Old Holga photograph of ours of the coast just south of San Francisco.

One last reminder that Katie + I will be repping MooShoes LA tomorrow for what’ll be the store’s first public event at PETA’s Vegan Fashion Pop-Up. We’ll have new products on hand and available for sale, including these awesome new kicks from Le Bunny Bleu. Stop by and see us.

The event takes place on the rooftop deck at PETA’s Bob Barker Building—2154 Sunset, just across from Mohawk Bend. Get a full, up-to-date listing of the vendors + RSVP on the event’s Facebook page. And hope to see you there!

Like much of the world right now, we are obsessed with british artist FKA Twigs.

She just played the El Ray last week, but will return this fall to play the Regent. Her just-released debut full-length, LP1, features the excellent track below, “Two Weeks”.

I’d warn you about racy lyrics, but we’re all adults here, right?

We’ve been friends with both Anne Cunningham + Dave Lerner, who comprise the band Trummors, for what feels like ages. We wrote up their song “Over and Around the Clove”, from the album of the same name back in 2012 and actually helped out with a little bit of the album art for that first record.

Now the duo’s released a truly exciting follow-up—Moorish Highway—that I honestly have trouble describing without sounding like I’m selling stock options in the band. We took some time to catch up with Anne + Dave mid-way across the country as they picked up and moved from upstate New York to Taos, New Mexico. Give one of our favorite tracks from the new album—”Bogus Bruce”—a listen and read on to learn more about the awesome music these two awesome people are making together. LA—you can catch Trummors at the Bootleg Hifi October 7 with the also excellent Bishop Allen.

raven + crow studio: So, first off, awesome to talk with you guys. We really, really, really love the new album. It’s so exciting when your friends are part of something genuinely good like this. Don’t get me wrong—Over And Around The Clove was really superb too, but this new LP just seems to be exploring so much new territory for you all. Did you all go into the writing process for this with a drastically different approach or is this just a product of natural evolution for the band’s sound?

Anne Cunningham: It was a natural evolution. We’d been playing the sparser songs like “Autumn Gold” and our cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s “Early Morning Rain” live for a long time before we started thinking about recording a second record, so those songs were our starting point. In the past, we only had pedal steel or dobro for additional accompaniment, but this time around many of the songs called for a full band arrangement—neither one of us wanted to do countless overdubs to mimic the effect of a live band, so we called in some of our favorite musicians and friends: Kevin Barker, Otto Hauser, Marc Orleans, and James Preston for a full day of live tracking—we ended up getting songs down for half the record that day.<

Man, that’s awesome. I especially love the second + third tracks on the new album, “Bogus Bruce” + “Strangers From Now On”, the latter of which, I think, is one of the biggest departures for you all sonically. How much of that change in sound would you say is inherent or deliberate in the song itself and how much is more about production?

Anne: Thanks dude! Well, the answer is connected to your previous question—those songs you mentioned were written by us in solitude during a long Woodstock winter. As much as we love minimalism, we wanted a full band arrangement since it soon became apparent the songs called for that.  So yeah, it was deliberate in that we wanted to expand our sound with this record, but also inherent because many of the songs just turned out needing that.

Dave Lerner: We meant “Bogus Bruce” to be something of a departure from its inception. Unlike any other song we’ve done, it’s based on a repetitive groove. But I think “Strangers From Now On” could have worked any number of ways, and we’ll probably play it live as a duo. By our standards, that song’s production is quite “kitchen sink”, with the glockenspiel, organ and electric 12-string guitar. It was fun to layer those different instruments in the studio, but I don’t think it was obvious or inherent to go in that direction given the song’s qualities. It was just a decision we made that felt right. 

Right, you all have been up in the Saugerties/Woodstock area for…how many years now?

Dave: We moved to West Saugerties or, as some people call it North Woodstock, in May of 2010, so it’s been a little over four years. Technically our house is in West Saugerties, but we’re equidistant to the village of Woodstock. It kind of blends together out in the woods where we are, but the towns have very different personalities, for sure.

And you feel like that seclusion, relative to living in Brooklyn, affected how you all write + play music?

