In this interview spotlight, I chat with Arielle Silver about her new release (What Really Matters), technology, motivations and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Hi Arielle! Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
If “where are you from” means “what’s the first meal you remember,” I’m from hushpuppies, catfish, and grits. I was born in Florida and later lived in North Carolina and Tennessee. But my folks are New Yorkers, and I did a stint living with my grandparents in Queens, plus a bunch of years in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I went to college in Boston, which ended up being my adopted home for a long time, I think mostly because of the songwriters. So much good music there. Now I live in Los Angeles with my sweetheart who’s a Texan and all the other folks who don’t know where they’re from but love sunshine and music. Something about that feels right.
My style? I like stories and characters and setting. The music itself has got to be some amalgamation of sounds from all the places I’ve lived. I like the term Americana, because it’s earthy and honest and broad enough to hold country, folk, rock, blues, even a little jazz chording now and then. My temperament’s a bit nostalgic and introspective, and I’m trying to always understand something about the heart. But I like imagery. When someone sings about a chair in their kitchen, I feel like I’m right there with them eating soup. I try to do that.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
The first music I remember was from the backseat of the Buick, John Denver and Judy Collins on the 8-track. At night by the fireplace, my dad strummed through a playlist of some of the best folk songwriters of the 60s and 70s. His record player spun The Band and Jethro Tull. My first concerts were folk festivals, and I think that my own path really started with a bluesy-voiced barefooted woman with a guitar. Elaine Silver. One summer she was singing at the entrance of the festival. I was probably eight or nine. Couldn’t have said it then, but when I think back now I wonder if that was the root of it all. Something about a woman strumming a guitar and singing her head off right there in the dirt in front of me. It was earthy and accessible and essential. She made singing and songs human.
Around that time I read Anne Frank’s diary and started keeping journals. Kid ones, with a lock and key. I didn’t write anything worthwhile then, but I began to develop a relationship with a book of blank pages. Somewhere in middle school those pages turned into poetry and questions to explore. In high school, the poetry found melody – I played clarinet, oboe, piano, and sax, so it felt pretty natural. Then in college, I bought a guitar for $75 and wrote my first proper tune. Something about loneliness and desire. Then I wrote another. And it kept going.
I did lose my motivation for a while. I stepped away for about ten years from this whole performing songwriter thing. It’s a hard game, and you’ve got to blaze your own trail nearly every step. But it relates to this new single – “What Really Matters.” Life is going to happen whether you spend it doing what you love or what you hate. There are moments in your life when you get really clear on your values and you have a new understanding of what really matters to you. Songs – other people’s songs and writing my own – have saved my life a million times over. About two years ago I woke up – literally awoke in the morning from a dream – and knew that writing songs and singing was probably one of the most important things for me to be doing. The urgency of it superseded my mountain of doubt and fear.
How is this new single “What Really Matters” different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
I wrote this song during an intense wildfire season here in California. Up north, the town of Paradise was tragically demolished in the Camp Fire. Down here in LA, a lot of people lost their homes in the Woolsey and Hill Fires. There was just a lot of loss happening on a personal and community level, and it came right on the heels of another shooting tragedy at a local country bar. Lyrically, that’s what was on my mind. At the same time, with nearly every song I write, I’m trying to push my craft in some way or another. With this one I wanted to see what would happen if the chord progression was really simple and repetitive. Just the same chords over and over. That tension put pressure on the melody to deliver contrast. When the band came into the studio, we worked out the drums for a long time and I couldn’t stop dancing behind the console. My fifteen year old calls it “a bop,” and it totally is, but I think the intensity of the lyrics comes through strong.
What can listeners expect from your upcoming album?
The album is called A THOUSAND TINY TORCHES, and there’s a thread of light throughout. Wildfires, headlights, porch lights, lighthouses, bolts of lightning, fireflies, and stars. It wasn’t intentional, but when I looked at the songs as a collection, a theme of hope emerged. The songs range in story and feel, but across the album there’s sense of trust that though we sometimes lose our way, we’ll find it again. These were the songs that I wrote after my long hiatus away from performing, and I suppose I needed that message as much as anyone else.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
We singer/songwriters used to mail monthly show promotion postcards to our mailing list. We’d print out cards, usually hand-drawn, at the local Xerox shop. We’d lick the stamps. If someone wanted to hear our music, they had three choices: see us live, purchase a tape or CD from us at a show, or send a check in the mail and wait six weeks for the album to arrive in their box. Now, my friends and family in Europe stream my music. My dad in Florida can read the press. The folks on my mailing list and on social media write back. It’s no longer a one-way conversation. The challenge for a creator is to find a way to get the music to the people who will love it, and to find a way to connect with them. But I think that was always the challenge. The landscape looks different, and the journey is different, but the destination is the same. To connect with others through music. And for those of us who love to listen… I’ve been exposed to new songwriters who I’d have never heard back in the “good ol’ days.” There’ll always be something to complain about. That’s what barstools are for. And then you go home and get back to doing the work that is meaningful.
What was the last song you listened to?
Ruthie Foster’s cover of Chris Stapleton’s song “What Are You Listening To?”
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
On our turntable right now is this awesome bootleg vinyl of Janis Joplin live. There’s some music you can’t get elsewhere, and that’s a fact. But our turntable needs a half hour to warm up. If you want to listen to music while you’re waiting, the iPad with Spotify is connected to the speakers… and that’s where I listen to most everything. Radio for me is 99% indie programming about 50%-50% streaming and terrestrial. I’m a fan of CD packaging, so tend to buy them at live shows as something to look at and read through, but since my iPod broke I don’t even both loading CDs into iTunes. I sure wish I had a working cassette player… there’re some old mix tapes with songs on them that have never been officially released. I’d love to hear them again.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
As a music creator, my songs are everywhere. As a listener, right now I like Spotify. Who knows what’ll be next year.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
I’m everywhere! This is the mother of all links: linktr.ee/ariellesilver
Anything else before we sign off?
This is a grassroots thing, and I’m really grateful to you for helping share my music. Community is everything. I’d love to hear from your readers if they like the new single, and about what really matters to them. Come on the journey with me via my mailing list! Sign up at: found.ee/ArielleSilverList
