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When I interviewed Lindsay Anderson of
the hushed quartet L'Altra I'd just seen Richard Linklater's
incredible Waking Life. Now, while that might seem to be an
aside, it kind of serves as a fitting metaphor for the music that
L'Altra makes. Dreamy, sad, and beautiful, it's the sort of stuff
that's good for late night driving or headphones in your room. I
really dig both of those things, and I really dig this band. I ended
up having a conversation with keyboard and vocalist Lindsay Anderson
earlier this month over the phone, and while a fair number of the
times the discussion strayed from the music, I think it went
alright. We talked a lot about their upcoming record (In the
Afternoon), the workings of the band, movies, my hometown, and
tons of other stuff. Huge props to Lindsay for taking an hour out of
her life to talk to me; on my end, it was well worth it as I found
out a lot more about this great band.
fakejazz: So, how did the band get together?
lindsay: Well, Joe and I！Joe's the guitar player！knew each
other since we were about eighteen and went to college together. And
we both moved to Chicago. Ken, who is the bass player, and also the
record label owner！Aesthetics' owner！he had an advertisement in a
record store. So we answered his ad, and basically he became our
bass player. And we knew Eben！who's our drummer！through, I guess
just the music scene on the East coast, because they're both from
the East coast. And then Eben was moving here, so he became our
drummer. And that's that! The little L'Altra family was born.
fakejazz: Ok... and how did you come up with the name?
lindsay: Um... it was a friend ours' idea. Joe's buddy
kind of thought of it awhile ago, and we were just sitting around
the table, and I don't know, we decided that we had to sit at the
table and not leave until we came up with a name that everyone was
happy with. So, that was the one that worked.
fakejazz: Does the name have any special meaning?
lindsay: Yeah, I think it's become to have a lot of
meaning. I love what it means, basically. Which is！it's Italian！it
means "another," or "the other"！and I've always like this idea of
"the other." I don't know, if you study any theory or just prophecy,
it has this！the fact that there's always this opposite side
existing, which I studied a lot in school, so that's why I liked the
name right away. And since then I think we continue to play off of
it a little bit in what we do.
fakejazz: Yeah... I definitely agree. Your music has
always seemed kind of！I don't want to say otherworldly！ethereal.
lindsay: Yeah. Well that's only part of it, but I also
think that the interesting thing is that it's ethereal but it's also
very structured, and I think that all of the members of the group,
there's this constant pulling apart of things. Like, tension between
opposites, I guess, making it really ethereal but also making it
really kind of structured and！I can't think of any other word
besides structured！but, I don't know, I like the way that the two
things blend together.
fakejazz: Yeah, there's a really heavy jazz element to
it. I don't know if you'd agree with that.
lindsay: People have said that, and I don't know if it's
anything conscious, I guess！sometimes I might do that with the keys
and other instrumentation that we've used！like, trumpet！I guess
would tend to be jazzy. Like, Rob Mazurek played on Music of a
Sinking Occasion, and his background is all heavy jazz. So that
might be part of it, but it's nothing I intended. (pause) I like
jazz...
fakejazz: Yeah, definitely. It's a shame that it's
turned into such an underground thing. Anyway, the new album that's
coming out in April?
lindsay: Uh-huh... I, in fact, got it back today.
fakejazz: Really?
lindsay: Yeah.
fakejazz: How does it sound?
lindsay: It sounds good. We had had the master copy, but
now it's the whole thing, with the artwork and everything. I'm
really excited. It's！I don't know！I think it's definitely different.
