Interview with Lior
The Israel-turn-Sydneysider Lior has a wonderful ability to turn the mundane of the everyday into delicious slices of saccharine sweet folk music. We caught up with on the cusp of his much anticipated sophomore studio release, Corner of an Endless Road. Considering Autumn Flow was so well received (and multi-award winning) were you anxious or intimidated about releasing a follow-up? ‘Absolutely. At the beginning I was and it was a little bit daunting because I went from doing my first album, which was really just an artistic project and I didn’t really think anyone would care, and then you’ve got to work hard to shake off the expectations and all the stuff they talk about. So I just had fun with it and went back into the headspace where I was writing songs for myself again, not for other people and not with anyone in mind. It was hard, but I got there in the end’. Were you considering your audience when writing the new album? ‘No, I think that’s dangerous. If you do that, then it starts diluting the creative process. In terms of the genre of music, I’m doing, the singer-songwriter thing. It’s kind of about honesty and sincerity. I think the only way you can do that is by writing songs for yourself, and if people connect with them, that’s great, and if not, then you’ve just got to move on’. It’s a more complex album, musically and lyrically. It’s been three years since the last studio release, so is this just the result of time? ‘It’s a mixture. In terms of the lyrical content and the emotive nature of the album, it’s a reflection of an intense two or three years where it was a bit of roller-coasting ride of highs and lows, and all the strains on personal relationships and stuff. So the record does go between light and dark. In terms of arrangement, there were things in Autumn Flow that we touched on, like the use of strings, and vocal styles that we [Lior and the producer, Franc Tetaz] never had a chance to explore due to time and money constraints. So this time we were a bit more adventurous and tried to match the musical choices with the lyrical and emotive content of the songs’.
Tagged: folk music, Israel, Lior
- 2
- 0
RELATED
As autumn creeps in, the temperatures drop, and the days get shorter, I’m finding myself listening to more morose and introspective music. Tiny Vipers, a one-woman band from Seattle, has been doing it for me lately with her luminous, bittersweet folk.
Defamation documentary trailer
Does Israel use the Holocaust as an excuse for their continued issues with the Palestine people? According to this film, yes. Are people who criticise Israel’s foreign policy often unfairly labelled anti-Semitic? Again, yes according to this brilliant documentary made by an Israeli-Jew. Instead of passing judgment himself, filmmaker Yoav Shamir is smart enough to put himself and his camera in the right places, surrounded by the right people, and let the people damn themselves. Read more
Langhorne Slim’s forthcoming release is called Be Set Free and will be out in late September. This track off it, I Love You, But Goodbye, is beautiful, cinematic and cohesive, with gut-wrenching lyrics and a simple but sweet melody. We have it available for free download via the Music Download section of Lost At E Minor.
Also by MONIQUE ROTHSTEIN
We checked in with Sydney-based songwriter Fergus Brown to get the inside story on his wonderfully quirky and catchy pop song, Nerds In Love [below]: ‘It was was a fun song write. Some songs can be tortuous, but this was an imagined, tongue-in-cheek vignette of my life spent together with a certain girl I’d seen around. That’s all it was. At least, until a friend of mine blurted to this girl that I’d written a song about her. And he gave her a copy. We’re friends now. She’s a very talented, and successful, visual artist. She was flattered. Recently, I heard that another person thinks it was written about them. I’m looking forward to that awkward conversation sometime in the future’. Fergus Brown has just been announced as the support for American singer-songwriter, Martha Wainwright on all eleven shows of her Australian tour.
Sonic alchemy, lyrical mastery and melodies to melt even the coldest winter heart, anyone? I introduce you to my new favourite indie darlings: The All New Adventures of Us (alternatively nicknamed TANOU). With their offbeat blend of indie pop, this seven piece British outfit evoke elements of their most talented contemporaries such as Belle & Sebastian, Connor Oberst, Sigur Ros, Ben Folds, and even the fragile vocal sensibility of Elliot Smith. Read more
YOU'RE SAYING (0)
No comments yet.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Brooklyn illustrators Jordan Awan and Morgan Elliott have teamed up to create Springtime Studio. Their ‘official’ site is in the works, but they have a wonderful blog, In Bloom, up and going already. It’s already teaming with fun doodles and recent work.
