Teen Love Yes Interview

Teen Love Yes Interview

TEEN's new album, -Love Yes', explores the disharmony and empowerment that both sexuality and spirituality can create within the modern woman's psyche. Universal ideas of loyalty, pleasure, purity, power, aging, and love are confronted with a knowable specificity. There is a quality of wholesomeness, but also an edge"a kind of wise anger and electricity.

After extensive US touring behind The Way and Color (2014), the band had to keep traveling to find Love Yes. The group first went to Woodstock in the dead of winter to write new material. Here, keyboardist and singer Lizzie Lieberson created the stunning, autobiographical 'Please." But the band, and especially lead singer and multi-instrumentalist Teeny Lieberson, felt a crushing lack of creative energy. Recognising the need to recharge, they took some time off. Teeny moved to a small lakeside cabin in Morehead, Kentucky. Surrounded by rolling hills, sparked with sudden thunderstorms, and inspired by the musical joy of uninhibited late-night bluegrass jams and barn parties, Teeny immediately began writing again.

Here she felt a new freedom in her songwriting; drawing on themes important to her identity as a woman, and exploring love, sexuality, and the tension between desire and the construct of desire that can exist within oneself, in relationship, and within society.

After three weeks in Morehead, Teeny returned to New York to workshop with rest of the band, including drummer Katherine Lieberson and bassist Boshra Al-Saadi. Acknowledging the benefits of being creative in a cocoon like the lakeside Kentucky country, the band decided to leave the noise and relentless energy of the city behind. TEEN retreated into the nurturing stillness of Nova Scotia, Canada, the Lieberson sisters' childhood home. Situated on the La Have River, the studio was hidden in a perpetual mist while the band recorded day and night. Fueled by new material, a change of place, and creative collaboration, the lull of the winter lifted and the band came together in a new way. Teaming up once again with producer Daniel Schlett, TEEN wanted to capture the energy of full band recording. Rather than multi-tracking, Schlett worked with the band as they played the songs relentlessly, waiting to achieve the right energy and take as a group.

The result is a beautiful, detailed album about womanhood and the embodiment of the sensual, played by a group fully in step with one another. Love Yes bursts into the static air with a vibrancy recognised by its confidence and power.


Tracklisting

1. Tokyo
2. All About Us
3. Gone For Good
4. Another Man's Woman
5. Example
6. Animal
7. Free Time
8. Superhuman
9. Please
10. Noise Shift
11. Love Yes
12. Push

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Interview with Teeny

Question: What was the motivation behind Love Yes?

Teeny: Nothing complicated- my name is Teeny and people call me Teen for short.


Question: Did you have any pre-conceived ideas about the music industry?

Teeny: Sure, when I was really young I thought the music industry would be a little more glamourous. However, growing up with musicians as parents helped craft a little bit of an understanding of the reality of the music world.

We are inspired by musicians who make music to make music.


Question: What music/artists do you listen to when you are not playing your own?

Teeny: Kate Bush, David Bowie, Ava Luna, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, and lately a ton of deep house.

Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Teeny: I enjoy both. They occupy a totally different headspace- live is great because it's interactive and explosive. Recording is also great because you have the opportunity to cocoon and feel safe with your ideas.


Question: What is the biggest challenge you have faced along the way to your musical success?

Teeny: Success??! Have we had some?! ha. This industry is very challenging, but the hardest part is the fact that there is an attitude towards musicians that our work is a hobby rather than a job, and therefore, we are not rightfully compensated. For the most part, musicians work harder than anyone I know and we should be acknowledged for our diligence and dedication.


Question: What's a typical day like?

Teeny: It varies a ton! But as of now, we're rehearsing constantly trying to get our live show together.


Question: What has been your favourite part of becoming a music artist?

Teeny: Doing what I love.


Question: If you could collaborate with another artist, who would it be?
Teeny: Pedro Almodovar.


Question: Can you tell us 3 things required for a happy healthy & enjoyable life?

Teeny: Well cooked food
Time spent in Nature
A sense of humour


Interview by Brooke Hunter