Just the Bottle Talking | An EBE interview with Laura Burhenn of The Mynabirds
I was fortunate enough to have the talented Laura Burhenn of The Mynabirds take some time to speak with me this week for Empty Bottle Evenings. We talked about her new album Lovers Know, life on the road, music technology, touring with the “top secret” Postal Service live band, the truth about Conor Oberst, and what alcohol goes well with purple soda? Hint: nothing
The Mynabirds third studio album Lovers Know was released on August 7th through Saddle Creek. I personally think it’s great but if you don’t trust me, then why don’t you go check it out? Or go check them out live starting next week. The Mynabirds tour begins September 2nd in San Diego (easy there Ron Burgundy) and comes almost full circle at Echo in LA on October 9th. In between those dates our own Beef Wellington should be covering the show in Philadelphia at Boot & Saddle on 9/23/15 so make sure that you find him and say hello. Or punch him right in the gut. He probably deserves it. Either way, go check out The Mynabirds live.
For now, grab yourself some whiskey and see hows it unfolds when I try to work my way through a conversation with someone much cooler than me.
Bake: I wanted to ask. I’ve listened to the first two albums (What We Lose in the Fire We Gain in the Flood, Generals) and obviously I like them. I think most people who know you are big fans of first two albums. But I know from the first album to Generals there seemed to be a significant change in musical styles, at least in my opinion. Where does Lovers Know fit in with the previous 2 albums?
Laura: I think it’s funny. I’ve always been inspired by artists who are willing to change everything from album to album. People like David Bowie or PJ Harvey. PJ Harvey even talks about changing her voice from album to album…so I think I have a really diverse love of music in general. I love a lot of different styles, a lot different eras. But to me even from What We Lose in the Fire to Generals is huge, a pretty drastic stylistic change.
So with this new record to come from Generals it was pretty much like protest songs, riot girl rock, into the world of ’80s synth-pop, 90s shoegaze, and even 90s R&B, it doesn’t seem that crazy to me just because I love ALL of that music. But I think what I was feeling to make this record, I kind of went through a really dark depression and felt pretty lost.
Which was a big change from Generals in which I felt very sure. You know it was all about feeling self assured and empowered. And I kind of felt pretty lost, honestly, while I creating this record so to me it’s, you know, obviously I wasn’t going to express myself with the same sounds as I did with Generals.
Bake: Right
Laura: And it’s funny because I kind of went through this phase where I was driving a lot. Sorry this is kind of a long intro but I promise I’m getting to it.
Bake: Haha it’s okay
Laura: You know I ended up driving across the country twice with my dog. Feeling I already felt lost but I wanted to get more lost. And I was kind of going back to a lot of the music that inspired me right when I got my driver’s license. And I was thinking back on the tapes that I had in my car, you know, when I first drove. It was like: Best of New Order, My Bloody Valentine.
Bake: Yeah
Laura: Yeah, you know, stuff like that. Does that make sense? Sorry.
Bake: It does make sense and I’m glad because I was going to ask later on.
And I always hate asking something like this but I recently just went to the Rock and Roll HOF for the first time and there are all these sections about which artists influenced who. So I’ve been really pushing the influences thing.
So I was going to ask you but I feel like every question is like: “Who are your influences?” and people because they’re put on the spot, just make up some sort of influence or make up the most obscure act that anyone has every heard of. So I was going to ask but I didn’t even need to. Thankfully you volunteered some of the stuff that’s been inspiring your sound without me having to go there.
Laura: Yeah well I ended up making a playlist for the this record because I was working with a new producer. Richard Swift, produced the first 2 records, and with this record I worked with Bradley Hanan Carter. And you know, his was a very … I’m the sort of person that when I’m trying to describe music I describe it in probably the weirdest sort of ways. I talk in color a lot. Or like texture.
Bake: Okay.
Laura: Yeah I want this record to feel more like purple water colors, you know? Haha. And there are like people who are like “I have no clue what that means. I mean, do you want me to figure that out in terms of music?” So I made a playlist that eventually ended up on Spotify right now. I adjusted it to public. And it’s the songs that I put together for him to know what influences I was drawing from. And it’s got everybody, it’s so good, Leonard Cohen is on there. Who, if I feel like I had to make a playlist for every record he would end up on there. You know?
Bake: Yeah.
