Interview: Luna Shadows

An element of this interview includes subject matter of a sensitive nature, mentioning miscarriage, that some may find upsetting.

It’s funny what connects people. In this case the Pacific Ocean physically linked Los Angeles and Auckland. But also, introverted feelings, Alanis Morissette anecdotes and similar memories of learning Suzuki violin [a method taught by listening, not reading music].  So maybe in another life I could have been a world-class musician, songwriter, and producer and performer living in LA. But instead, it’s a grey winter’s day in Auckland. And Luna Shadows is smiling in on Zoom from an immaculate, sun-drenched room in the City of Angels.

“It may be cliché, but my earliest musical memories would be like Ariel, The Little Mermaid - I mean, that's the first time that I remember thinking I'd like to sing.” So says Luna Shadows when asked to think back. But it wasn’t just Disney that was catching her attention growing up in NYC.

“Neither of my parents are musicians, but they they've always loved music. So I grew up in a household where there was music playing all the time. Another early memory would be Alanis Morrisette. I feel like my parents were prohibiting me from listening to it because I was very, very young at the time and there were some suggestive lyrics. I remember locking myself in my room, sitting there with the radio just waiting for ‘You Oughta Know’ to come on – which of course they now think this is hilarious!”

Luna has a solid background in classical music, but remarks that she started musical training quite late – around 8 or 9 years old. It was her first piano teacher who made an indelible mark. Her name was Margie, and like the very best teachers, inspired a young girl to the career she now owns.

“This is an amazing story. Margie had a miscarriage. And she came into my lesson and it was really heavy. I didn't really understand at the time what that meant. But, she explained it to me in terms that a child could process and told me that she wrote a song about it. It was an instrumental piece, and she performed it for me in our lesson.”

“I remember it being really beautiful and had a sad quality to it. She said to me, ‘You know, whatever you're feeling, you can create something and make a song.’ Right after that I went away and I wrote my first piano piece. I was about 8. So, I have to attribute my first idea of songwriting to my first music teacher, Margie.”

After continuing her musical journey by taking Suzuki violin lessons, at 12 years old Luna decided to take classical music seriously. “It’s very, very late to be starting that journey – I would find that out quickly,” she says. “I spent a couple of years practising every day for 4 to 8 hours,” before starting to attend LaGuardia Performing Arts High School in New York City as a vocal major.

“My parents were shocked when I got in because I was so shy. I had never sung in front of people, so my parents said, “You sing? That's crazy! We had no idea.”

“I was jumping around between all these different things, trying to find my place. I was studying opera in three languages – French, Italian, and German. I'm a terrible opera singer, but I enjoyed it. We also did jazz and I was playing the guitar. So, by the time I was 16 or 17 it was all kind of coming together.”

“I think the discipline I got from the few years of intensely studying classical music carries over, and helps you break things down in everyday life and problem solve. It’s helped me a lot with my own project – be more hands on and take on all these different roles.”

When asked if that discipline also applies to her songwriting and creative process, Luna reflects, “there was a period where I was like, ‘Oh, I'll just write when I'm inspired.’ But I could also go practise piano for five hours, so there was a wiring that wasn't quite there yet.”

“Then, at a certain point I though this is not going to work. I need to actually show up, so I became a much more disciplined songwriter. I definitely show up and I stick to it now. That said, my personal style is do the best I can, and if a song is not working, I move on to the next one. I don’t sit there and labour over stuff unless I love it.”

“On ‘bathwater’, the actual songwriting, the lyrics, almost all of them were done within two or three hours. Certain ones lingered, and I had to fill in a couple blanks, but for the most part they came out pretty quickly.”

While the album is mostly Luna, she had help from long-term (and long-distance in these pandemic induced recording sessions) collaborator Brad Hale. She says, “He plays guitar on some of the record, and I play all the rest.” Her old bandmate Thom Powers (Luna used to play synth in The Naked & Famous) also helped with guitar tones. “He’s played guitar for me in the past, but not this time. It's me, all me,” Luna laughs.

When I ask Luna if “a guitar record” is easier to make in the current environment that includes the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, or The Beths in NZ, she replies, “Yeah,” then stops before continuing.

“It's really funny because of my origin story. When I first started writing songs, it was me and the guitar. I did that for many years and then I felt kind of bullied out of it. But I love all different kinds of music. I love pop and rock, so it wasn't hard for me to shapeshift.”

“My first record was more electronic pop. There was some guitar, but it was more synthy. So when it came time to create this record, I felt like I was just returning to form and going back to my roots. I can see how the world has definitely become more receptive to the singer-songwriter again in the past five or six years, and I'm happy about it.”

The thing with singer-songwriters is it tends to be a more solitary musical existence than a group or band. It’s all you – including your deepest feelings and desires which is what tends to make for a good song. How does that fit with the formerly shy girl who wouldn’t even sing in front of her parents?

“I think I'm still really shy, but I'm also practised at being extroverted. My natural state is really introverted so it's intimidating to be putting ‘your journal’ out there. It's not how I operate in everyday life.”

“For me, even something like going on stage is a huge challenge. I have stage fright so it'll take me at least like three shows to feel to start to just feel like I can do it. But, at the same time, to circle back to what we were saying earlier about my classical training, I think that the more you do it and the more you show up, it becomes a practise and a discipline, almost like a sport.”

“Like, I try to view songwriting as a sport rather than this deeply personal and embarrassing thing. I mean, I think it should feel a little embarrassing for it to be good. But not all art needs to be like that.”

We wrap it talking about what’s next. The next Luna Shadows album is more than a thought, and the planning has started for live shows. And what about the other thing that’s been hiding in plain sight? That’s right, Luna is now a Kiwi.

“We say bi-coastal here in the United States for when you’re from New York to LA. But I recently became a New Zealand resident, so I guess I’m tri-coastal if I'm adding New Zealand into the mix. I'll be back again later this year and I'm totally hoping that I get to do some music related. when I'm in my now third home.”