Part 2

Do you tend to start writing with what will be the first line of the finished lyrics? The chorus? At a random point? What are the words that set the process in motion?

I start at a random point.

I don’t always write a song from its beginning. I often start with a melody or a lyric without context.

I'd love to know how you think the meaning or effect of an individual song is enhanced, clarified or possibly contradicted by the EPs, or albums it is part of. Does the song, for example, need to be consistent with the larger whole?

I don’t think a song needs to be consistent with the larger whole, but I do think there’s a craft to making an album that has an arc to it.

Like I don’t see the point in making an album if you’re not at all thoughtful about the order of the songs. With digital streaming you could just release singles. An album comes with an expectation that there’s some kind of theme or meaning tying it together. And since it’s linear, it lends itself to a narrative arc.

But to be honest I’m not a big fan of explicit storytelling or concept albums. It kind of spoon-feeds you rather than invites your imagination. I see the best albums as a progression of feelings or revelations.

Matt Berry’s Witchazel is one of my favorites. It’s evocative without being too heavy-handed, so with repeat listening you can find something new to unpack and appreciate.



I strive for that in my own writing but I don’t think I’ve achieved it yet.

When you're writing song lyrics, do you sense or see a connection between your voice and the text? Does it need to feel and sound “good” or “right” to sing certain words? What's your perspective in this regard of singing someone else's songs versus your own?

I find it therapeutic to vocalize on a guttural level so some of my lyrics just came out of that.

I don’t always write out the idea - it might start as a moan or a whimper as I’m strumming out chords. My song “Tropic of Tears (The Flying Proa)” is an example of this.

The first lyric is the word “row” and the reason why I hold it is because it started as a moan of sadness.



It wasn’t until I started writing my own songs that I discovered I have a vocal style that is very much my own. And I’m okay with that. I don’t feel the need to be something I’m not. It’s a cliche but it’s true - I found my voice. So whether I’m singing someone else’s lyrics or singing something I wrote, I can’t help but bring myself into it.

And it’s not like I have a lot of technical range as a singer, so being a navel-gazing singer-songwriter is pretty ideal for me. I’m not interested enough in being a singer to always do justice to other people’s work.

I would love to know a little about the feedback you've received from listeners or critics about what they thought some of your songs are about – have there been “misunderstandings” or did you perhaps even gain new “insights?”

Based on the feedback I get, I think most people are puzzled!

Which makes sense because I’m not a stickler for being sensical with my lyrics. I’ve had misunderstandings where someone thought I was criticizing them with my lyrics. Another person took it like a spurned lover - they used my lyrics as evidence of cheating.

The listener has every right to their own interpretation. I never felt like I was owed understanding as an artist. Like if you understand what I meant, that’s great, but it’s not meant to be a puzzle to be solved. I see it like a wave. The idea bubbles up from the collective unconscious into my little psyche, and then I give it a home for a while. Maybe it was an idea that was neglected by everyone else so I need to nurture it, get it back on its feet. Then I release it and it goes back to where it belongs - the collective. So I don’t see it as my song really. It just is. Anything said about it is tangential. Sorry to be pop psychology about it, but that’s your journey, not mine.

As for insights, there have been several times when I was humbled by what someone else got from it. There are all sorts of reasons why that happens. It could be someone who identifies as a Chamorro like me, who had never heard a Chamorro sing from this perspective. Or it could be something that resonates with their grief or pain.

The overarching thing I get from feedback to my music is that it’s quite heavy. It’s not for everyone, and the people who connect to it seem to immerse themselves in it. It’s not background music while you do your chores.

Do you have things that you are super into but rarely get to talk about? Like, you're wondering why no one is interested in this, while you'd be able to give an enthusiastic interview on the topic? I'd love to hear about them.

It’s funny you ask because I have such varied interests that it took a while before I was comfortable calling myself a musician - like I didn’t devote hours of practice into playing an instrument, and I know almost no music theory. My relationship to music is more as a folk artist or a ‘naive artist’ if we want to be academic and pretentious about it.

However I’ve come to realize that for all the hours of practice that some people can put into their craft, it’s entirely unpredictable what ends up crossing that realm from the contrived into the resplendent and transcendent.

For years I tried to figure out that paradox that great art can come from just about anywhere. There’s no formula. And what I’ve concluded is that creativity is inherent to all humans - and maybe all living beings. I think creativity is not so much a muscle that needs training as it is a portal that needs opening.

I don’t think we talk enough about this. We’re still stuck in the antiquated and narrow mindset that we’re machines who need to be productive rather than mysteries that need to be revealed.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you feel as though writing song lyrics or poetry is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

You can certainly be creative when making a cup of coffee, but obviously it’s not going to reveal much about you as an individual. Lyrics and poetry have voice. Voice has agency. Voice has perspective.

What can be expressed through music is essentially the soul. Yes there is soul in other things that humans do, but the way the soul is expressed through music is incredibly personal and vulnerable and revelatory.