Brandy Clark In Conversation With FAULT Magazine
Dive into the captivating world of Brandy Clark – an 11-time Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and musician whose heartfelt melodies have touched the souls of many. Currently gearing up to perform at Black Deer festival this summer, we caught up with Brandy Clark to find out more about her process, her latest releases and of course, her FAULTs.
Can you tell us more of the inspiration behind ‘She Smoked In The House.’ and its significance to you?”
“She Smoked in the House” was written about my Grandma Ruth. I think when you lose someone you love, you never stop missing them. My mind and heart kept drifting to her while I was trying to work on other songs and so I finally gave in and wrote that one for her. I really never thought it would find its way on an album. I thought it was just for ME. I’m so happy that it did make it on this album, because now it’s for everyone and I’m finding that a lot of people need this song.
How would you describe the overall sound and themes of your new album?”
The overall sound of this album is raw and live. There are very few overdubs on this record. It was just all of us in a room playing and singing. The themes range from a murder ballad, to my deepest and most vulnerable insecurities set to music, to a few love gone wrong songs and last but not least, a tender ballad about unconditional love.
You mentioned that working with Brandi Carlile on this project was a gift. How did her involvement influence your songwriting and the overall direction of the album?”
I think her biggest contribution to this record was her ability to follow her gut. She follows her gut feeling on things like no one I have ever worked with. She does not second guess and I can do a lot of that.
Your previous album, ‘Your Life is A Record,’ received critical acclaim and landed on several ‘best-of-the-year’ lists. Do you feel added pressure to meet the high expectations of listeners following such huge success?
Oh for sure!!!! It’s a lot of pressure. Most of the pressure is the pressure I put on myself. I really am so proud of every record I have made and so I don’t ever feel like I can top any of them. I just try and never make the same record twice and stay inspired and hope that my listeners are willing to take the journey with me.
Was there a shift in your writing process this project when compared to your previous releases?
There was not. I write songs the way that I always write songs. I think that the shift was the songs that were chosen. I always like to give a producer 18-24 songs that I would feel great about recording and let them help narrow it down to 10 or 12. Some of Brandi’s choices really surprised me and so I asked her why she gravitated towards the songs that she did. She said “they are all great songs, but I chose the ones that felt like you wrote them in your bedroom.” That REALLY hit me and reminded me that we all started writing songs to express emotion, not to impress other songwriters. I can get clever and want to impress my peers. What I’d really like to do is make the people who hear my music feel less alone in their emotions. Moving forward as an artist and writer, that’s what I’m going to lean into. I don’t think that would have happened had I not made this record with Brandi at this time in my life.
You mentioned that this album is a return home for you in many ways – can you expand on this?
I think that it’s a return to a more acoustic/stripped back sonic landscape. I’ve had some comparisons sonically between this and “12 Stories”. So, sonically it’s a return to that home base. Now when Brandi Carlile told me that she saw it as my return to the northwest, I took it literally and wrote the song “Northwest” as a tribute to where I’m from. Then I wrote “She Smoked in the House” about my Grandma who lived next door to me. So, HOME is all over this one.
You’ve written songs for other artists as well. How does your approach to songwriting differ when you’re writing for yourself versus writing for someone else?
When I’m writing for someone else, I put myself in service to them and their story. I just try to help them tell it and make it rhyme. When I’m writing for myself, I just tell my story.
When you look back on your musical journey, what’s been the most challenging hurdle you’ve had to overcome?
Self doubt
What is your FAULT?
I think my personal FAULT is that I count myself out too often, instead of counting myself IN. I’ve really been working on that and on quieting that self doubting voice.