Fifteen years after her career-defining hit, Vanessa Carlton isn’t even in the same realm as “1000 Miles.” After changing genres and reinventing her sound, the artist has finally found her place in the industry and is making music she believes in.
The Daily Reveille sat down with Carlton to see how her mindset has changed throughout the years and how she made her fifth studio album “Liberman.”
Carlton will be performing at Spanish Moon in Baton Rouge on Feb. 3. Tickets are $20.
The Daily Reveille: What inspired you to create this new album and what influences did you draw from to create this newer sound of yours?
Vanessa Carlton: I wanted to make a dream record. The precursor to this record is “Rabbits on the Run” which came out in 2011. That was the beginning palette to “Liberman.” More than anything, I think there was this painting that was a direct inspiration for the record that I basically stared at the entire time I wrote this album because of where it hangs above the piano. It’s a painting my grandfather made. He was a painter, and it’s why I named the album “Liberman,” that was his name. It had just these really psychedelic colors in this painting and I really wanted to write something in the tone of those colors.
TDR: So what do you attribute to this major shift in your music from earlier in your career to this most recent album?
Carlton: I think that it’s a combination of getting older, so you have more confidence and sensitivity when it comes to who you are. But as you get older too, you feel more bold and you feel more confident to explore and I think that you start to make decisions. So in my case I had to leave the major label machine in order to make work that was more reflective of who I am and allowed me the freedom to you know, fine-tune and solve an aesthetic that is me. For me I just didn’t do well in that system, and I was trying to come up with their, you know they were marketing me as a pop girl to a certain degree, and it never worked, it never fit, it never felt right. I was always at odds with them, and once I got old enough to let it all go, then things got good. Things feel right now.
TDR: Do you think the content you’re producing now would more accurately define you as an artist? Do you think it’s more authentic?
Carlton: Totally, I mean there’s a lot of songs from a couple of those earlier records I still like. They’re just dressed up so weird, like really kind’ve bombastic, in your face styling that I don’t think I would actually ever do if I hadn’t been trying to be something else. I think that the first record I did as an independent artist called “Rabbits on the Run,” was literally like my first real album.
TDR: How else has your perspective on your music changed throughout your career? Do you think you’re better independently now?
Carlton: I think that making albums is all about collaboration. I feel that there are so many artists that I have so much respect for, they’re so amazing and they’ll work with me on stuff. It’s kind’ve the same as the earlier question- it’s a different approach to making music because there’s no pressure to sell it. You know, you want a working model but it’s all about making something that you think is cool and beautiful.
TDR: Do you have a favorite song on this new album?
Carlton: I don’t know, I mean I like playing “Nothing Where Something Used to Be.”
I like “Matter of Time” too. It’s really simple. We had a minimalist approach for sure.
TDR: With this new tour what can audiences expect from you and what are you most excited for?
Carlton: Well we’ve been touring now since October, and It’s really been our best tour. There’s only two of us onstage but because of all of our pedals and looping and everything, we’re able to record live onstage and then play over that, so you’re able to kind’ve create a collage of sounds that are on the record so it’s not a duo sound by any means. It’s very much about the new material and creating a trippy, beautiful night of music. It’s not a straightforward singer-songwriter, it’s not like a nostalgia show, it’s really about where we’re at now.
TDR: What did you do on your hiatus from the music industry? I know you started a family; do you think that influenced your mindset when you made this record?
Carlton: That came after actually. I got married and pregnant at the end of the process of making the record. And then I put everything on hold for a year and a half because of the baby. I didn’t want to tour pregnant. I would say though having a family now is so grounding. My daughter loves music too. I find that having a baby automatically balances you— you have no choice to be very much in the moment. You’re hanging out with this pure little being who doesn’t care about your problems so it’s really centering.