Laura: But there’s people like Portishead, PM Dawn, and Blondie, and you know, Kate Bush. It kind of goes all over the place. I think that’s the easiest way for me to try to describe my influences. I won’t go on a huge … I don’t know how old you are but there was an era of radio mix tapes where there wasn’t Spotify, there weren’t even CDs for Christ sakes. It was just listening to the top 40 trying to record your favorite songs onto a tape. I love that whole era.
Bake: I do remember that. And I think I wrote something about this before about trying to record off the radio (with cassette tapes) and being so angry when the DJ would come in early before the song ended…
Laura: Right!
Bake: You finally lined it up, you’ve got that song, you’re going to have that recording and then you know he starts talking, now its ruined! Now I’m going to wait , hope that I can catch it the next time. Try to rewind the tape and get it all straight and record it next time.
Laura: Yeah I know. And it was really amazing because you would just sit and wait. Whatever your favorite song was, you’d have the radio on in the background for hours. Just waiting, and oh what’s next? The new jam from Tony Toni Tone, you know? You’re like yes, okay great, and you’re listening to all these artists you probably would never listen to otherwise, do you know what I mean? You’re trying to get to your favorite song.
So anyway, yeah. I have a really fond memory for that. Kind of the way for that brief moment where people heard music and tried to save it forever, you know?
Bake: Right
Laura: As opposed to now, no one gives a shit. You can get whatever you want, whenever you want it, especially over the internet.
Bake: People look at me like I’m crazy when I still carry around an iPod. “What? You don’t stream everything from your phone?”
Laura: Yeah! I’ve had some similar interesting conversations where a lot of people say the same thing and they say they have these iPods that they haven’t updated, and I think mine was last updated in 2008 or 2009? And I don’t want to touch it. It’s like this weird time capsule. It’s kind of fun, it’s like whoa, that’s like a portrait of my life at that time. So I think that’s interesting. Do you update yours regularly?
Bake: Haha yeah I do. I’m just, I’m at the point where I have the biggest iPod that they made for storage space. So I’ll keep adding and adding and eventually I’m going to run out but at that point there probably won’t be any device out there like that where people are owning music and keeping hard copies anywhere.
Laura: Right, yeah.
Bake: But for now I’m still just, every time something new comes out I’m just adding to it so whenever I’m in the car or where ever I have it with me.
Laura: Well, I envy you.
Bake: Haha alright, well I wanted to ask you, why Lovers Know? Why the title?
Laura: Well, the last record was so much about feeling empowered and self-assured, feeling you know, up against all the powers that be, but you still individually have this immense power and there’s a responsibility that comes with that and a real freedom that comes with that. Knowing you can truly make a difference in the world. And that was just the feeling I had when I wrote Generals and toured 2012. In 2013, I went on the road with The Postal Service, so I was just riding this high, you know? And even with this band that was basically doing a victory lap for this side project that turned into this really popular thing, so that’s probably one of the most fun things I’ve ever done. Internally, there was no stress about it, it was just a fun thing that they got to do and I got to be a part of.
So when I came home from that tour I kind of said “Dude, what am I going to do next?” And the relationship that I was in, which was the longest relationship that I had ever been in, started falling apart, and it was really confusing to me. It was like the rug was pulled out from underneath me. I just didn’t know what was happening or who I was, I was so unsure of everything. So I just got in my car and started driving, started writing, and thinking. I got to the point where I really fell in love with this title, Lovers Know, because the truth of the matter is that with Generals it was all about knowing, but what Lovers Know is about not knowing anything. And that is what I think is just about the crux of the whole record. And the crux of a life well lived and well loved. Which is we don’t know anything, but we try our best. Sometimes we’ve got it, and sometimes we don’t but god dammit we keep trying! Haha.
Bake: Haha
Laura: So I imagine all the people that I had talked with traveling around the world, not only did I get to trek across the US but I got to go to South Africa before I ended up in LA to write this record, but the more people I talked to about their experiences about heartbreak, it’s like this secret language that we all share. We all know what it’s like to struggle, to love and have lost, to feel defeated in love. Even though it falls apart a lot, you keep going because you have hope that it will at some point work out. So it (Lovers Know) is sort of a nod to that. That secret feeling that afflicts us all.
Bake: Awesome. You mentioned The Postal Service tour. I wanted to ask you. I was supposed to go to the show in Boston and I didn’t, so I actually watched the whole concert on Youtube like 12 times.
