Pam Shaffer – As We Are
Posted in New Artist on 10. Feb, 2011
Straddling a magnificent line between Regina Spektor and Joanna Newsome is Los Angeles based singer/songwriter Pam Shaffer. On her latest release, As We Are, Pam delivers a solid album top to bottom that is so affective, it lingers with you a few days. One listen isn’t enough. The album is beautiful and complex as it illuminates the writings of French/Cuban diarist Anaïs Nin. The instrumentation surrounding Pam’s lovely voice compliments her lyrical prose impeccably. Pam makes it so easy to visualize this album as exemplified on the song “June” when she sings That haunting kiss you left on my lips/still lingers still tingles still taunts me so/Our fingers entwined on the long cab ride home/Daring to twist and turn on each other my love/of the man you call your own and how you wanted him to make you the hero.
It’s common for singer/songwriters to release an album with hardly any dynamic range in style or song content. Luckily for us, this is not the case with As We Are. Instead, Pam decorates the album with slow ballads, lively chorus driven tunes, and fluid waltzes. One of my favorites was “Anais.” Violinist Paul Cartwright will inspire you out of your office chair or couch slouch into doing something grand today. This song also showcases Pam’s excellent songwriting as she sings I’m a steel-winged-hummingbird/Strength hides in my beauty/I’m the darkness and the light/Dance in duality. Her lyrics are as layered as the meanings she lays out in them. It’s a craft fully on display.
Grab a copy on Pam’s Bandcamp page. “Like” her on Facebook too!
I was also lucky enough to get a few words from Pam on As We Are. See our interview below and, if in Los Angeles, make sure to check her out at one of her upcoming shows:
Feb 12 @ HM 157
Feb 18 @ Enid and Edgars Vintage
March 5 @ Silverlake Lounge
March 30 @ Bordello
The interview…
HtU: The album is based on the diaries of Anais Nin from the 1930′s, why? What was the inspiration?
PS: The album came about as somewhat of an accident. I wrote my thesis in college about the life and diaries of Anais Nin in the ’30′s and had always been intrigued by her writing. She was a deeply flawed but beautiful and insightful person and I feel as though she captures her emotional experiences in a way that I have never encountered in any other writing. A few years ago, I started humming the song “Henry” to myself out of the blue…I guess perhaps I was tired of writing about my own life and wanted to become someone else for a little while. The rest of the songs sprang up around each of the different people in her diaries and took on their own character. I love the aesthetic of the 1930′s and tried to capture some of the flavor of it in my arrangements.
HtU: What’s your writing and recording process?
PS: The writing and recording was spread out over about a 2 year period and took place all over Los Angeles. My writing is usually done in fits and starts and often the lyrics come first. I have a few notebooks in which I keep my little words and ideas until they expand, then I put the notebooks on the piano. I constantly have lyrics up on the piano and when the time is right, I play the music that goes with them. It sounds strange but if I leave the words up there, sometimes the music comes immediately and sometimes it might not show up for months. This album was a bit more focused thematically than my writing was in the past or is now but the process was quite similar. This album was written in a purposefully lonesome manner and it inhabits a certain solitary head space that is similar to Anais’ diaries. It’s more subdued than my other work and certainly more about the subconscious rather than the outwardly stated.
The recording was a big jumble of people and places but the key player was Damian Anthony, who gracefully engineered the record and co-produced it with me. We recorded the piano at my house, some of the instruments at his loft, others at my friend’s home studio and at Eagle Rock Studios. I played the majority of instruments on the record which came in handy but it was such a pleasure to meet some fantastic musicians who contributed beautiful pieces to my record. I felt a bit like a film director explaining the themes of a song and then letting them just go to it. I feel like I learned so much for my next record and it was an amazing experience recording in so many different settings with such talented players.
HtU: How was your Kickstarter experience?
PS: The Kickstarter campaign felt like an insanely fun high-wire act. It took a big leap of faith to put a piece of art out there and expect people to care enough to donate money to me in order to get it made. I would recommend it to any artist who is willing to put in the work of not only making a good project but also really communicating with the people who are donating. It was really fun coming up with the rewards and interacting with so many new fans online plus it taught me how to market and reach an audience that I would have never had otherwise, which has now provided me with a great fan base. I am writing songs for the kickstarter pledgers who donated at a certain level and that’s providing a great artistic challenge as well…they got to pick their own topics and so I’m trying my best to do them justice! Keep an eye out, as I am going to release the Kickstarter songs in Bandcamp when I am finished.
HtU: You are a part of a great troupe of LA musicians that seem to be everywhere! Tell me about that, your friends in town and the LA collaborative experience…
PS: First off, I am flattered and proud to be part of this troupe of roving musicians you see in Los Angeles! This city is filled with brilliant, beautiful, talented people and I am honored to be friends with them. The various music scenes in LA remind me of a gorgeous Venn diagram and most of the people I know are pretty excited about putting on shows together and helping each other out. I personally love to book shows with my friends because then I get to have triple the amount of fun in one night…I get to play a set, I get to listen to amazing music and I get to spend time with great people. I’ve started playing out in earnest this past year and it’s been unforgettable, just getting to know different musicians and being a part of it all. I think one of the aspects I love best is the sheer versatility of the music scenes. There’s a certain attitude amongst the musicians I know that we are all down to try anything at least once and expand our horizons playing each other’s songs. I love that my friend Julie can play violin on my songs while I play omnichord on hers, that Dorian Wood and I can share an accordion player (and dear friend) Leah and that I can hear Tommy Santee Klaws one night and book a show with him the next. It delights me that my friend Nikita plays with me and is also in the band Insects Vs. Robots, whose brilliant music is radically different from my own. I love promoting my friend’s shows and supporting smaller venues that really put the effort into booking a full night of entertainment, not just putting together a few acts that don’t have a chance to share an audience. LA Underground once commented that they see me at a lot of shows and it’s because I genuinely enjoy soaking in the music that LA has to offer.
HtU: What’s up next?
PS: Looking into my crystal ball, I see many shows in my future. I want to play out with my delightful musical compatriots as much as possible so keep an eye out on the calendar for shows. I have recorded demos for the majority of the songs for my next album and the songs are all written, so now begins the logistics of figuring out how to get the ideas all down on record. Hilariously, I have already picked out a dress for the album art because that’s the most important bit, right? This new album is definitely a departure from As We Are and sort of marks the beginning of Pam with a band. As We Are was written in solitude while my new record is being shaped by my new adventures playing shows with my friends. I guess we will have to see how it all turns out!
