Interview: Theresa Andersson
Theresa Andersson is by no means a new artist, but she's new to me and her latest record "Hummingbird, go!" feels incredibly fresh. The Swedish expat has lived in New Orleans for quite some time, but instead of recruiting local talent to back her, she decided to make this album on her own, performing an overwhelming majority of the instruments herself and recording in her kitchen. She also brought in fellow Gotlander Tobias Fröberg as producer, giving the album an extra Swedish touch.
Theresa has been incredibly busy in recent weeks gearing up for the album's release, but I was able to pin her down for a few questions.
You seem to have no problem switching between a large number of instruments - where did it all come from? Was music prevalent in your household growing up or did your inspiration come from elsewhere?
I grew up on a farm in Sweden. My mother played piano and as kids my brother and I would take turns singing songs and quarreling. Another favorite thing to do was to dig through my parents record collection. Although small, it had some goodies in it. They kept them in a Styrofoam ice chest wrapped in red plastic. There were records by Ella Fitzgerald, Mahalia Jackson and Aretha Franklin plus other obscure Swedish folk LP's.
The switching between instruments is something very recent. I've utilized the violin to harmonize with while I'm singing for a while. I guess that's what made me think it would be possible to play several instruments at once. What really got it going was the looping. I started this a year ago when I went to tour Scandinavia for the first time. I could only afford to go solo so I went and picked up my first loop pedal. While I was writing and making the demos for "Hummingbird, go!" I picked up the instruments I thought necessary for the arrangement. Not thinking I would actually end up playing them on the recording.
What did you start to play first and at what point did you decide to start working on your own material? Did you do the teenage garageband thing at all or have you always thought of yourself as a solo artist?
I began studying the violin at school when I was 9. Studying is actually a total exaggeration as I never practiced. I was the worst student. I think if the teacher could have fired me as his pupil he would have. After playing violin for a couple of years I joined the school orchestra. I was one of two violinists sitting in front of a row of horn players. That was a blast. My left pinkie finger bled from the first practice and I realized that I loved playing with loud bands. A few years later I joined a U2 cover band. We practiced in one of the guys' basement. A humid low ceilinged room with home made 'tras-mattor' on the floors (rugs loomed with cut up strips of old clothing) The shelved walls packed with various jars of home made fruit jams. We played "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and got severe shocks from the microphones over and over. It was awesome.
So what brought you to NOLA? What did you expect to find when you got there and what actually happened?
I was barely 18 when I moved to New Orleans. It was music and love that brought me there. I had fallen in love with a musician and when he wanted to go to New Orleans I thought, why not!
All I knew about NOLA before hand was that Louis Armstrong was from there and it had some connection to Mahalia Jackson. In other words, I really had no idea. Very naïve I was. My school English was hesitant and I couldn't keep up with the local way of speaking. I would start exploring in a small 'around the block' radius and keep expanding and expanding. I started sitting in with bands around the city and ended up with a Tuesday night gig playing for tips at a Laundromat.
Every month it came down to counting pennies just to make rent, a very romantic existence.
Tell me how you first came in contact with Tobias Fröberg. Was he receptive from the get-go, or did he take some time to warm up to you? How did the idea of working on the album together come about?
I saw Tobias' name in the listings for a cool local club right around March 2007. It looked Swedish to me and so I went to check it out. As sometimes happens when us Gotlanders find each other in the world, we become instant friends. Tobias was such a happening. It was like finding a long lost brother. We stayed in touch and when I went to tour Scandinavia that summer he came to see me play.
After hearing me, Tobias asked me to be a guest on his new record "Turn heads". (I sang a duet with him and also played violin on a song.) I thought it was great to work with him. After I made it back home to New Orleans, I called him up to ask him if he would produce my next record.
So did Tobias fly out then to come record with you in your kitchen? Was there ever a question of whether or not you'd record in a "real" studio or was that your plan from the start? Get any interesting responses from the neighbors? How do you think it worked out in comparison to what you've done before?
Well, I made my demos in the kitchen, thinking that we would re-record everything in a real studio, replacing my demo drums and my make shift instruments etc with other musicians and real instruments. I sent Tobias these demos and he flipped over the kitchen sound. He insisted that I would play all the instruments just like the demo version (but better). A couple of times I had useless wrestlings trying to convince him to play guitar instead of me (he's an awesome guitar player) but to no avail.
Tobias flew to New Orleans on January 5th and we started recording the very next day. The set up was crazy. My kitchen is not that big and we had cabling running everywhere. My poor old dog had to navigate through all that every time she needed a drink of water... Interestingly we had all kinds of sounds bleed through the walls. My in-house neighbor backed up his chair and the scraping resonated through the floors and into the microphones. It sounded like a whale singing. The other neighbor got his Mardi Gras Indian tribe together for a pow-wow in his back yard, but nobody complained. I've got good neighbors.
As far as working out of my house, I loved it! It was way less stress without the pressure of the ticking of the studio money clock.
Am I to understand correctly that Tobias is responsible for putting you in touch with Ane Brun and Linus Larsson then? Were you familiar with either of them beforehand? Have you heard any of Linus' solo material? (if not, you should- he's like Gotland's secret Eno)
You're correct. Tobias made the introductions and now we're all friends. I was already a fan of Ane's and I remember Linus from Gotland days. His band Monostar ended up in my backpack as I left Sweden for America. I agree about the secret Eno quote. I was really hoping to have the time to go loop tastic with Linus during my recent Gotland visit, but the tour was too busy.
There seems to be a pretty long buildup for album's release - what's your sense of the response so far? Do you think that people get what you're doing? Any luck breaking through with new audiences?
Ha-ha... yes it seems that way. For once I actually have the record done in a timely manner so that the publicist can effectively do their job. The feedback I am getting is really positive. It appears my quirky kitchen recording and live show approach is connecting with a new audience. The nature of the live show has brought me into different territories and new venues that I think suit me very well.
The album comes out next month then what? Are you bringing a backing band on tour or are you going out on your own?
The album comes out September 2nd. I have a release party in New Orleans (if we don't get chased out by hurricane Gustav that is.) Then I hit the road with my one woman show. (Traveling with me will be my gypsy caravan of husband and dog.)
Oops running out of battery...
Hope that covers it!
Indeed it does... see the link below for dates.