Laura: Haha
Bake: How did you get involved with the Give Up Reunion tour? I mean you said it was a great time, but how did that even come about?
Laura: I met Jenny Lewis through Saddle Creek basically years ago. Maybe it was 2007, 2008? We hit it off pretty famously right away. She’s such an amazing…such an incredibly talented artist. And she’s one of the most down to earth, good hearted people I’ve ever met on top of that. So I ended up hanging out with her more when I went on tour with Bright Eyes. I also met Ben (Gibbard) on that tour. Bright Eyes did a couple dates with Death Cab for Cutie. So yeah, randomly I just got an email from Ben, in the fall of 2012 and he said “Hey, I’ve got a top secret project I’ve got to talk to you about. Do you want to join an imaginary band?” So I wrote back immediately and I was like “Yes!” I had no idea what he was talking about.
Bake & Laura in unison: But if Ben asks you to join an imaginary band…
Laura: You just say yes! Haha. So we ended up talking and he asked if I wanted to do it and I said “Hell yeah” and he said “Okay, well, yeah I think we should do it”. And I think Conor (Oberst) had very graciously put in a word for me. It was funny because it was one of the hardest secrets I had to keep, because I knew months and months before the rest of the world that the Postal Service was going to do this reunion tour. And furthermore that I got to be a part of this was so exciting and all.
So that’s pretty much how it went down. So I flew out to LA. I remember the first time we got together we rehearsed in Jenny’s living room and how going through the songs I had a little toy keyboard that I was playing my keyboard lines on and I was so nervous, but it was so fun.
Bake: So I’m glad to hear that Ben and Jenny are actually good people in real life.
Laura: They are. And Jimmy Tamborello is one of the funniest people you will ever meet in your life. He’s hilarious. He’s so quiet but if it lets up he just says something and you’ll die. Haha, but yeah they’re all…I feel really lucky that I’ve had a chance to work with such incredible people so far in my life.
Bake: As you noted, you’ve been on Saddle Creek, you’ve tour with Bright Eyes before, so…the truth about Conor… if I met him in person, as just an average person, would I be able to have a conversation with him or would I just not be able to connect with this guy at all?
Laura: Oh he’s again one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. It’s so funny, the persona that people have that he’s this brooding, emo, self-obsessed artist?
Bake: Haha yeah. I mean, I get there’s the public persona and there’s the truth. But since I’m getting the inside information from you I had to ask.
Laura: Yeah, I know, but he’s one of the most generous people. Being on tour, he always was checking in on people, always encouraging people, telling them they’re doing a great job. It’s funny, I think the rest of the world, probably assumes he sits at the back of the bus and cries his eyes out to poetry the whole time, but it was more like dance parties and non stop laughing for the most part.
Bake: Haha nice. Alright, well I only have one more question for you. What we usually do at Empty Bottle Evenings is when we do album reviews, we recommend a drink to go with that album. Sort of like a wine & cheese pairing?
So I’ll throw it out to you, for Lovers Know, what drink recommendation would you have for listening to that album?
Laura: Well, I’m always going to recommend whiskey. I’m a whiskey lover. But I normally would say like an Old Fashioned because that’s probably my favorite drink. But it doesn’t really fit this record. Maybe something a little more bubbly?
So maybe we’ll just go rye whiskey, ginger beer, and it has to have something else in it? Dammit, I don’t even know. This is supposed to be easy, right?
Bake: Haha, no. You can go wherever you want with this question. You could even leave it at that: Rye whiskey, ginger beer, and dealer’s choice.
Laura: Yeah exactly, that sounds good.
Bake: Alright.
Laura: It’s so funny because that’s my favorite drink, but if I were to describe the record it would have something weird like purple soda in it. Haha, and I don’t even know why, I guess I’m just going back to describing..
Bake: The colors?
Laura: Haha exactly, the colors of the record. And nobody wants to drink grape soda, that shit is terrible.
Bake: Grape soda and whiskey is not a mix I’ve tried, but maybe…
Laura: Haha no, let’s not do that. It’s like basically what everybody drank when they where sixteen and starting to drink things like Mike’s Strawberry Ale or something terrible like that. So we’ll go with rye whiskey, ginger beer, and dealer’s choice.
Bake: Alright, that works.
Bake
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[…] Laura Burhenn, former touring member of the postal service and a great talent. We had the pleasure of speaking to a few weeks back and she’s pretty rad. Ms. Burhenn is currently on tour in support of her latest release […]