Interview with Mitski

This interview was originally published on 7 Seconds Of Sound on 20th September 2013.

I really do love your new album. Did you suffer any of the dreaded sophomoric album grief when making it? Any anxiety?

Thanks! I didn’t suffer any sophomoric album grief or anxiety actually, because my second album felt like such a completely different beast. My first album is more a collection of songs I’d compiled over a long period of time, while the songs on my second album were written over a more focused period of time, with the intention of putting them together into one album.

My first album was also all about me learning how to arrange simple melodies and harmonies for various instruments, and about me getting used to the recording process itself. By my second album, I was secure enough in my recording processes and techniques to focus more on writing for an orchestra, as well as on actually being a producer, organising 60+ people and getting everyone on the same page, which was pretty hellish.

I think it’s really modern and innovative that you are releasing weekly videos, one for every song on your new album. What motivated you to do that? What were the challenges involved?

I guess I realised people don’t really sit down and listen to albums anymore — it just doesn’t sync up to how we lead our daily lives these days, unless you’re a music aficionado who makes a point to do so. Meanwhile, I also noticed that people do spend hours and hours watching YouTube videos. So I figured I should put my album into a medium that is easier for people nowadays to absorb, and make a simple video for each song. It was hard, though, I have to admit. It wasn’t the act of filming itself that was necessarily difficult, but because I did it while I was recording this impossible album, and I was filming with the help of filmmaker friends who were already incredibly busy but doing this as a great favour to me. I compromised a lot of what I initially wanted in the videos out of pure exhaustion and lack of time, and the videos didn’t quite turn out the way I envisioned they would. BUT this only motivates me to try to make more videos and films, if only to right past wrongs.

You mention that making this album was “impossible”. What made it so? As an artist, can you ever be really happy with the finished product? Or do you need to just cut the strings at some point and just get it out there?

The album wasn’t impossible in that the music was difficult to write or play. It was impossible because it required things that were beyond my means. I was a college senior with no connections in the industry and certainly no money, yet I foolishly decided I needed a full orchestra and a music video for every song on an album that will get no promotional support from a label. So I did a lot of creative manoeuvring on no sleep for a year, while also holding a job to pay the rent AND going to classes and trying to graduate from college. Looking back, it was fucking impossible.

As for the second half of your question — I think being an artist is about putting your head down and doing the work. You can make something really nice, and you can be proud of it, but you can’t hold onto it. People have been making nice things way before you were born, they’re making nice things as we speak, and they’ll continue to make nice things long after you die, so don’t kid yourself. You don’t hold onto your one or two nice things and feel contented with that, because that’s not the point. The point is not to make something that people think is good, or to make something that people think is so good that it makes you famous, or even to make something that makes you so famous that people remember you after you die. It’s not about making a shitload of money and living comfortably either, and it’s not about the “glory” of dying poor, sick, or hungry for the sake of your art. It’s about the work. You keep your head down and you keep working, not because it’ll bear fruit to any rewards, and not even because it makes you feel fulfilled in any way, but because that is what you do as an artist; you keeping making things. That’s what I think, anyway.

The process of making your album (and the videos) sounds pretty arduous. What’s the toll you pay for all that effort and energy? Are you spent? How do you recharge?

I do think I pay a price for what I do, but then again everyone pays some kind of price. In my case, I don’t have the time or energy to pursue other interests– a hobby is out of the question — and my social life is confined to hanging out with people I’m working with at that moment, and people in the same industry.

A lot of people I graduated high school with have since started pursuing lucrative and stable careers, with full-time jobs in established companies, so sometimes when I’m living gig-by-gig and taking odd jobs to get by just so I can put out a few silly songs, I wonder whether I’m doing it right. My family certainly gets worried. But a “real job” would take time away from my doing music, for which I need a flexible schedule, and ultimately I don’t think I’d be very happy at all working a job that keeps me from making music the way I want to. So yes, I think I pay a very high toll considering it’s just to make some nice sounds, and frankly I’ve gotten used to feeling spent in a way that’s probably not healthy, but right now I don’t think I’d have it any other way, and if recharging means stopping, then I’d rather not recharge.

I’ve read that you’ve lived in some pretty amazing places around the world. You’re now settled in New York. How much do your surroundings, the place you live, impact on your art? What is it about NY that feeds you as an artist? Do you plan to stay a while, or are you considering moving on?

