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illinoisentertainer.com october
2016
Owen Biddle, Ben Perowsky, and Russell
Simins dropped by the foresty sessions, as
did her old chum John Alagia, who co-produced the album with her. Then, like musical chairs, she would have players switch
to instruments with which they were less
comfortable, just to give an added edge to
the sound. “Ben is this amazing drummer
who I knew from playing with Rufus
Wainwright,” Yamagata says. “But we
made him go out in the backyard and hit a
bunch of ladders and metal ironing boards.
So we had the liberty to have time and no
pressure, and no preconceived notions
about what direction this record would go
in.
“And this is the first time I can honestly say that I actually did co-produce,” she
continues. “I think my talent is having
good instincts on who to get together in a
room, and then knowing what I like when
the song gets there. So I took on this new
role of investigating sound. Like a saxophone or a mandolin – I wouldn’t typically or intellectually think to put those on my
music. But we just followed our instincts,
and the musicians were extremely cre-
what? I think so, I do, yes, affirmative,” she
replies, giddily. A friend had just E-mailed
her, urging her to change the working title
of her autumn cross-country jaunt.
“Because right now it reads ‘Tightrope
Walker Fall Tour,’” she giggles. “But my
favorite thing is to just do it, and then figure it out as I’m starting to fly. So I’ll either
plummet straight down or soar up into the
trees. But yeah, that’s kind of been the
route of my last few years – just working
on things and making records and finding
money for it and staying on the road and
the whole shebang. And the thing is, it’s
going great. So I’m intrigued by that idea of
the kind of focus, balance, and concentration needed to pull this off. So you also get
to experience this great perspective and
height that leads you to great views of the
whole damned thing. So that image came
into my head, and I just started writing.”
Yamagata can’t believe that 12 years
have passed since Happenstance, a fact
hammered home on her when she rerecorded the stripped-down version of it.
Which she will be selling on tour, she says.
“I’ve got a box of 1,000 of ‘em, just sitting
ative.” “EZ Target,” for instance, features
the dissonant tones of clanging cowbell
and chains hitting planks of wood, all distorted through reverb, with additional percussion part edited in from Victor Indrizzo
and Matt Chamberlain. The cut exemplifies the lyrical spirit of the album, as well.
“The original demo of “EZ Target” was
just me on guitar, and it was a rebuttal,”
the singer explains. “Someone said something outlandish to me, and there was no
easy way for me to respond without making things ten times worse. So I was
screaming inside, but I had to just sit there
and take it. And I thought, ‘Well, I know
what I could say back – I know how to
pierce somebody’s heart with my verbiage.’ But I made that conscious choice
not to. And the theme of consciously not
engaging in that was interesting to me. So
rather than me feeling like the easy target,
I switched the perspective and they
became the easy target. I would have lost
all of my grace if I had just snapped back.”
And that’s the gist of Tightrope Walker, she
adds. “Moving beyond our initial reactions
to things and getting through the emotional excess that can weigh us down, just
going through daily life. How do we wash
ourselves clean from that and stay positive?”
Is Yamagata herself the tightrope walker? Working without a life-saving net? She
considers this for a minute. “You know
here in my guest room,” she sighs. The
covers and rarities discs will additionally
be available. “I honestly don’t know where
the time goes,” she says. “I gauge my time
by my nieces and nephews – I’ll think,
‘What happened? How are you talking like
a person now? When did you grow up?
When did you start walking?’ My niece is
a little volleyball star, and she’s 5’8”. And
I’m like, ‘How did this happen?’ People
have kids in the equivalent time that I do
records – that’s my new measuring stick.”
But this vagabond – who swears she’s
had no place to truly call home for the last
decade – is happy to finally have roots in
Woodstock. That’s where her family originally hails from, she says, plus she’s a huge
nature lover. Well, to a point. “For the past
two days – I kid you not – I’ve been sitting
on my front porch with my computer, and
the biggest bear I have ever seen has been
seven feet from me, just walking across the
lawn,” she shivers. “And at first, I freaked
out, grabbed all my cats, and yelled, ‘Run!’
But the second time it happened, I was
like, ‘I’m getting a picture of this damn
thing!’ And he just sauntered off, and the
cats didn’t even wake up.” How many cats
does she have? Just three, she says, reassuringly.
“Don’t worry! We’re not in any danger
of me drifting into “Grey Gardens” territory. Yet….”
Appearing 10/4 at Thalia Hall, Chicago.