Anne: Yeah, the seclusion caused us to spend more concentrated time writing, and also led us to many a night spent by the wood stove or piano, with drink in hand, playing songs just to entertain one another. it was also cool to get to know so many musicians and play venues specific to the Hudson Valley & the Catskills. Our last show before temporarily leaving Woodstock was at the Levon Helm Barn and Studio, and that was a really memorable experience and an honor to get to do.

What do you like about upstate New York?

Anne: We love (and miss!) the Hudson Valley + Catskills—our place was within walking distance to great swimming holes, mountains, and forest critters abound. We also like the low population density. it’s a beautiful area. There’s a fair amount of like minded musicians around, so it was a productive & creative time for us to be there—everyone we know who is there feels a connection to the place and their friends, so we all have an investment in doing our best to add to the area while preserving what’s long since been great about it.

I feel like so many of our friends from NYC are part of this seemingly sudden mass exodus. Do you have any thoughts on how New York and, more specifically, Brooklyn has changed in recent time?

Anne: Yes! This Mr. Show clip sums it up. 

Dave: I grew up in suburban New Jersey, and moved to Williamsburg in 1998, so yes, I have seen a fair amount of change in New York City, particularly North Brooklyn over the past decade and a half. New York City has always been in constant flux, that’s part of its draw. I can’t speak for everyone our age, but during our last few years in Greenpoint it felt like a lot of the change that was happening was alienating, and we didn’t dig it. We were lucky to not be tied to jobs, rent controlled apartments, or a Woody Allen-esque attitude that New York City is the center of the civilized universe, so we naturally started wondering if our qualify of life might improve if we tried something different, so we moved, and it did! 

Here here! And now you + Anne have left New York State for Toas—are you planning on making your move westward permanent or do you see yourself heading back east soon?

Dave: There’s a chance we’ll stay out west sure, but we’re thinking we’ll spend about a year where we are now in New Mexico and then head back east. Of course, our location also depends on Anne’s academic work, which could theoretically take us anywhere. It’d be nice to get out of America for a while. We really liked Brighton, UK…

Are you all planning any shows in the west to support the new album? I feel like you guys would a perfect fucking match for Pappy + Harriet’s and we’d obviously love to see you in LA.

Anne: Yes! We are touring the west coast with our good friends Bishop Allen in early October. Excited to see our LA friends there! We’re playing 10/7 at Bootleg Hifi. No Pappy + Harriet’s this time around, but we love that place and would be psyched to play there.

Aw, right—we saw you guys in that new Bishop Allen video. Totally loved that. I don’t know if I’ve ever asked this, but where does the band name come from? Is that a real word, ‘trummors’?

Dave: It is indeed a real word. it means “drummers” in Swedish. I went through a brief phase of being enamored with 60s Swedish bands like Blond and The Tages. I saw the word in their album credits, and it seemed a fitting name for our band. It confuses most people. My dad thought it was an invented word meaning “true rumors.” 

Oh, man. You’re dad’s so dead-on. He should write for GIRLS. Another question I’ve been meaning to ask—where did you all get that old squeezebox/accordion that Anne plays? That thing is super-cool.

Dave: It’s a travel harmonium—Anne got it at a shop called Keshav in the East Village that specializes in Indian instruments. Pro-tip for the harmonium-seeking reader: If you go in there, don’t wear any perfume or cologne because the guy who runs the place is extremely sensitive to smells and will kick you out immediately— a drag if you want to sample the indian electronic instruments there, such as the tanpura raagini.

Hah. Nice segue to our next question—we really like the album art for Moorish Highway—what’s the origin of that? And what’s the story behind that title track in terms of meaning?

Anne: Our good friend Ryan Trammel came up with cover art and layout—he painted it using Guache. We were going for a clean, iconic design that didn’t reference a specific past decade, or have obvious signifiers as to what we sound like. He did an amazing job achieving that. 