My town is one of foghorns at five am, the smell of salty air and the sound of seagulls, Peets coffee, steep hills and die hard fans and loyalists. For those of us who have been here in San Francisco for some time now, we know all the secret gems of this small city — from Clarion Alley, to Army Street, from Irving to Broadway. Read more
Now, I know it’s not hard to simply turn your wrist to tell the time, but the Diesel DZ9044 is a stylish watch that lets the user become that little bit more lazy. What’s more, if the watch is a gift, the clean face can be engraved to add that personal touch. Yes, wink, wink, indeed. Read more
In my teenage years, I was a fanatical collector of Archie Comics, living my life vicariously through the mischevious misadventures of Archie, Betty, Veronica and the gang. Eventually I sold my collection to a high school friend, who bought several garbage bags worth of digests along with my prized Ozi skate deck. This vibrant artwork by Singapore-based designer Hanyi Lee takes me back to that time and I kinda wish that I’d kept the damn things, if only for a few more moments of saccharine sweet escapism within their apple pie, primary colour world.
FFFFOUND! is a fun website that allows you to bookmark your favorite images from the Internet and share them with fellow users, sort of like a del.icio.us specifically for pictures. The site is still in private beta and not currently supported on Mac, but as its collection of images expands, it’s likely to become much more widely available.
Says Van She bassist and vocalist Matt Van Schie about the Bush Tetras track — Too Many Creeps — from 1982: ‘I LOOOVE this tune. It opens with a perfect snare roll, and then the counter bass and guitar rhythms make it so cool. The lyrics are even more valid today. They’re one of my favourite bands of all time, and so many people try to do what they did for real. What a time! I wish I was born back then in New York, hanging out with these kids. Ahhhh!!’
London-based DJ, Kelpe, has just recorded a diverse electro mix for the Allez Allez blog, which you can download, turn up to eleven, and nod yo’ head to. It’s just the tonic for an early afternoon kickstart.
WE'RE RESPECTING
WE'RE POSTING / SOME OF THE BEST
Yum, yum, cupcakes are fun. These creations are so clever, so arty, so damn bizarre that it would almost be a shame to eat them. Almost! Read more
Hong Kong-based illustrator Man-Tsun draws dark and beautiful painterly images that look like they are straight off a high-end Japanese animated film. Read more
Italian-born, New York City-based photographer Paolo Ventura creates fairy-tale like pictures out of amazingly constructed, miniature dioramas that almost trick the eye into thinking he’s a tilt-shift photographer. Read more
Good thing Kris Kuksi channelled the trauma of growing up with an alcoholic stepfather, his disdain for ‘the typical American life and pop culture’, and his fascination with the macabre into obsessive, baroque assemblages, paintings, and drawings. Read more
Forget battery powered vehicles. Cars made from ice are the future of transportation: no pollution, no honking horns, no painful rap music blasting out of souped up stereos. And if they melt, they melt. You just swim the rest of the way down the slipstream.
Thanks to Sony Australia, four Lost At E Minor readers will win personal audio prizes, including the new 8GB Walkman S series video MP3 player and the MDRXB500 Extra Bass headphones. Read more
Warning at Work is a silkscreen mini-print from Sussex based illustrator Andy Smith which comes in a limited edition of just 50. Dimensions are 20cm x 15cm. We have them available through the Lost At E Minor store.
Read more
FOLLOW US
DISCOVER MORE
SO...
SEARCH: Can't find what you're looking for? Do a search..
IS IT GOOD FOR YOU TOO?
We hope you're enjoying your time on Lost At E Minor, but it’s not over yet. Got something to share? Tell us about it and we'll look to publish it. If you want to have your work featured on the site, we'd love to hear from you. Pssst, we also have an online store stocking some of the goodies we feature on the site.
If you're a media agency and want to use this platform to connect with our readership, then drop us a line and tell us about it. Oh yeah, and we do digital consulting for cool brands that want to reach the sort of demographic that visits this site.