I don't know, we'll see if people like it... I like it.
fakejazz: What are some of the things that have changed
between that and Music of a Sinking Occasion?
lindsay: I think I feel the songs are a little more
uptempo. I don't think it's as！certain songs are as delicate and
melodic and soft as the ones on Music..., but I think there
are also others that are a little more aggressive and a little more
pop oriented. Um, I think vocally I tried to do a lot more.
fakejazz: OK. Well, speaking of lyrics, who is the
primary lyricist in the group? And what is the lyrical writing
process you go to to come up with the lyrics?
lindsay: The words, huh? Joe and I do all of the lyric
writing, and it's kind of interesting the way it goes, because we
obviously come up with these lyrics separately, but then there's
always a real corroboration between it. And it's not necessarily
because we want there to be a collaboration, it's just because we
have such strong ideas, each of us, and a lot of the time they're so
different. Especially on this new record, there was a lot of going
back and forth, and editing, and changing the words, and like, "I
don't like that phrase, I don't like this phrase." Then, you know,
the person that writes it is like, "Yeah, but this is what I mean!"
So we really get into！I think this time even more！we got into
figuring out exactly what we wanted to say. I think the lyrics on
Music... are sort of just phrases and images, and he (Joe)
actually wrote probably more, percentage wise, of the lyrics on
Music..., and I would sing these lyrics he wrote and I
wouldn't have any idea what they meant until far later, after I'd
been singing it and singing it and singing it, and then all of a
sudden I'd internalize it, and all of a sudden the songs made sense
to me. So I thought that was pretty cool. And a lot of times they're
about each other！we dated for a really long time, so.
fakejazz: OK, well...
Music of a Sinking
Occasion！can we talk about it a bit?
lindsay: Yep.
fakejazz: Alright. What made you start out with the
title track, which is a lot different than the rest of the album?
lindsay: Well, the beginning！the title track！and the final
track, were done all in one！or, in one shot in the studio！and that
beginning big piano chord was something I was practicing one day,
and Eben laid down that beat, and we liked it. So we recorded it,
and then I was playing the piano, and I just didn't feel like ending
at that point, and we hadn't really figured out how to end it, so I
just kept on playing it and let it taper off into the pretty piano
part by the end. So we didn't really know what we wanted to do with
it, and then, I guess, I don't know, after some discussion or
thinking about it we decided to put the whole thing around the
record, and to me, I like it, because it's almost like the
parenthesis. So that's the boundaries, and everything that's
happening inside of it is totally different. I think it's pretty
cool because it is so different.
fakejazz: Yeah, it definitely adds a touching point to
the album.
lindsay: Yeah, I think so, and I think that's why I like
it when people have thought that it was kind of a concept
record！which I don't think it is at all, I just think that we just
put it together really well. You know? Like, for this new record we
had a really hard time ordering all the songs, there was no song
that stood out to us as an opening song. I mean, there were certain
songs like, "that one's definitely gotta go first song, second side,
and that one's definitely got to go at the end," but it's a lot
harder because I don't think we ever set those boundaries at the
beginning and end. I don't know. I like the idea of having the music
on Music..., having the music happen all in that middle area,
which was a little bit of this language, if you want to think about
the other side, and that would be the other side.
fakejazz: I totally agree with you. Actually, what I
was going to ask next was whether or not there were any overlying
themes. I mean, I realize that it's not a concept record, but were
going for a certain mood with it? With what's on the inside of the
two songs (Music of a Sinking Occasion)?
lindsay: You mean the rest of the songs?
fakejazz: Yeah...
lindsay: I don't know. I don't think it's anything we did
consciously. We had done the EP, but it was the first real record
that we've done, and the songs just kind of wrote themselves. And
then, I don't know, I think we had a lot of energy and a lot of time
to think about it. So, I think there are definite themes, but I
don't know that they're so deliberate.
fakejazz: So it's just sort of thematic in it's mood,
not in a real lyrical sense?
lindsay: I think it's thematic in a lyrical sense as well.
fakejazz: Okay. Well, what kind of background do you
guys come from, music-wise?
lindsay: Well, it's all varied. I've been playing music
since I was a little, little kid, just with piano classes and flute
classes, and my parents are very musical！my dad is a drummer and my
mom is a songwriter and a singer！so I grew up with it in my house.