Dave: The title “Moorish Highway” is a nod to writer Peter Lamborn Wilson, who I got to know through working on his archive, that was my job during the past two years in Woodstock. In the late 1980s he did a radio show called “Moorish Orthodox Radio Crusade”, which were fascinating ramblings on comparative religion, chaos theory, book and theater reviews, and the zine culture of the day, among other subjects. The title is a reference to that, but the song is not directly about him or his work.  Without commenting too directly on the lyrics, the chorus “Just beholden to the beauty of the eye / Serving none between the ground and open sky” was meant to be an Emersonian kind of appeal to freedom and positive human development through aesthetics, and while that’s an idea that can be dismissed as rehashed romanticism, it’s also sincere.

Are there any new bands out there that you + Anne are liking lately?

Dave: Sure, there are a few contemporary bands—not exactly “new”—that come to mind off the top of our heads…we’re both big fans of Cass McCombs‘ songwriting and musical approach, and I really enjoyed his former collaborator Chris Cohen’s LP from 2012 called “Overgrown Path.” Woods are great, both live and on record. William Tyler is a favorite musician our ours. Doug Paisley is a wonderful songwriter & guitar player. He’s an underrated dude in the US, maybe cause he’s from Canada? Our friend Steve Gunn is phenomenal—we are totally excited about his forthcoming record.

Nice. Yeah, Woods’ label just did what looked like a great lineup out in Pioneertown. How about older bands from back in the day? I feel like you two are a wealth of knowledge in terms of lesser know country + folk acts from the 50s, 60s, and 70s.

Anne: Yes, the majority of what we listen to cuts off around 1979. We could give an exhaustive list, but we’ll keep it brief. Come over and listen to some records with us! As far as lesser known country, we LOVE Johnny Darrell’s records, especially California Stop-Over.

Fitting.

Anne: Then we’ve been digging this private press record by an obscure Colorado songwriter named Kenny Knight, but we don’t have a copy of it since there are only like 2 in existence—we hope it gets a proper reissue! Also into Yoko Ono’s record Feeling the Space, which will soon be reissued, we hear. Bobby Charles’ Woodstock record,  John Phillips’ The Wolfking of LA and all of Gene Clark’s solo records are mainstays. Speaking of LA records, Terry Melcher’s two records are great, and a bit unhinged. Dave lately has been way into Tony Rice—we both are really into one Michelle Phillips’ track “The Aching Kind” off her 1977 solo record, which we might soon cover.

Awesome. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us and see you out west soon!

Dave: Thanks Troy! great to talk to you, and see you out west soon for sure—you guys gotta visit us in Taos New Mexico, “the land of enchantment”

As of writing, the New York Times continues to offer a full stream of Trummors excellent new album, Moorish Hisghway, which should be up for the next week or two at least. You can download the album via iTunes and you can order the physical CD or vinyl (with download code) through the band’s label, Ernest Jenning, or through Insound. You can keep track of Trummors happenings on the band’s Facebook page and their Tumblr.

Shortly after moving to LA, I received the following text from a friend back in New York:

“A package is on your front door step. Sorry you missed the delivery person. Enjoy!!! Also, your house is VERY cute!”

I know, right? Less trusting minds might be a little freaked out at what was waiting for us back home and/or concerned our friend had turned transcontinental stalker. But, as it turned out, that package was a hand-made, crumb-top apple pie from our friend’s sister, Emily Cofrancesco, owner and baker extraordinaire at I Heart Pies, “a Los Angeles based pie company specializing in flaky, fresh, local, organic, simply out of this world delicious pies and custom desserts.”

Emily and her husband, Nick, who runs the business with her part-time, create sweet and savory pies using the freshest, highest quality ingredients possible, offering delivery for LA-area residents. Though their baked goods aren’t exclusively vegan, I Heart Pies does offer a pretty deep selection of vegan fruit pies. We liked the ones we tried so much, we wanted to find out more about the company. So we took a few minutes to talk with Emily about starting up a small business in Los Angeles,  what’s on the horizon for the company, and how Jon Hamm + a cute little bulldog totally dig her pies. Read on. Fair warning though—if you haven’t had lunch yet, you’re in for a world of hurt.

raven + crow studio: So, first off, tell us how you ended up in LA? I know you’re from…a farm in Jersey originally, right?

