"It is not the excitement of coming upon the totally unfamiliar, but rather the excitement of finding the familiar becoming transformed in its meaning... to see in a new light the very world in which we have lived all our lives." -Peter L. Berger

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Interview with Singer/Songwriter Ellie Lawson

Partial transcript of an interview with British singer/ songwriter Ellie Lawson, about four years ago just after "The Philosophy Tree" dropped. She has a great "Alanis Morisette" meets folk music meets hip-hop vibe. She released her sophomore album, "Lost Songs," just a few days ago. I hope to have something on the new record posted shortly (looks like I'm going to be talking to her about it!) - for now, here's a teaser.

Rose: What words would you use to describe your music?

Ellie Lawson: I call it Urban/folk/pop but it could be called singer/songwriter with a pop production. I would describe it as uplifting, eclectic, sincere and thoughtful.

R: Your music has a very unique sound, what elements and experiences in your life were important to the development of that sound?

E: I started out writing poetry (with real life themes) at school and then I discovered hip hop on my boyfriends tapes which I borrowed. I then found radio stations that played hip hop in the UK. I would buy records every 3 weeks and on the back of the records I found instrumentals, which I would write to. I started out writing pages and pages of rhymes exploring internal rhymes and I started painting abstract pictures which used to surprised me as I would be rhyming words for the sake of rhymes but I found that what I was writing was actually making sense and I would hit on revelations that made me feel that I could discover the secrets to the universe or something. This started off my intense passion for writing songs and I also began to explore my childhood experiences and feelings about situations which I couldn't express in normal life.

After a while I began writing songs with choruses and bridges and decided that I wanted to write the music as well as the lyrics and melody so I bought myself a guitar and an 8 track and created a demo tape which I sent to various people I found in my local paper. I then hooked up with some producers and I was always seeking that hip hop/ folk sound where you had a tough beat with beautiful acoustic guitars and storytelling. A friend hooked me up with a lawyer who played my tape for DJ Lethal (who is all about the beats) and we recorded some new demos with him. I already had some tracks I did with a couple of other producers and the tracks I wrote to the William Orbit tracks and so within 6 months this had became my album. In totality, it is more commercial and less hip hop/ folk than I had envisaged but I am proud that it is so sonically strong and well produced, even though that wasn't an initial goal of mine. I think telling a story and expressing individuality is important as well as putting out uplifting but real lyrics as I think it does effect people on a sub conscious level.

R: What musicians have been major influence and role models for you?

E: Hip hop wise, KRS One has been my all time favorite MC as he was there from the beginning and he seems to be one of a select few rappers that really articulates rap on a spiritual level, i.e. the power of words and the connection that rhyming has with your soul. He is the most believable rapper and he is very uplifting and personally makes me feel that I can achieve more than the 'system' will ever have me believe. Guru, The Roots and Lauren hill and the Fugees effected me too and [their] sound was a revelation to me.

When I started playing the guitar I started to listen to Tracy Chapman whose first album is way ahead than most albums in terms of heart felt social commentary. It was so inspiring to hear a woman play and sing and even though I remembered her from when I was young (when she was in the charts) Learning the guitar made it all new to me. I re-discovered Kate Bush, who my mum used to listen to all the time when I was a kid. Her first album 'The Kick Inside' inspired me in the way she told stories and emoted them. Once I learned the guitar and started producing I pretty much listened to everything and anything as it is all inspirational when it helps you see things in a different way.

♥ ♥

adventureland is "supergood"

>> With the temptation of summer still just out of reach, it seems almost masochistic to see films that, like Greg Mottala’s Adventureland, illustrate the warmest season in all of its young-love-filled, illegal-substance-consuming and staying-out-until-dawn glory.

Based on a miserable summer job Mottola had a crumbling amusement park in 1987, Adventureland is a tale about the love and friendships that develop among a crew of young misfits. Movies about summer romance are a thouroughly abused film concept, but Adventureland is just kitschy and honest enough to make the genre seem fresh.

At the outset, Adventureland looks like it could be the college version of Superbad, sending sweetly awkward, “Michael Cera-esque” James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) on a single-minded quest to lose his virginity. But Mottola chooses to take Eisenberg’s character, and the entire film, in a different direction, instead exploring what it meant to come off age in the late 1980’s.

Mottola fans looking for a follow up to the outrageous Superbad will be disappointed in the subtler Adventureland. But the quirky, nostalgic Adventureland is a charming, young-adult story in its own right.

With nothing but SAT scores on his resume to recommend him, James finds himself working a game booth at the local amusement park to pay his way through the Columbia School of Journalism. But the run down amusement park, with its seedy clientele, crooked games and neon lights, turns out to be the perfect setting for the naïve college grad to try to become worldly enough to win the girl of his dreams.

Adventureland is more sincere than its laugh-fest predecessor, avoiding overexposed teen comedy crude humor in favor of an off-beat sensibility that is both unexpected and satisfying.

Eisenberg slips neatly into James’s awkward, hyper articulate shoes, delivering his dialogue with impeccable comedic timing and the genuine nonchalance of a confused college student. Though he's a little too charming and adorable to make a believable reluctant, post-college virgin, the film does its best to explain this away giving James impossibly high standards for love ("I'm a romantic. Sometimes I even read poetry for fun, you know!")

Kirsten Stewart, who was quietly good as Bella in Twilight, though underrated in wake of the heartthrob mania surrounding co-star Robert Pattinson, offers an honest, heartbreaking portrayal of the tart-tongued, self-loathing Em who is in way over her head in an adult world she is still struggling to understand.

Unfortunately, Mottola is frequently distracted from the film’s main story and the film’s principle flaw comes from his inability to tie up the many dangling ends satisfactorily. The viewer is left wondering about the outcome to many introduced sub conflicts, including James’s father’s apparent drinking problem and handyman Connell’s (Ryan Reynolds) mysterious, unwanted marriage.

The slight story never delves as deeply as it might into the minds of its characters, but the tender story of Jame and Em’s struggle with tricky adult emotions, set against the childish backdrop of the carnival, is compelling nonetheless.

With the help of a classic 1980’s soundtrack, Mottola succeeds in crafting a believable atmosphere and community for a group of college kids at crossroads. Suddenly, the worst summer job ever never looked so good.

Adapted from my review in the Sonoma State Star.