Interview: Luna Shadows

The House That Angels Built

From The Little Mermaid to Green Day, Luna Shadows’ journey to becoming an independent musician has been long and interesting. Hear about skateboarding, introversion, and being tri-coastal as she discusses ‘Bathwater’; she just released her second album​.

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

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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, 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.

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“It may be cliché, but my earliest musical memories would be like Ariel, The Little Mermaid - I mean, that's the first time 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.

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“Neither of my parents are musicians, but 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!”

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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, she inspired a young girl to the career she now owns.

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“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.”

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“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 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.”

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After continuing her musical journey by taking Suzuki violin lessons at 12 years old, Luna decided to take classical music seriously. “It’s 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.

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“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.”

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“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.”

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“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.”

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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.”

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“Then, at a certain point, I thought this was not going to work. I needed actually to 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 to do the best I can, and if a song is not working, I move on to the next one. Unless I love it, I don’t sit there and labour over stuff.”

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

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While the album is mostly about Luna, she received help from long-term (and long-distance) collaborator Brad Hale in these pandemic-induced recording sessions. She says, “He plays guitar on some of the records, 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.

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

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“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 the different kinds of music. I love pop and rock, so it wasn't hard for me to shapeshift.”

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“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 returning 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.”

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

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“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.”

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“Even something like going on stage is a huge challenge for me. I have stage fright, so it'll take me at least three shows to start to 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 practice and a discipline, almost like a sport.”

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

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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.

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“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 add New Zealand into the mix. I'll be back again later this year, and I'm hoping to get to do some related music. when I'm in my new third home.”

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The album 'Bathwater' from Luna Shadows is now out on Bandcamp and all good streaming platforms. Keep an eye out on her socials for tour dates when they are released.

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