Emily Cofrancesco: I grew up in Allendale, NJ, located in northern New Jersey—a small suburb of NYC. I then went to Emerson College in Boston, MA. During my sophomore year, I traveled to the Netherlands for a semester abroad. It was in the Netherlands where I met Nick and we started our friendship when we returned to Boston. Both Nick and I graduated early (in 3 1/2 years), but our last semester at Emerson was located in Los Angeles for hands on experience working in Hollywood. Which is how I ended up in LA.

Ah, wow. So, do you have a background in the culinary arts or baking or has it always juts been a personal passion?

My Mom was always baking and cooking during my childhood. She would spoil me so much with different baked goods made from scratch practically every afternoon. I spent a lot of time hanging out in the kitchen with her.

I’ve actually been lucky enough to have met your mom a couple times now—she’s so nice. I could totally see her baking for you all every day. Count the rest of us jealous. How + when did I Heart Pies start then?

I decided to go back to pastry school in 2006, while working full time in the entertainment industry. I Heart Pies (IHP) started in 2007. I graduated from culinary school and was partially working in the TV industry. Nick and I thought ‘Why not sell pies for Thanksgiving to make money?’ So we did! We sold a total of 25 pies to friends, family, and coworkers, which at the time seemed like a lot!

I mean, making 25 pies certainly sounds like a lot. So was it something you’d always wanted to do then?

So, IHP was a side business at first and then it became full time. I was also making all different types of pastries. Anything people wanted, I would make it. Now we’re just focused on pies and cookies, mainly.

What is it about pies that sets them apart in your mind from other desserts? Why are pies…special to you? …if that’s not too Barbara Walters for you.

I love pies because they are so versatile. You can literally put anything in them—sweet or savory. They also were one of my favorite desserts growing up. My Mom made the best peach pie. I absolutely, hands-down, love peaches. So peach pie gets me every time.

I now realize I should have done this interview after eating, not before. Back when we lived in Brooklyn, we always joked that, after the whole cupcake trend, pies would be the next the wave to sweep over the nation. Turns out, it kinda was. Now we’re awash in a sea of bacon. Any thoughts on the whole food trend thing?

Food trends come and go. Pies will be here forever. They go back in history for thousands of years; pies have always been around.

Pie-making—the oldest profession. Onto the behind the scenes stuff—what’s it like making your life partner your business partner also? I mean, we do it, but I feel like the dynamic’s totally different based on the intricacies of the two relationships—personal + business. Is it tricky, you think?

I’m full-time at IHP, while Nick works our special events, and makes deliveries. His day job is a Production Supervisor on Family Guy. He’s worked on the Emmy nominated television show for 6 years.

Oh, wow. I know a lot of people who’d like to sit down with him and pick his brain on that show. Who did your logo‽ We totally love it!

Christopher Lee created our logo. He asked us to send him a list of emotions, characters, and words to describe our company. Our logo is his first attempt. He created Mr. Octopie and has made so many people happy and love our company. The sweetest part is he created this for our wedding gift. So much love.

We saw you provided a cherry pie for a shoot with John Hamm and a cute little bulldog. You didn’t get to attend the shoot, by chance, did you?

Our cherry pie was featured in a Vanity Fair photo shoot with Jon Hamm—he was their June cover story. I knew it was for a photo shoot, but found out that it was Jon Hamm only when they picked up the pies from our kitchen. I wish we could have been on set, but am very thankful for the handsome photo!

Handsome, indeed. Do you think you’d ever expand your vegan options? The fruit pies are AMAZING, but looking at your other sweet and savory pies, I know some of those could be done vegan with a few substitutions. Would you ever be into that? We’d TOTALLY love to help you with that if you’re open to it.

Right now we only have vegan fruit pies available on our website. We also make vegan savory pies, which you can special order, or we have them available at events. We would definitely be interested in expanding our vegan options.

Alright, well, get your suggestion box ready. Do you think you’d ever want to open up a storefront for I Heart Pies or do you prefer this model?

Having a storefront has always been in our minds. We’ve come really close to leasing, but didn’t work out in the end. It was a blessing in disguise because now we aren’t sure that is the best path for us right now. 

Well, we’ll keep an eye out. Do you have any plans for some new pies you hope to add to the rotation?