Joe, on the other hand, didn't！none of his family is musically
based. None of them have experience, really, except as listeners.
But he was coming from the rock star dream in elementary school and
junior high and high school. So, I had never really thought about
playing music professionally until I met him. And then, let's
see！Ken just started playing the bass before we met him. So he's
only been playing music for three or four years now. Which is
amazing because he's just gotten so good. He's developed a style
now, and everything. It was kind of frustrating for a long time
because it was so frustrating writing songs. And also just sort of
learning how to communicate with everyone, it can be really
difficult.
fakejazz: Oh, for sure...
lindsay: Eben went to Oberland, and he studied music
for！well, he took some classes, and he's been playing forever too.
fakejazz: Yeah. I think the drumwork on the EP is
really nice. It really suits the music.
lindsay: That's cool. I remember reading a review one time
that was like, "the drummer showed up at the wrong studio."
(laughter) I love what he does, I think he's fantastic. I mean,
without him, we would just be totally lost sometimes, because he
gives such cohesion to the songs.
fakejazz: Definitely. Moving on a little, how do you
guys balance your time between bands and Aesthetics and such? Do you
have a hard time being able to find the time to get together and
tour?
lindsay: Yeah. It's frustrating. It's getting worse, too,
because everyone's just getting increasingly busier. So, it's
getting hard！we practiced last night for the first time in a couple
of months.
fakejazz: That sucks.
lindsay: Yeah. That's just the way it goes. You know,
everyone's got so much stuff going on, and so I'm usually the one
just shooting off annoying emails to everyone, being like, "When are
we going to practice?" But, we manage. We're not one of those bands
that hang out a lot when we're not playing, and we also kind of need
time off from each other. So, we'll work really hard when we're
recording a record for like a month, and then we'll take some time
off, then when we tour we'll get back into it and make sure we can
practice.
fakejazz: You definitely！sorry if I sound
clich?#151;you definitely need time off from people. You can't just
spend all of your time with one another, you know what I mean?
lindsay: We'd kill each other. (laughter) I don't know,
our relationship is very volatile sometimes, but I think that's just
the way it is with bands.
fakejazz: What can you do, right?
lindsay: Everyone's got just, like, four very strong
personalities, you know?
fakejazz: Definitely. What would you say your biggest
influences are on the music?
lindsay: Mine come from being a dancer, which I was all
growing up, and listening to classical music. And every day, like,
three or four times a day, it was dancing to all of this classical
music. And I think that sometimes I sit down to write music that
doesn't seem like I'm writing pop music at all. And I listen to just
about everything now！like, now that this is what I love most of all,
I try to find new music, I'll listen to anything. From classical, to
rock, to jazz, to blues... well, not really blues, too much. But I
think everyone！all of us！have very different influences. I don't
know, I think Eben liked psychedelic music a lot, and Ken came from
the East Coast punk scene.
fakejazz: Is that like New England East Coast or
Halifax East Coast?
lindsay: New England.
fakejazz: Oh, okay, because I was going to say！well, I
talked to you about this the first time I called！but I'm from
Canada, and, just, whenever I think of the East Coast I think of
Celtic influenced music. It's！I don't know！is it like that in New
England? Is there much of a Scottish community?
lindsay: I have no idea. I don't know. Not that I know of.
There may be, but... no, not that I know of. But again, I don't
know.
fakejazz: Ok. And L'Altra is based in Chicago, right?
lindsay: Yeah. We all live here.
fakejazz: How do you find that that influences your
sound? I mean, I know it's a big city, and there's a pretty diverse
musical scene, like, there's Thrill Jockey and Jim O'Rourke used to
be based there, and there's the whole Tortoise/Isotope 217 crew. So,
do you find that that influences your music at all?
