! The events of the show were “overshadowed” to say the least.

Do you both come from a punk background?
Sort of. “Punk” as it’s known didn’t really come through our small towns. Black Flag and Fugazi didn’t stop in Muscle Shoals! So what we had was a strange mashup of our own version of what you could call DIY, with whatever music we grew up on. There is a real purist sense of superiority with hardcore “punks,” which is understandable, but back then we wouldn’t raise an eyebrow at a band covering Led Zeppelin in any given set with their own material.

Rose City received a 7.6 from Pitchfork, which by their standards is pretty good. Do you pay attention to reviews, or sort of block them out?
I’ve never really lived my life by the validation of others, and truthfully I could give two shits as to what arm-chair journalists think of the art I make. It’s always nice to be understood and appreciated, but it would be toxic to have expectations. Rating music or art by grades is pretty juvenile in my opinion. But whatever … what do I know? I’m not getting paid by Apple to run huge banner ads on my Web site, am I?

“Rose City” - Viva Voce

“Good As Gold” - Viva Voce

Video for “Octavio,” directed by Alicia J. Rose

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