The Pen Is Mightier Than the Guitar

The Pen Is Mightier Than the Guitar: An Interview with Lori Carson ...
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The Pen Is Mightier Than the Guitar: An Interview
with Lori Carson
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11:00 am
Tuesday, Apr 23, 2013
by Imran Khan
Critics' darling Lori Carson has been offering her small and
devoted fanbase quiet bliss with her emotionally-textured and
intimate songs over the last two decades. But just recently,
Carson turned to her other love of literature. With her first
novel, she delves even further into a strange and still familiar
world -- one that her haunting music has often explored.
Lori Carson spent the last three decades immersed in the life of song,
sketching out the details of her most personal explorations in a series of
chord progressions, overdubs, and musical meters. Her music introduced
the world to a highly introspective and sensitive woman who seemed to be
communicating a life’s worth of trouble and joy by way of the guitar.
Carson’s first effort, 1990’s Shelter, was a shy entrance into a world
dominated by excessive noise; hair bands were dying out, hip-hop was just
cresting in the mainstream, and British dance music had started to expand
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beyond the borders of the UK. Shelter was brave, in that it forced Carson
into a lone confessional space with only her guitar. At the time, female
singer-songwriters brandishing guitars were far and few between, and the
industry hadn’t much time for young women making big confessions in very
small ways. Carson’s music defied those misconceptions. Her musings may
have been secretly intimate and, therefore, easily ignored, but her
no-nonsense storytelling approach and convincing sway with melody and
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The Pen Is Mightier Than the Guitar: An Interview with Lori Carson ...
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/170319-the-pen-is-mightier-tha...
inflection ushered those who did listen into her small, private world.
Anton Fier, founder of the Golden Palominos, took notice and invited the
singer to appear on two of the band’s most inventive and forward-thinking
albums, This is How it Feels and Pure. Both albums explored electronic
textures in a rock-band set-up, with Carson’s breathy cooing and warm
acoustic guitar giving a sensual shading to each of the seductive numbers
she appeared on. Following her stint with the Palominos, Carson would
return to recording solo, turning out quietly devastating works, like 1997’s
Everything I Touch Runs Wild, recorded mostly in the calm privacy of her
apartment. Wild, the album in which the artist was finally received with
some attention outside of her cultishly small fanbase, borrowed some of
the influences heard on her collaborations with the Palominos, along with
some of their guest session players (most notably Bill Laswell). A string of
albums would follow, exploring various reaches of folk, pop, and
electronica, and Carson remained musically active whilst still keeping a low
profile and on the margins of commercial success.
A few years back, the singer decided to put down the guitar and pick up
the pen, turning her attention to another love – writing. Having studied
creative writing during her college years and having worked a brief stint as
a journalist prior to her career as a music artist, Carson channeled the
stories she normally reserved for three-minute pop songs into a novel’s
worth of personal history. The Original 1982, her first book, is the story of
young woman’s initiation into the music industry and, thus, her adulthood.
A story of possibilities never granted, The Original 1982 explores a “what
if” scenario of another life, namely, motherhood for the protagonist, Lisa.
In her trials and tribulations of parenting, Lisa finds herself caught in the
revolving door of her precarious love life as men come and go—including
the father of her child, an elusive, charming, and successful musician of
wavering loyalty who becomes the single entity of which the lives of she
and her child are hinged upon. Ultimately, it is a story of opportunities
gained in lieu of those lost, and Carson, as a new novelist, exhibits some
impressive strengths, namely her ability to convincingly sketch out
situational dramas that unfold in the ensuing action of any given scene.
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Recently, Carson expressed her desires to pursue novel-writing full-time,
forcing her beloved profession of music a place on the back-burner. This
may be a disappointment to those who have loyally followed the artist’s
development in music these last two decades. But Carson hasn’t
abandoned music completely; all the musicality of nuanced emotion can be
found in the distilled beauty of her delicate prose. The music world may be
losing a voice of quietly impassioned grace, but the literary world has easily
and fortunately gained one.
***
You had been pretty busy writing a book and recording an album
(Another Year). I imagine the processes are different in that
recording a song captures a moment of emotion in time, whereas
writing a novel is about writing (or rewriting) someone’s history
over the span of a story arc. Can you describe your process of
writing the book—what was the germinating seed for the idea for
your story? And after more than 20 years as a music artist, why
had you decided now would be the time to turn to writing fiction?
I wouldn’t say writing the songs for Another Year kept me busy, exactly.
Some of the songs on the record were written a few years prior to its
release, and other songs (and the instrumental pieces) were written for
various short film projects—commercial films made by a company called
Spring Creative (a production and branding company). This is the work that
has been paying the bills. I write about five pieces/songs before one is
accepted by spring, so I had all this music recorded that I quite liked and
wanted to release.
I was already feeling, though, that after about 35 years of writing songs, it
had gotten pretty stale for me. I wasn’t interested in performing anymore.
I’m sure that had something to do with it. But also it was just time for a
change. Midlife crisis? I needed to feel challenged and inspired again.
I’ve always been a writer. I wrote stories as a girl. I’d studied creative
writing and poetry in college. I worked briefly as a journalist for a local
paper when I lived on the North Fork. In recent years, I’d taken a couple of
fiction writing workshops. And of course I was keeping the blog.
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One day it occurred to me that the reason I hadn’t written anything
long-form was because I didn’t believe I could. I was telling myself that my
expertise was in telling a story in three verses and a chorus, and it was
holding me back. Once I realized it, I decided to write every day for a year
and see what came of it. I started my novel in May of 2009 and exactly one
year later I had the first draft of The Original 1982. Writing it gave me the
same thrill that writing songs once had.