We are always thinking up new pie ideas. Right now we are working on a couple new flavors that are too top secret to mention!

Any advice to people thinking about starting their own small business?

Yes—you don’t know what you’re doing, but somehow have to figure it all out everyday. It’s a lot of work, so passion takes on a huge role. Love what you do and you will be happy.

Nice. How about favorite pie you’ve ever had that you didn’t make?

The Purple Forest pie, created by Nick! Purple Forest pie has a speculoos cookie crust, speculoos mousse on the bottom and a black currant mouse on top (brown and purple colors, creating the purple forest). He thought of the whole pie concept and made it for me to taste—it was amazing! I loved the unique flavors he combined. Nick creates a lot of pie flavors and he’s top chef in our family. His savory cooking is outstanding! Love when he cooks!

Awesome. Finally, favorite thing about LA?

There are so many things I love about LA. I’ve lived here for 11 years! The food, weather, beach, people, landscape, and diversity are really close to my heart. It’s been so fun getting to know this city and all it’s little beautiful pockets of beauty!

Well-put. Thanks for talking with us, Emily!

If you’re in the LA area, you can order I Heart Pies baked goods for delivery right to your door. Not in LA? You can also get pies + cookies shipped to you if you want to give them a try. Just be sure to note if you’d like your fruit pie to be made vegan.

Below, I Heart Pies’ excellent branding; Katie’s excited about pie note. Vanity Fair photo of Jon Hamm above by Sam Jones.

We’re still mid-stretch as we wake from the magical dream that was our weekend in Palm Springs. I’ll leave the details to the imagination, but I will tell you—this guy did not fare well.

Hope everyone had a equally great break from the workweek.

Just came across this work we did way back in 2008 and felt the need to use it to ease ourselves into the weekend.

Have a great one, all.

Back in the day, when social media was in its infancy and far less skilled at integrating itself into our online interests, under interests, I always listed, simply, “When the drums come in.”

Which sounds like a total douche bag hipster thing to say—and, probably, it is—but it was always written with the utmost sincerity.

What I’m talking about is that moment when you’re listening to a song and the drums come in unexpectedly or the melody suddenly changes pace or the music just becomes more dense and impossible to ignore and—out of nowhere—it grabs you and takes you from this tiny, quiet floor of the song and shoots you up into the height of excitement, leaving you emotionally floored and happily breathless.

I always imagined that the hey-look-how-cool-I-am social media snippet version of that was when it happened to you in life. When the reality around you suddenly shifted from the usual every day to something more momentous, something more seminal, something more…more. That was my ‘interest’—that feeling and doing everything to preserve it in my life.

But back to the literal meaning, I still to this day love it when a song does that—when it surprises me with how engaging it can suddenly become. And even well after that initial, unexpected excitement, I come to crave it in a Christmas morning kind of way on repeat listens.

So I wanted to share some of my favorite songs with those sonically endearing moments. They’re not all these massive shock-and-awe rock kicks—some of the best ones are subtly beautifully, making them all the more surprising and the more genius. So, in no particular order:

1. “When Your Mind’s Made Up” by Glen Hansard + Markéta Irglová (AKA The Swell Season)
Okay, in some particular order with this first one—we just saw Glen Hansard play the Hollywood Bowl this past weekend and it reminded me, when he played this song, that I wanted to write this article. But this is the perfect example of the drums sneaking into the song in this elegantly unexpected moment and entirely shifting that song’s trajectory. I hope I don’t come across as overly dramatic here, but, now, hundreds of listens later, that moment still gives me goosebumps every single time. I mean, even the dude who plays the jaded sound engineer in the movie this is taken from—Once—gets it. Take a look and a listen below to see what I mean. The end’s pretty awesome if you don’t remember this from the film.

2. “Stars” by Hum
Okay, this one is a massive, second-wave-emo shock-and-awe rock moment, both in that initial ‘orchestral hit’ and in the subsequent, massive kick at 1:11. I’ve written before about a moment in college when my friend Meredith, on seeing me in the university dining hall, handed me his Walkman and told me to immediately go into the corner and listen to this song. It’s some finger-point, backpack-cluthing emotive rock and, whether or not it’s formulaic today, it floored us then and I still love the song to this day.

