Lanie Lane‘s music has that timeless sense of style that you would usually associated with acts like Bille Holiday or Ella Fitzgerald. Big comparisons I know, but when listening to her swinging jazz and soul tinged songs, I can’t help but recall the songstresses of old.
With her single What Do I Do doing the rounds at radio now, and garnering the up and coming singer plenty of attention, we caught up with Lanie ahead of her appearance at Playground Weekender to talk about how she approaches music as well as what to expect in the future.
Music Feeds: Being a singer do you tend to approach songwriting from that perspective, vocals and lyrics first?
Lanie Lane: In the past it has usually been a guitar/chord idea first with melody and lyrics following that. But these days I am also tending to write a lyrical/melody idea and come back later to finish it with guitar/or another instrument.
MF: You’ve got a lot of experience in music, how would you say your work has evolved over time?
LL: Of course everyone’s music changes over time. I’ve been writing songs since I was really young so the content and style has been constantly changing. I think in the last 5 years though, I’ve found my own style and voice that I am happy with and really enjoy exploring! Saying that though, I really love to work with people that have completely different styles to me and to work together in making music that is out of both our comfort zones.
MF: Your music touches on a bunch of different genres, jazz, blues, soul, but never rest too long, is this conscious or is what comes out just what comes out?
LL: It isn’t really a conscious thing for me, I just go with what feels right at the time. Of course it would be strange for me to start writing some crazy death metal music or something so yes, writing music within those styles feels very natural to me. The musical genres I tend to work within seem to have a definite thread running through them so it always feels like they blend well together when put into a live set or recording..
MF: Now you also work with MoR as part of idea idea, which is much more electronic shall we say, how does working on that project impact your solo stuff?
LL: idea idea has been such a different writing/learning experience for me, and for Anto as well! We come from completely different writing backgrounds so have learned so much off each other, and about ourselves in working together. It doesn’t really impact my solo writing so much as I do that in such a different way. idea idea is actually having a wee little break for now as I’m focusing more on the Lanie Lane stuff. We will still do the odd show and are trying to finish some recordings we are nearly done with. But never fear, we really love what we do together so would never give it up. It’s just a little hiatus for now!
MF: You’ve got the single What Do I Do, how have you found the reception to it? Is this a taste of more to come?
LL: I’ve been so happy with how people have responded to the single. I am surprised by how much people love it.. I think doing the crazy butcher girl video helped it get noticed a bit more too. It is for sure a taste of what’s to come! we’re recording the mini album very soon. It will be made in the same studio with mostly all the same musicians and I really want to keep that raw/under-produced edge to it.
MF: Your music has a classic quality to the songs, and it seems like you’ve spent a lot of time refining what you do and making sure it sounds the way you want it to. How important is a strong work ethic to what you do?
LL: I both have and haven’t spend a lot of time ”thinking about” or ”refining” the sound I am going for. It kinda just all comes out the way I want it too. Although I guess it has taken a while to find the right people to work with, who know what I’m going for and don’t need too much direction. I really don’t like to over think the music. For example, we are only doing one rehearsal before recording the album and that’s how I want it to sound. A bit raw, you know? When we recorded What Do I Do, I had never even played music with the guys who played on it before! They were friends before that day, but basically I just sent them a demo of the song and they got the vibe right the first time they played it in the studio! We did it live in one take, including the vocal. I think if you don’t have the strong work ethic then it’s never going to go anywhere..
MF: You’ve got the national tour cranking up, are you excited, will this be the first big tour you’ve done on your own?
LL: I have done one national tour last Nov/Dec with the wonderful Jez Mead, he’s also playing at Playground Weekender. But before that not really much touring to the other states The upcoming Justin Townes Earle tour will be super fun I’m sure! I really love the whole touring thing. Maybe cause I haven’t yet done a huge amount of it. But i do feel it’s something I was made for. I love the transience of it and the challenge of being able to adapt to any situation.
Lanie Lane will be appearing the Playground Weekender at Wiseman’s Ferry on February 17-20