lindsay: Yeah, I think so. I don't know, when I moved here
I was really unfamiliar with a lot of it, and that was four years
ago. So I started listening to it all, so I'm sure it did influence
us a lot. I know Eben's drumming is sometimes influenced a lot by
Tortoise, and he's also a big fan of Trans Am. But I think we have a
specific idea！or, we had a specific idea of the music we wanted to
write, for a long time before we were even aware of the Chicago
music scene. It was more pop based. I mean, we wrote vocals and
melody！not that the Chicago music scene isn't like that, but I think
we've been able to take from the Chicago music scene but still
remain our own independent sound. I don't think we sound too much
like a lot of the Chicago groups.
fakejazz: I agree. I think you guys have a whole！I
really like your sound. I think it's really sort of unique.
lindsay: I guess the biggest way the Chicago music scene
influences us is that we have members from it playing with us.
fakejazz: Would that be like Rob Mazurek?
lindsay: And Fred Lonberg-Holm, do you know him?
fakejazz: No...
lindsay: He's a pretty prominent cellist in the area, and
he plays with all sorts of groups. He plays all the time, with
everyone. He's one of those guys！more free jazz, or effect of music,
but will play two or three times a week.
fakejazz: Oh, neat. And you guys have toured a lot,
right? You guys have gone to Europe and toured America and such?
lindsay: We haven't toured America as much as I'd like to.
We've toured Europe once, we were in Amsterdam for a short time
about a year ago. We're going to go back to Europe in April, and we
did one long United States tour, but never passed further west than
the Mississippi. I'd really love to go out to the West Coast, but
we'd probably need to get a booking agent first, because we book
shows all ourselves.
fakejazz: Well, what's the strangest thing you've had
happen to you on tour?
lindsay: Let's see... it was the first tour, and it was
actually for CMJ, and we went out！it was about three years ago！and
everyone was so excited, and we were driving all the way to New York
for this one show. We had a couple more shows after it further up
north. So we drive all the way there！fourteen hours！our very first
time out as a group. And we get to the venue, and Ken decides that
he's going to check in and get the passes, or whatever, and we're
like "Ken, don't go." But he wanted to, so he left, and ended up
getting back to the show while we were finishing our last song. It
was really kind of shocking. We didn't expect that one to happen.
Then, the time after that we were in New York, and it was a
hurricane.
fakejazz: There was a hurricane in New York?
lindsay: Yeah, remember！it was like the aftermath of the
hurricane, just, horrible, horrible storms, and！I guess the
strangest thing about L'Altra tours is there's always
weather！treacherous weather. When we went to Europe last year, it
rained every single day. I'm not joking. We were there for a month,
and no matter where we were, it was like there was this big rain
cloud over our van.
fakejazz: That's got to suck.
lindsay: I think that it was just following us around
because we were playing such sad songs. I don't know. Tours are fun.
I don't see any！what's weird? You said strangest thing?
fakejazz: Yeah...
lindsay: Well, it isn't that strange, anyway.
fakejazz: Still... anyway. This is just a question,
because it's so close to January and December, but what were your
favourite records of 2001?
lindsay: 2001... (pause) Oh gosh... well, I guess I liked
the Radiohead record.
fakejazz: How about movies? You seen any good movies
lately?
lindsay: Well, the latest movie I saw was... I guess, I
just recently re-watched Eyes Wide Shut. I saw Mulholland
Drive and Waking Life, they were pretty good.
fakejazz: Yeah, I actually saw
Waking Life
today. That's why I'm sort of out of it, I just got home about an
hour ago. What did you think of it?
lindsay: It was great. I think that it was brilliant, I
think it was a little preachy, but I loved the style. I think that
it's pretty much a whole new！it's probably taken moviemaking to the
next level. There were some really great moments, and it's a movie
that I won't forget. You know, when you're walking around you think
about it a lot.
fakejazz: For sure. Have you seen
The Man Who Wasn't
There?
lindsay: No, I haven't seen that.
fakejazz: You should definitely check that out, cause
it's the same kind of thing. It just really made you think.
lindsay: I had a moment the other day where I was
convinced that dream life and real life the exact same thing. Like,
I was able to see there was no！like when you're dreaming you're
doing things just the same as when you're walking around in your
real life.