3. “West Coast” by Coconut Records
This is another example of an early kick, and it’s one of my favorite mid-stanza drum entrances. I assume this is pretty much common knowledge at this point, but actor Jason Schwartzman is an insanely gifted musician + song-writer, first playing drums + writing for Phantom Planet (you remember them—they did the theme to the OC) before moving on to a solo career under the moniker Coconut Records. Along with “Microphone”, “West Coast” is one of Schwartzman’s finest pop gems, which now holds a special place for us official Angelenos.

4. “Trapped Under Ice-Flows” by +/-
New York’s +/- is a great, great band—from the melodic post-indie golden age sound to their intricate guitar work, they’ve always impressed me with their densely intricate yet hook-filled pop. But the inevitable take away for me after seeing a live set of theirs or listening to any of their albums has always been that Chris Deaner is one of the most talented drummers I’ve ever heard in my life. Yes, it’s about technical skill, but it’s also and maybe more importantly about the musical choices he makes in songs. This is my favorite example, “Trapped Under Ice Floes”, from 2003’s Holding Patterns EP. Yes, the intro and dropping out and returning with unpredictable yet totally rhythmic drum fills is cool, but the real moment for me comes at 3:20 when, after a guitar-filled drop in the pace of the song, Deaner pops back in with a driving snare and totally pulls the song back in for the home stretch. It’s absolutely genius. Side note: I’d somehow never actually seen the video +/- did for this track and, now that I have, realize that Katie + I are totally, inadvertently ripping the band off with a photography project we’re working on. …more on that later though.

5. “Never Meant” by American Football
Alright, to be fair, there isn’t one particular moment that ‘kicks’, per se, with this song or most mid- to late-ninties emo; it’s more that the start-stop, quiet-to-loud, half-to-double-time dramatics are the lifeblood of this kind of music. This article could be full songs very much like this from bands like Promise Ring and Braid and Christie Front Drive, but “Never Meant”, from American Football’s one and only full-length record, is one of the most delicately graceful examples of second wave emo and one of my favorite songs ever. If you don’t already own this song, I highly recommend you download it for free via Polyvinyl’s SoundCloud page. I try not to live too much in the past, but I seriously can’t wait to see these guys play their reunion shows at The Fonda this December.

6. “Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It” by Stars
Much like culling from the genre of emo, I could also go on all day citing examples of dramatic musical moments in the songs of Canadian indie pop band, Stars. They love the stuff, from 2007’s “The Night Starts Here” to their work on 2003’s excellent Heart. But this more recent track from their 2012 record, The North, is one my favorite examples. After a gentle, vocal-forward intro, it tumbles in with a falling down high bass line and crisp drum line that just gets your feet moving. Stars is due out with their eighth full-length this fall, titled No One is Lost.

7. “Love at First Sight” by Kylie Minogue
Make fun if you like, but I love this song. No tongue-in-cheek, no tragic hipster irony. It’s fucking good. And it’s got not only a great, danceable ‘boom’ moment, it’s also got a really cool, ‘MY TAPE DECK’S BREAKING’ fade-out when Kylie’s vocals come in after the first chorus.

That’s it for me. Got more? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook. In the meantime, LET’S DANCE, BITCHES!

NYC public space grassroots non-profit 596 Acres just announced their fall fundraising gala, Mapping Matters. The name of the event reflects the organizations unique approach to mapping out unused public space in New York City. 596 Acres takes data on vacant publicly owned land from various sources, sifts through it all, and then uses that data to create interactive mapping that allows the community to mobilize around a shared space to turn it over into a community garden, urban farm, local meeting space, or anything else they deem beneficial to their community.

You can see a screenshot of the organization’s mapping below, but we recommend checking it out on their site—it really is quite impressive.

We created the branding for the group’s very first fundraising event back in 2012 and, recently, 596 Acres approached us about doing so again this year. The result marries the on-the-ground imagery of fenced in vacant lots with a map of New York City, using bent fencing to form the geographic boundaries and vines to subtly denote the major thoroughfares of NYC.