I don’t think the two are so different. Songs have melody and that gives
them a magical aspect. It’s like the music is the method by which the
content is ingested. With prose, there’s no melody, obviously, but as for
the words, they have rhythm, flow, a beginning middle, and end. Of
course, it’s different to have a story unfold over a couple of hundred pages,
but it wasn’t so different for me in terms of process. I just did it a lot more,
and continuously, with the goal of writing something worthwhile every day
that was connected to what I had written the day before. I didn’t work with
an outline, and wasn’t sure where the story would go.
Reading the novel and listening to the album, it’s somewhat
apparent that the themes overlap; one medium informs the other.
Your personal history is invested in both of these projects…You’re a
new novelist. What could you express through the written word
that you could not express through music? And in what ways did
music have the upper hand on personal expression?
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Well, emotionally and intellectually, I think it all comes from the same
place. The songs have a more self-soothing aspect, I suppose. Songs are
immediate mood changers. I don’t think writing them is that different from
listening to them—I heard somebody say that recently, and it struck me as
true.
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Writing fiction is more like going on a journey (as is reading it). You make
a greater investment in terms of time and belief, and the rewards are
pretty deep. I feel the potential for discovery is wide open. Maybe it’s
because I’m at the beginning of the process of learning, but the potential
feels huge.
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Your music throughout your career has been a bit of a balancing
act. On one hand, you’ve been pretty guarded about your private
life. On the other hand, you’ve admirably laid bare your battles with
depression that have been honest and, moreover, believable. Even
when writing through characters in your music and writing at one
remove, you’ve expressed certain thoughts and feelings many
people keep fiercely private and hidden (“Train”, “Whole Heart”,
“Twisting My Words”, “Spinning World”). They are not disguised or
dressed up with metaphor. You simply find poignancy in expressing
what is matter-of-fact. If I may be so personal, can you talk about
your experiences with depression and the creative modes of
expression when dealing with those issues in your music?
I suppose writing about emotional difficulty is a way of controlling it. And at
the same time healing it, because music is so healing. I’ve struggled with
anxiety and depression for as long as I can remember, which is one reason
why performing has always been uncomfortable. I think by putting my
work out there in the world I’m seeking understanding and connection with
others. Also writing makes the feelings manageable. The pain is released
through the work.
The Original 1982 is a novel that deals with the ideas of possibility,
processing and reprocessing pain until it becomes something else.
For the character of Lisa, the possibility of her daughter Minnow
existing means an opportunity to validate a choice she never made
or couldn’t make. Minnow appears to be a projection of Lisa’s
internalized scale, equally balanced by guilt and pride. I understand
much of your personal history went into The Original 1982. Writing
this book, in what ways did it make you evaluate the possibilities in
your present-day life?
I think the book is about regret and acceptance, aging, love, the beauty of
life. We all wonder about the ways our lives might have gone given
different choices made. I wanted to write about the pain of disappointment
and loss. That was my driving force. I know people will assume that I
regret my own childlessness, but I don’t really.
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The Pen Is Mightier Than the Guitar: An Interview with Lori Carson ...
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What-if’s are universal. I chose to write this story for reasons that didn’t
have much to do with my not having children—my father got sick and died,
I was lonely, single for the first time in years, I’d relocated back to New
York and felt disoriented. These were the specifics that had me in the right
place, emotionally, to write the book.
You were involved in a writing group, I believe, when you began
writing and preparing for this novel. What was the act of sharing
your material with others during the developmental stages of your
work like?
Hearing other writers talk about their process was the most helpful thing. I
soaked up all the experience in that room. I received a lot of support and
encouragement as I wrote at a snail’s pace. Every week I came in moaning
about the fact that I could write only a paragraph a day. But it adds up
provided you keep writing.
In addition to writing the book and recording Another Year, you
were also busy with a reunion show for the Golden Palominos,
whom you recorded with nearly a decade back. What was the
experience like reuniting and playing those songs once again
onstage?
The experience reminded me that going back is often disappointing. It’s
like in The Original 1982, when Lisa reunites with her old boyfriend and
realizes that it’s not the same. Nostalgia is confusing. It makes you think
that you can walk back into the past.
I have so much love and respect for Anton Fier and the work we did
together. But I felt out of place fronting a rock band, singing songs from 15
years ago. Musically, my songs have gotten quieter and more atmospheric
over the years, which suits my voice better.
I probably should have said no to the offer, but I felt like maybe Anton and
I wouldn’t have that many chances to work together again. We won’t be
alive forever—another theme of my novel.
On your blog, you stated that you felt you were done with
performing (onstage). Do you see yourself abandoning music
completely in the future in order to devote your full-time to
writing?
I’m writing full-time now, at work on a second novel. I’ve been a singer
and songwriter since I was a kid and will never stop doing it—at least for
myself. But performing has never been comfortable, and I was never crazy
about the touring life. I’m happy to let those things go.
I’m a homebody. I like living in New York, being here. Going to the park,
museums, seeing friends, spending time with my animals, and doing my
work. Never say never, but I believe my career in music is in the past, for
the most part, while my work as a writer of fiction is just getting started.
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Lori Carson: Another
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While her latest
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4 of 5
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The Pen Is Mightier Than the Guitar: An Interview with Lori Carson ...
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known and loved for,
Carson has now moved
onto brighter and more
hopeful pastures,
detailing her humble
submissions to the
turbulences of life.
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