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Interview: Lia Ices
The “pristinely strange” singer talks about her new album and working with Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon
Lia Ices
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I’m going to start this article with something Lia Ices said near the end of our interview. After I asked about Spin‘s description of the NYU-alum (see below), she responded, “I think people are scrambling for ways to describe me.” Feeling the pressure, I asked how she’d like me to describe her, like the ethical journalist I am. She answered that she enjoyed the New York Times article (which was forwarded to her by her dad) calling her “pristinely strange.”
Damn, that’s good. Speaking to Ices on the phone, though, there’s nothing “strange” about her. She’s quiet, respectful and, after telling me she planned on “making and playing music the rest of my life,” completely sincere. So, where does the strange come from? It’s all in the haunting vocals, minimalist piano and, on her new song, odd percussion.
On “Grown Unknown,” the title track for your upcoming album (out January 25 on Jagjaguwar Records), you sound more confident and assured than you did on 2008′s Necima. What’s happened in these past three years?
I think that’s just with age there comes a lot of confidence. I also think that this time around, I took the time preparing tracks and sort of let it marinate a little longer. I think I realized that there’s a difference between writing songs—writing a song is one thing, but it’s an entirely different thing figuring out what you want that song to sound like.
I love the clapping in the song, too. Can you explain how you recorded that?
We were all upstate at this amazing studio in Rhinebeck, New York, about two hours north of here. I wanted a really human sound, but I also wanted it to sound really new and modern. So, we all stood around a microphone and did the claps with our hands on our sides. We did a lot of takes like that, and we turned away from the microphone and we’d step back five feet and record. Just trying to get as many relationships with the microphone as possible. There’s probably 15, 20 different versions of just those claps.
Have you played the new material live?
I’ve played “Daphne” and “Love is Won” live, but for the most part, it’s the first time I’m playing these songs.
What’s going through your mind when you don’t know how these songs are going to sound live?
It’s sort of the same thing as recording it. But I feel really lucky because I’m playing live with everyone who played on the record, so they [Eliot Kessel, Otto Hauser and Greg Chudzik] have an amazing understanding of it. There’s not really a learning curve with that, but it’s figuring out how we get the same feeling as the recording live. It’s just really important to get super detailed how people experience those things.
You mentioned “Daphne” earlier, your collaboration with Justin Vernon. You’re basically the Kanye West of Brooklyn then, right?
*Laughs* I never would have given myself that title.
What’s it like working with Justin?
It was great. We had never met actually. He heard the song and I had the idea, and he’s just so amazingly creative. It was really easy for him to get into what I was imagining. He took it from me and made it even more amazing than I could have imagined. It was really fun. He got to have his own sort of kinship with the song without me. It was super impressive.
Is this the first time you’ve collaborated with someone outside of your band?
Um, yeah, it is.
Why the label switch, from Rare Book Room to Jagjaguwar?
I think Jagjaguwar/Secretly Canadian are an amazing force. I was sort of needing a bit more energy and a bigger audience, and they agreed with me. It was a long courtship. I know I’m going to be making and playing music the rest of my life, and I think it’s equally important to find the right partner for that. I’m just supper happy it’s them.
In Spin.com’s CMJ preview, they described you as “Joanna Newsom’s pot-smoking, college-dropout sister.” How accurate would you say that is?
I think it’s hilarious. I would rather have that title then—
The Kanye West of Brooklyn?
*Laughs* Exactly. I think people are scrambling for ways to describe me, and that’s sort of a funny one. I did complete college, though.
Lia Ices plays the Bowery Ballroom on Saturday, October 23, with Surfer Blood, Neon Indian, Wild Nothing, DOM, Lower Dens, Lord Huron, Fake Problems, Braids, MA.Mentor and the Static Jacks. Tickets can be purchased here.