You can find out more about the fall fundraiser—taking place October 2 at Galapagos in DUMBO—on the groups Web site. You can see the branding we did for the 2012 event in our studio portfolio.

I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again—we’re lucky to know so many really awesome, really talented people. The one in question today—Abby Hannan, who we met shortly after moving to New York in 2003 and have been friends with ever since.

Abby’s been involved in music in one way or another ever since we’ve known her and long before, it turns out. Though we’ve been fans of her group efforts, Abby’s solo work is where she really shines.

Written + recorded under the moniker Ruby Rae, Abby’s sound has coalesced over the years into a focused, singular vision, creating a sort of sonic character to back up the musical alter ego and presetting a curated sound that hits you like a fusion of folk, country, pop, rockabilly, and American roots music. All of that’s built around Hannan’s deft skill for writing melodic hooks and her clear, classically beautiful singing style.

On the occasion of the release of her new EP, Voodoo Queen, and record release party tonight New York’s Rockwood Music Hall, we took a few minutes to catch up with Abby to talk about her music, how she’s been so productive over the years, and how discovering she was related to an alleged Salem witch inspired the song below. Listen + read on.

raven + crow studio: First off, thanks for talking with us, Abby. Now, am I correct in remembering that you started doing your solo work while still doing the The Ex-Debutantes?

Abby Hannan: I’ve been working on solo material since about 2002. I tend to write songs in pairs, but half of them didn’t fit with the pop punk sound of The Ex-Debutantes. In 2010 I decided to devote more time to the solo work; there seemed to be something there that I couldn’t ignore any more.

Obviously the scene changes for us all as we get older, but how do you see the NYC independent music scene having changed over the past ten or so years?

The early 2000s (aughts?) in the East Village/LES were really exciting! It seemed like you could get your music out there. We’d play a show at the Luna Lounge on Ludlow and guys from Interpol would be hanging out in the bar. We shared some epic bills with up and coming bands. Since then I think the scene is more focused in Brooklyn, and it’s more collaborative, in a good way. Bands help each other out because you can’t just rely on some buzz.

That’s a really good point. I guess the Internet has created this white noise blanket of buzz that’s just harder to punch through for bands these days. How would you say your personal musical style’s changed over the years though?

Well, I started taking violin lessons when I was five—that was sort of my main musical focus through high school. I always thought I would be a session violin player on other people’s songs or in an orchestra, but then I became more interested in guitars, rockabilly, punk, and pop. I fell in love with Britpop, twee, garage rock, electro-pop, glam, alt-country. My current musical style is an evolution. I tend to listen to bands that fuse several genres together.

Yeah, it really seems like it—in a great way. Do you have any sort of musical/writing routine that you follow? Unless it’s all you do, I feel like it’s really hard to make time for music in your life as you start balancing it with whatever day job keeps the bills paid. It’s so easy just to let creative endeavors fall by the wayside, especially in town like New York.

Absolutely, it’s a struggle just to keep up the momentum. I try to play a little every day, then record demos and check-in with the band a couple nights a month. Recording is squeezed into well organized weekends and vacation days.

I’ve heard you describe Ruby Rae’s sound as ‘swamp rock’ to people before—I think that totally works, but how do you think that’s a fitting description of your music?

Around 2010 I wrote a song called “It Came From The Swamp” and it was a creative turning point for the project. Swamp pop or rock seemed to fit, but I still haven’t found the right words to describe the sound. I’ve heard people call it alt-country or rockabilly noir too. I’m open to suggestions. Any ideas?

I like swamp rock. You know, I’ve never personally been a huge fan of rockabilly or even just most blues-fuled music—I think it’s something about the prevalence of minor chord structures or something. But I like how you’ve pulled that sound into your work, which, at its roots, seems very singer/songwriter. Like, most of your songs seem like they can be presented with just you and an acoustic guitar and sound totally fleshed out. Is that how your song-writing process starts—you and a guitar?

Rockabilly is so vibrant, but remains a pretty small slice of American music. It’s not for everyone. My Dad loved that blues-y sound, so growing up it was always an influence.

