She has participated in TI-83+ as a keyboardist/vocalist and currently Madd Comrades as a vocalist and guitarist.
She likes Neutral Milk Hotel, Television, Kander and Ebb, Talking Heads, The Jesus Lizard, Nation Of Ulysses, Misfits, Meat Puppets, Beck, and Harry Smith’s Folk Anthology when she runs out of ideas.
Conversation:
M: Theatrical music is something you are always humming or singing. When it comes on the radio or pops up in any capacity you pretty much know the tunes note-for-note and word-for-word. What makes theatrical music so special?
L: I grew up performing in stage productions since I was 6 and the only thing I listened to for the entirety of junior high was the musical Rent, which you should look into. Theatrical music is special because it allows you to inhabit a role written by someone else trying to show you a character, a being, a creature that has a form of expression and a life that the writer has all imagined. Can you inhabit that specific role and express it? It provides the tools to feel the music and feel the moment without thinking about the words as they are already sitting on your tongue and known by heart. So inevitably what happens with original music, personally, is that I similarly try to write some semblance of a role. It has words, a vision, a specific feeling and a space to creatively perform, but it is my own and that is where the expression lies. What is the ‘scene’ trying to be created for the an original song?
M: In terms of words/lyrics, who do you feel like are your favorites?
L: When I first listened to Sleater-Kinney I felt like they were heady, esoteric, but poetically inspiring. One Beat is my favorite album from them. The words are multi-syllabic and intelligent, but as a whole it always remains highly intelligent. The fact that the band comprises of just two guitars and a drummer makes it especially intense and puts the singing right up front. I also get reminded of Nation of Ulysses, who can bleed into actual slam poetry coupled with real punk power. This juxtaposition also reminds me of Misfits because of Danzig’s crooner-type singing coupled with punk makes for a powerful recipe. They have a bizarre doo-wop thing going, too, and it seems like rockabilly bands try to achieve this same contrast but not nearly as effectively.
M: Sometimes you profess your love of very old American folk music. Why?
L: I love the old style of language from another era, the kind of religious language that harkens back to another time. There is a great band that used to be based out of Shreveport called Gashcat and they use this in a song called Leach. When you listen to the old Alan Lomax recordings of regional American folk songs they are all generally biblical/religious in nature and the words are beautifully hymnal and simple.
Neutral Milk Hotel – Gardenhead/Leave Me Alone https://youtu.be/LO-zSxWRSVI
Television – Friction https://youtu.be/RwrCUEMl76U
Kander & Ebb – Maybe This Time (Cabaret) http://youtu.be/8hpUn46oVpg
Talking Heads – Thank You For Sending Me An Angel https://youtu.be/vP7GVC7Dbiw
The Jesus Lizard – Inamorata https://youtu.be/7u7OiIVwur4
Sleater-Kinney – One Beat https://youtu.be/TpLhrLzSaFQ
Nation Of Ulysses – N-Sub Ulysses https://youtu.be/QtPKO1DHo2w
Meat Puppets – Lake of Fire https://youtu.be/1SNqzKfbym8
Beck – Steal My Body Home https://youtu.be/eQkW3rerjoc
Born In The Wild 