Rough Trade

Interview: Alela Diane’s family affair

Tuesday, April 5th, 2011 | interviewZ, musiX, pdX | No Comments

Alela Diane knows her way around a pop song. And on her new album—which introduces Diane’s new band Wild Divine—the Portland singer-songwriter balances the dark folk found on 2009’s excellent To Be Still with sunnier pop melodies and sleeker production courtesy of Scott Litt (R.E.M., Nirvana).

Calling the album “a battle between darkness and light,” Diane manages to keep these friendlier songs from becoming radio friendly with a little help from her band (which includes her longtime collaborating father Tom Menig and her husband Tom Bevitori). Giving the songs their weight are Diane’s distinct falsetto and all of those stark thoughts that have been building up in those notebooks of hers. There are a few unexpected twists and turns (take lead single “To Begin”) that hint toward what’s to come from the songwriter. I like it.

Alela Diane & Wild Divine is out today on Rough Trade. Diane took some time to talk to TDoL about life, death and love. Sounds like the making of a good song.

TDoL: It seems like a lot of folk singers eventually start playing with a band. Why did you decide to go that route this time around?
Alela Diane: It was time for a change, and playing with a band is something I’d been wanting to do for quite some time. The songs on this record were written with a fuller sound in mind, and I wanted to focus more on my vocals, and less on the guitar. It turns out that having a band could make all of that possible. It is enabling me to make the transition from girl with a guitar to frontwoman in a band. I think it’s important to move down different roads when the time feels right, and that is just what I’ve set out to do.

Your dad played on your first two albums, and he plays on the new record along with your husband … how was that?
It’s great working alongside the two Toms. We call dad “Big T” and husband “Little T.” It’s really nice to be on the road surrounded by family, and it definitely helps the homesickness thing. I don’t know what it would be like to have it any other way, because both of them have been by my side throughout my musical career. It works for us, and so I keep them around.

Some of the songs are less folky, a little more poppy. Was that the result of playing with a band, or were you already writing songs that were going in a different direction?
I spent a lot more time on my songwriting for this record, knowing that I’d be recording with a band. It’s also the first time I’ve co-written, and this definitely gives those tunes a different feel. Making a folk record would have been easy. I had to set the bar in a different place, and I had to try for something else.

When did you write most of the new material?
I wrote much of the lyrical content while on the road for To Be Still. There was rarely a moment to actually write the music part while traveling, so when we came home to Portland in late 2009, I had quite a supply of words that needed melodies and music. We had pretty much all of 2010 off from touring, during which time I’d sit around the house all day to work on songs. Many of them went through very different versions of themselves; there was a lot of working and reworking both words and music before they became what you hear on the record.

Lyrically it’s still pretty heavy at times …
I tend to write about what comes up in my life, and there were definitely some heavy things happening. Death is something that kept creeping in on the outskirts, and so I’d write about it. The record does contain a certain element of despair, but there is also the goodness, hope, and light that’s needed to balance those demons. The record is a battle between darkness and light.

What did Scott Litt bring to the recording process?
Scott Litt was our director. He was very helpful in getting parts out of us musicians that we never would have come to on our own. He worked a lot with our rhythm section, Jonas [Haskins] and Jason [Merculief], to develop the feel of each song. It was really great to have someone else telling everyone what to do, and it really took the pressure off of me.

Did you nerd out over the fact that he’s worked with R.E.M. and Nirvana? Do those bands hold any significance to you?
I’d had a couple of R.E.M. tapes I’d listen to in my car when I was 16, but I’m really not very hip with what’s going on now in music, or what went on in the past. When we were considering working with Scott, I downloaded some R.E.M. again and settled into the old songs, and listened to them in a way I never had. I decided that he definitely knew how to produce records, and that he had a great set of ears. That was good enough for me.

Do you prefer recording or playing live?
They are completely different birds. There is something amazing about the fleeting and flowing energy of a good live show, and I do love that. Recording is really exciting though, because you have the ability to create something you can both hear, and hold in your hands. I’m on the fence with this one, because I love and hate things about both.

You recently got married and bought a new house. Does that make it tougher to go out on the road?
We haven’t actually toured since we’ve fallen into domestic bliss! But I will say, that as much as I love home, I’m starting to get a bit restless. It’s been over a year since I’ve really hit the road. I think it will be nice to get back out there, and to know that we have a wonderful home to return to. I think our cat is really what makes it the hardest to leave … I miss that tiny animal when we’re gone, but I’m very thankful that the husband comes along.

Are you bringing the band over to Europe as well?
We will be touring as a band all over the place! It’s the first time I’ve recorded and am touring with the same group of musicians. It feels like the right thing to do, and I am really looking forward to settling into the songs on the road.

“To Begin” - Alela Diane & Wild Divine

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(Road) tripping with Alela Diane

Thursday, February 12th, 2009 | musiX, pdX | 3 Comments

Alela Diane lives in Portland. For now. The 25-year-old singer-songwriter has spent the past few years traipsing between her hometown of Nevada City, Calif., and Portland … and San Francisco … and Europe. In that time Diane has honed her songwriting skills, released her debut The Pirate’s Gospel as well as made quite a name for herself across the pond, specifically France.

Diane’s new record To Be Still is set to be released on Feb. 17 on Rough Trade Records, most of which was recorded in her musician father’s Nevada City studio (he often accompanies her on mandolin). It’s already getting plenty of love from the music blog gospel, and rightfully so. Although I wouldn’t go lumping her music in with the “freak folk” movement (whatever that is), it is unconventional in its arrangements. But it’s Diane’s voice that rises above everything else.

With the record finished, Diane will hit that old familiar road, kicking things off with a CD-release show Feb. 15 at Holocene, before heading out with Blitzen Trapper through mid-March. From there it’s Europe, where she’s already sold out her April 6 gig at Paris’ Le Bataclan … like I said, huge there. You can purchase To Be Still here. The first 50 orders will receive a personalized bag of tea from Alela. I’m not sure what that means, but it must be a good thing.

“White As Diamonds” - Alela Diane

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