In terms of writing, it’s a really nice, simple place to start. I like to write a quick and dirty chord progression on a guitar, and think about the lyrics later. If it’s good, it will stick in my head and I can gradually work it out while I do other things like wash the dishes or ride the subway. If I need help, I’ll play it on a piano, or play it in a different room to see if I can approach the song from another angle.

Only the strong songs survive! My favorite song of yours is still the acoustic version of “Cry Crocodile” you played sitting by a pool in Palm Springs. Let’s make that happen again.

YES. Everything is better poolside. Maybe we can have a tiny poolside festival. Like Coachella, but 5 bands and 50 people. The entire audience has to fit in the pool.

Like Splash House for rock. Excellent. I’m wondering though—what is it about the dark side of creole culture or voodoo or the sort of supernatural macabre that fascinates you in terms of providing fodder for writing material?

I don’t know you guys, I’ve always been into spooky stuff. I think it came from my grandmother, who was interested in all kinds of different cultures.

That’s cool, that’s cool. I’m down with some spooky source material. You’re talking to an ex-D&D-playing sci-fi fan, man. Who’d you say are some musical influences?

My first thought is always Patsy Cline meets the Mistfits. In addition to that are: The Cramps, Loretta Lynn, Townes Van Zandt, David Bowie, Cat Power, Cocteau Twins, Flat Duo Jets, The Ronettes, Darlene Love, The Black Keys, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Beach House, The Detroit Cobras, The Amazing Royal Crowns, The Raging Teens, X, T Rex, Wanda Jackson, Lucinda Williams, Jolie Holland, Betty McQuade, Susy Rose, Mazzy Star, Portishead, The Peach Kings, Widowspeak.

All excellent influences. How about the lyrics? Those are anything but about your personal life…I hope. They’re all like “I loved you but you killed me and chopped me up and took me down to the river where you fed me to the crocodiles but, hey, at least we had that last kiss, that was swell.” Where do you get your lyrical inspiration? Or…what kind of stories are you trying to tell with you music? If isn’t too pretentious a question.

No, they are not autobiographical. It’s more that there are uncomfortable situations I want to untangle. I want to tell ghost stories with my music. I want to tell complicated love stories, and express grief and joy. If there’s one person at a show who gets it, that’s cool with me.

And can you talk specifically about the song “Mary Eastey” from the new EP, Voodoo Queen? Are you really related to a witch‽

“Alleged” witch, yes. Last year while I was writing songs for the EP, I found out that I was related to Mary Eastey, who was hanged for witchcraft in 1692 in Salem. It inspired me to think about both sides of that story. She was a pious woman, and everyone in the community was surprised by the accusation. At one point they let her go, and then arrested her again. I wondered what that might have been like for her family, my family.

Man. That’s so crazy. I’m related to a buncha farmers, I think. Who did the art for the Voodoo Queen EP?

Katherine Hardy is an incredibly talented illustrator based in London. We’ve collaborated quite a bit, and—at least for me—it’s a very inspiring process. I usually give her some vague stupid direction like “I want a boat,” and send her the music, and she comes back with something that just blows me away.

We like it. I’ve also always loved the crossed knives logo too—who did that?

Allison Sall did the first EP cover and came up with the knives logo. She is brilliant!

And you’re celebrating the release of that with a show tonight, yeah?

Yes siree, Tuesday August 12th at Rockwood, Stage 1. We play at 9pm.

Nice! And you’ve been coming out west a good bit in the past year or so—playing the ever-awesome Pappy + Harriet’s last fall (photo, above + right) and then the House of Blues here in LA. Any plans to come back to promote the new work?

No concrete plans right now, but I definitely want to come back soon this winter to play. Pappy + Harriet’s is my new favorite venue.

It’s so awesome. You know all of New York’s moving to California, right? That’s the new plan.

Can we just transplant the whole Brooklyn thing? Last winter was brutal.

Well, we hope to see you soon, one way or another! Thanks for talking and have fun at the release party!

Thank you! xoxo

Ruby Rae’s new EP, Voodoo Queen, is available now on iTunes and you can explore her back catalog on both iTunes + Amazon.

Lead photo by Rose Callahan; Pappy + Harriet’s photo, us.