fakejazz: Yeah, I've seen that just, even today,
watching that, when they're talking about getting yourself into
lucid dreaming, that just really blew my mind, it just really made
me think. Like, how similar they are and how when you're not lucid
dreaming you don't really know any difference from that and waking
life.
lindsay: It's a great movie.
fakejazz: Alright, well, that's most of my questions,
is there anything you'd like to add?
lindsay: Where do you live in Canada?
fakejazz: London, Ontario. It's pretty small. We've got
a couple of good record stores. 300,000 people. It's just, it takes
all of... it's like a big little town. I'm going to be moving to
Toronto next year to go to university.
lindsay: Which university?
fakejazz: Either the University of Toronto or York. I'm
not sure which, yet.
lindsay: Have you done your undergraduate yet?
fakejazz: Nope. I'm actually in my last year of high
school.
lindsay: Really? Wow, that's exciting. See, when I was in
high school I wouldn't have known about a band called L'Altra or
anything like that. I don't know. I wish I was in high school still.
fakejazz: Yeah, my school is pretty good. I like my
teachers.
lindsay: What do you like to do? Do you listen to a lot of
music?
fakejazz: Listen to a lot, read a lot, and write a lot.
That's pretty much my thing.
lindsay: Do you sing? Do you play music?
fakejazz: Yeah, I play the drums. I've been playing for
the last six or seven years. I love it. It's great.
lindsay: I've just recently... every time I sit down at
the drums I learn something new.
fakejazz: Yeah, they're a lot of fun.
lindsay: It's an instrument that just seems... infinite.
Plus you get such a good physical workout when you play them.
fakejazz: For sure.
lindsay: So are there L'Altra records in London, Ontario?
fakejazz: Unfortunately, no. I bought
Music...
when I went to Toronto, actually.
lindsay: Did you just find it and take a risk...?
fakejazz: No, this was after I'd reviewed the EP. I
loved the EP, and I was in Toronto over Christmas and I picked it
up.
lindsay: Do you still like "Colding Fields" the best?
fakejazz: I think so. I think it's my favourite.
It's... it's excellent. I put it on mixes for friends, and stuff.
lindsay: That one's got a good drumbeat, yeah.
fakejazz: And just the song itself is really nice,
everything about it is great. Not to try to sound sycophantic or
anything.
lindsay: What does it make you think of?
fakejazz: I don't know... you know the moors in
Scotland... or, Ireland?
lindsay: Yeah...
fakejazz: Have you ever seen that movie
The
Others?
lindsay: No...
fakejazz: Well, there are these scenes with just really
foggy, sort of desolate landscapes, and I always think of that when
I hear it.
lindsay: That's cool. When I wrote the lyrics to it I was
driving home through the Midwest, in winter, but in the Midwest it's
just all farms. Miles and miles of cornfields, it's just super flat,
and when it snows in the winter it becomes really grey; it's always
grey. In the winter the sun doesn't shine a lot, and it's this kind
of whitish grey. That's what I was thinking of.
fakejazz: Yeah, once you mention that I can kind of see
the parallel between that and what I was thinking about whenever I
hear the song.
lindsay: I like the foggy idea, too.
fakejazz: Well there's that line in the song, "In
Colding Field I lost my way," it just seems the kind of thing that
you're wandering, and you're in the fog, and eventually you're in
the fog, and eventually you lose sight of everything... you know
what I mean?
lindsay: Yeah...
fakejazz: Anyway, thanks very much for taking the time
out to do this...
lindsay: Thank you...
fakejazz: And check the site next issue, if I get all
of this transcribed, and I'm looking forward to hearing the new
record.
lindsay: I'll definitely look for it. And look for our
record soon.
fakejazz: Alright.
lindsay: Take care, Anthony...
fakejazz: You too...
lindsay: Bye.
fakejazz: Bye.
From fakejazz.com
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