Interview by Eric Campi. Text by Daniel Dystyler.
While in Brazil to promote his new album Names of North End Women , Wikimetal had the opportunity to talk to Lee Ranaldo , former guitarist and vocalist of Sonic Youth .
In the very relaxed conversation, Ranaldo talked about the inspirations for his new album and the fact that it's his most experimental to date. He also discussed his recent collaborations, creating the soundtrack for a Brazilian film, and much more!
Read the full interview:
WIKIMETAL: Names of North End Women is a very experimental album. How do you think your career led you down this new path?
LEE RANALDO: One of the cool things about music is that it's a collaborative process. When Sonic Youth started, we didn't know we were going to have such a strong and lasting connection between us. But every now and then that happens in music, when you find such a strong connection. And when it ended, I started making my solo albums. In the beginning it was just me, directing everything, my music and all that. But then I met Raul Refree when I recorded an acoustic album in Spain, called Acoustic Dust , which were acoustic versions of my songs. And at that moment, I found a new partner. You can't predict when that will happen or how. But it happened.
After that we made Electric Trim . And on that album, we thought it made sense to put both our names on it. We're a new duo, kind of like a new band. And the idea is to keep experimenting and testing things out. That's the idea.
WM: And when did this collaboration with him begin?
LR: In 2013, there in Spain. We met in the studio and we got along so well. And since that album was just acoustic versions of my old songs, he said, 'let's make new songs,' and that's how we made Electric Trim . He would travel from Barcelona to New York, I would go to Barcelona, anyway, we managed to make it work.
WM: And you wrote lyrics together with Jonathan Lethem, right? How was that?
LR: Well, Jonathan is a very old friend. Not a close one, but a very old one. And when I was working on Electric Trim , I thought it would be cool to have someone to collaborate with me on the lyrics. In Sonic Youth, the music was made collaboratively by everyone, but the lyrics were individual, a solitary thing. When I started making my solo albums, the responsibility of doing everything, music and lyrics, was mine. And I wanted to share that. When I met Raul, we started making the music together, but I thought it would be cool to have someone to collaborate on the lyrics, and that's when Jonathan Lethem came along. It's really cool to have lyrics that don't just represent my point of view, but someone else's as well. Jonathan is perfect for that. He's a "professor of words." We work very well together. It's great for me to have his vision, his lyrics, in short, his "voice" in the songs.
WM: Is it different working with other people's lyrics in your songs?
LR: And something that surprised me! Since I create the melodies and record the vocals, I end up feeling that even the lyrics he wrote become mine as well. I need to understand his vision and internalize it, and I end up feeling like I own them.
WM: And how was the recording process? You used a lot of instruments, right?
LR: We recorded with several different instruments. We had done that on Electric Trim , but we used more guitar demos. This time, we tried many things. Electronic beats, samples , marimbas, and of course, guitar parts. The guitar is part of the album, of course, but it's possibly the smallest guitar component I've ever had on any of my records. Which was interesting for me, as it allowed me to concentrate on the vocals and other things.
WM: And wasn't it difficult to put the guitar aside for a while?
LR: No, no... Actually, it was easy. The process of experimenting with other things was a lot of fun. We didn't even think much about how much guitar was on the record. We wanted it to be very experimental. Not to repeat things from the past. We want the live shows to be very experimental as well.
WM: The album title, Names of North End Women , is also quite intriguing. Could you elaborate on that?
LR: Actually, I got the idea for the album title when we visited my wife's hometown, Winnipeg, Canada. We always go during the winter when it's very cold and snowy. I was walking in the northern part of the city and I saw that the streets were named after women. But they only had the women's first names, not their full names. It was like Helen Road , Lidia Street , Harriet Place , that sort of thing. I started thinking, who are these women, why these names? Did they do something famous? Do they live on these streets? Were some of them celebrated and others oppressed? I started thinking about that and writing some poems. And I started thinking about how the names of different people come and go in our lives, some stay for a short time, others stay for the rest of our lives. And I thought it would be a good idea to use on the album.
WM: Do you think this album marks a new phase in your career?
LR: In a way, yes. Working with Raul was undoubtedly a milestone. After 30 years in such a special band as Sonic Youth, a band with a more traditional model—two guitars, bass, and drums—it's very refreshing to be doing this partnership with Raul. I don't want to go back to the two-guitar, bass, and drums model. I want to be even more experimental. To deepen the experimentation.
WM: And what will the live shows be like?
LR: We still don't quite know how we're going to do live shows with all these instruments and elements [laughs]. We still don't know. I think possibly the first shows will just be the two of us. We want it to have a vibe like a play, you know? Stage with lights, people sitting, etc. The album has some narrations. So it can be very much like a play. I know we want it to be very experimental.
WM: And you composed a soundtrack for the Brazilian film, Ainda Temos A Imensidão Da Noite , right? How did that come about?
LR: Yes, yes! I was playing in Brasília and after the show, the actress from the film, Ayla Gresta , came to talk to me and put me in touch with the film's director, Gustavo Galvão . We started talking on Skype between New York and São Paulo. And that gave me the opportunity to return to Brazil a few times, particularly to Brasília, which I really like because of Oscar Niemeyer . I spent a month in Brasília, recording, mixing, etc. It was great. And the film premiered this month in Porto Alegre. It was really cool. Who knows, maybe we'll do it again for his next film.