For me, personally, the people I’m around more directly influence what I write. The people I’ve gotten to know in NY are probably the only aspect of NY keeping me here, because otherwise it can be a pretty crappy place to try to get by when you’re not making/inheriting a lot of money.

The great thing about NY, despite all of its craziness, is that it is filled to the brim with creative and ambitious people, and right now I’ve made enough connections that I know who to call when I want a bassist, or when I want to play a show at a certain venue, or where I can find a few violinists, or who I can call to record on the fly, etc. etc. If I moved away I would have to start from scratch, and that would probably keep me from writing/producing as much stuff as I’d like to.

Who are you making music for? What compels you to write and perform?

Oh boy. What a loaded gun of a question. I honestly don’t know. When I first started to write songs, it was because I really wanted to sing, and I couldn’t find any songs that I could freely sing the way I wanted to. But now it’s just become something I do. I don’t feel like myself if I’m not doing it. As for who I make music for, it’s primarily for myself, but I am very conscious not to write self-indulgent music. I am, after all, trying to say something in my songs, and there’s no use in saying anything if it’s not actually communicated.

So, can you tell me what inspired the title of your new album, “Retired From Sad, New Career In Business”?

It represents the overall mentality I had in creating this album. I was a sad and angsty child/teenager, so I made a sad and angsty first album. For the second album I basically told myself, “Alright, you’re a grown-up now, quit your bitching and get down to business.”

A lot of your music is infused with an almost lethargic sense of melancholy. I hope it’s not rude to ask you, but are you depressed? How does your state of mind play into your music?

I’ve never been diagnosed as depressed, but then again I’ve never been to a psychiatrist, so who knows! I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m always sad, though, underneath all the day-to-day emotions. And I find that whether I feel fully sad or not depends on whether I’m occupied with something at that moment, so I try to always be occupied (with making albums, for example). But I think a lot of people can relate to that; even when everything’s swell, there’s always the feeling that something is not right at all. And I actually think the kind of upbeat or “happy” songs that people really come to love are the ones which convey that mixed feeling, instead of flat-out “I am feeling great.”

You toured your debut album in 2012. Did you have fun doing that? What do you like about playing live? Do you have any plans to tour this album?

Oh my goodness, touring was so much fun! It was the first time I toured for my own music, and I think it was a good first tour because I went with two other bands who were my friends, and it almost felt like an elaborate excuse to road-trip along the east coast. None of us were well-known and we had very little money, so we basically limited our shows to venues in each of our hometowns or places we had friends, stopping by only a few big cities just to say that we did, and we slept over our family’s/friends’ houses. Since most of the members were from areas where there’s a lot of nature, we ended up jumping into rivers and seas, we walked in woods and had campfires, and then every night we got to play music together. It was grand.
I don’t really have plans to tour this album, as much as I’d like to. The songs on this album aren’t “band” songs (half of them need a full orchestra to fully realise them) and as much as I enjoyed my last tour, I didn’t want to resort to doing the “solo piano girl” thing again.

Speaking of which, I read a review of your work that suggested that you could use a band, to back you when playing live. First of all, how did you feel when you read that? Secondly, is that something that you are interested in?

Yeah, I didn’t really feel anything when I read that, it only confirmed what I had already been suspicious of. I think it also had to do with context — for the live performance that the review is referring to, I played with three other full rock bands that were loud and energetic, in a bar where people kind of just wanted get drunk and have fun, and then there was me, a solo girl on a keyboard playing sad, slow songs. So I was actually thankful that people paid attention and seemed to like my songs well enough, because I did not think it would go over well at all considering the environment.

That said, the tour did wake me up to the fact that people fundamentally react better to bands than solo piano/guitar acts, and that no matter how carefully one may craft a song, if it came down to a quiet act and a loud act playing a live show, the louder act would usually grab the attention of the audience more easily.Of course, I’m not saying that’s a bad thing — Ijust realised the fact after playing a lot of shows. So now I’m actually recording a third album (haha, shoot me) that’s specifically written and arranged for live sets. I’m not abandoning the slow piano stuff or the big orchestral stuff by any means, but I want to be able to rock out on stage for a change!