You weren’t conscious of them being an influence?
No. I was conscious of Hip/Hop being an influence on the songs as a genre, but I keep getting references to people that I don’t listen to or comparing me to people that I’m…
…not necessarily familiar with.
Right. I think it’s interesting. I think that maybe we’re more affected generation-wise.
You could be influenced by someone now who was influenced by something further back.
We’re all influenced by something further back. Because maybe one person steps out before, we think we’re following that lead, but, rather, we’re working in synch with each other. But I think the general public doesn’t necessarily think that way.
No.
Norah Jones is a good example. When you start comparing people to Norah Jones, you have to think, “Maybe you’d go further back.”
Like to Billie Holiday…
Right, exactly. Just because someone starts to use Jazz inflections in their music doesn’t mean they’re following suit, necessarily, with what’s popular right now. It’s an old, old style and something that will live on, possibly, forever.
My personal favorite song on the album is “Love And Love Again.” Was it based on one memory or experience or on a culmination of experiences?
It was actually a project I did with David Baerwald for a film. And it was based off of the script and the film ended up not being made. Whether it was made or not, we probably would’ve put it on the record. But it was more [for the purpose that] it fulfilled the need of a particular script.
The imagery in that is really beautiful.
Oh, thank you. That was a fun one. David Baerwald wrote the melody and the music and he needed lyrics for it. He called me up and I was going to drive to his house and learn his melody. I had [a recording of] it in the car and I was going to go over and just record some vocal thing but I didn’t have anything written. But there was so much traffic [in route] to his house, coming from Topanga [Canyon] to downtown Los Angeles; it took about an hour and a half. And, by the time I got there, I had the whole song written because of all the time in between. So when I got there, we were just able to record the song.
On “Seed of Wonder,” you got to work with Stewart Copeland.
Yes, and [drummer] Matt Chamberlain. They both were on that track.
What was Copeland like to work with?
Article comments
1 - Nat le Gros Monstre
Great Interview. I learned many things I did not know.
Cheers
Nat le Gros Monstre.
2 - Connie Phillips
Donald - great interview! I enjoyed reading it very much!