SHILPA RAY
Hi and thanks for taking the time out to speak with us at Musicology. Firstly congratulations on your latest track Heteronormative Horseshit Blues. The subject matter and tale told within is harrowing as much as it is highly relatable for many. In delving into this from your own personal experience, did you find covering this ground to be a cathartic process?
Yeah I guess so. I can’t say revisiting and writing about the experiences I had over a decade ago was light or pleasant, but it was necessary. I wrote the music in a very specific way to soften the lyrical blows. The whole idea for this track and the album I’ve been working on came 4 years ago, pre #metoo, when I stumbled into a Nan Goldin exhibit at MOMA while on break from soundcheck with Andrew Bird. He asked me to sing back up for his concert at Carnegie Hall. I was so nervous that I couldn’t make the octave and a half jump required for one of the songs, so I went for a walk, and ended up staring at Nan Goldin’s portrait, the one of her beat up face, and had a massive realization that I had been hiding from my own reality and that my reality was the reality of a lot of victims who were also fighting to survive, fighting for normalcy and healing in their lives. It shook me, like the original definition of what it is to be woke. I was wide awake. Intense, I know. I ended up hitting the right note that night but I also ended up going down a rabbit hole I’m grateful to be out of now. I would not have been able to write this record if my experiences hadn’t happened a long time ago. Trauma’s a bitch. If time is the ultimate healer, right now I feel like a work in progress.
With Amos Poe on board for filming duties Heteronormative Horseshit Blues, he has produced a beautifully cinematic clip and one that would make David Lynch during the height of his Twin Peaks days dutifully give a tip of his hat to. Was this a clip that you had the storyboard for Amos and he fleshed it out or was it more of an organic approach that materialised on the day of filming?
I did do a storyboard which I also ended up tweaking throughout the process to make the story tight enough to be pulled into abstraction. Ha! Does that even make sense? I can’t draw for shit so he took my chicken scrawl and made it beautiful. Amos is a lot of fun to work with and a really good teacher on how to make thoughts and ideas work on film. It’s been an honor to work with him and his team.
From the more sombre sounds Heteronormative Horseshit Blues comes the earlier release of Manic Pixie Dream Cunt with its full tilt, Pattie Smith, sixth gear, bolt from the gates stylings. Another amazing video clip to accompany the track and one filled with iconic moments throughout history mixed in with plenty of pop culture references. In piecing this together were there moments of history that you specifically wanted to feature and moments that upon researching, proved to be hugely illuminating and demanded that they appear in the clip?
It was very important to me that the women, those who identify as women as well as those who don’t identify with gender at all were featured in the video. I wanted the image of the “dream cunt” to be diverse since the image of the “dream girl” is so narrow. I’m cis-gender, a poc, and I’m floored by other cisgender women who are overly precious about the historical definitions of womanhood. I don’t get it. I thought the whole point was to break free of the binary. Anyone can be a dream cunt. You just have to be alive and kinda cunty.
Lyrically, what is central to all of your works and where do you stray to when looking to explore new or previously untapped subject matter that proves to be inspiring for you?
That’s a tough question. Why do creatives create? I don’t know. It’s not for the money, that’s for sure. Curiosity will eventually kill this cat.
Living in America and having an Indian heritage, musically speaking, where the lines intersect and where to the lines diverge in terms of creating the signature style that is Shilpa Ray?
I don’t know that much about western theory and was mostly trained in Classical Indian music, both Hindustani and Carnatic. They have their own systems which can be elaborate. I hated all of it when I was a kid but am grateful now to know the limitless direction a piece of music can actually go in. That said, I mostly listen and play by feel. If I can’t connect with something it’s not for me. I love old Bollywood music especially from the 60’s and 70’s and also the disco era which was in full force in the 80’s. The arrangements are so adventurous and heavily psychedelic. I think it comes out in my own stuff, which is probably why people have a hard time stuffing me into a genre, no matter how simple or derivative they claim my music to be.
It has been three years since your last record Door Girl and during that time how have things changed in your world and what has remained the same?
I’ve gotten older and no longer put up w/ the Heteronormative Horseshit Blues or other time wasters. Aging is amazing!
Having meet and performed with so any different musicians and artists over the years, during that time, has there been any defining moments or words of wisdom that were spoken to you which really resonated with you and in turn altered the way you approach your craft?
Warren Ellis, whom I happen to share the same birthday with, told me to just play and stop paying so much attention to what others think of it. I don’t think what he said sunk in right away, it still hasn’t sunk in all the way, but I hear his voice in my head constantly. It’s a very difficult thing to do especially in a society so obsessed with status and achievement. It’s hard not to get wrapped up in that and the financial risks as well. I think he could sense that I’ve never been much of a schmoozer or a huge fan of rules and pretending to be that way was not gonna do me any favors. He was right. I never play to trends.
Given the clarity that hindsight affords, can you pinpoint a few select moments, decisions, outcomes that have occurred during your career that have proved to be pivotal?
If it’s not fun and you’re dreading the rehearsal room, the false sense of loyalty isn’t worth it. At the end of the day you have to answer to yourself and it’s not your job to play mom or make everyone happy at the expense of your own happiness. That’s what I learned from years of touring. I’ve had more lineups than Dolly Parton’s outfit changes during a Christmas special.
Lastly, on a philosophical level, what does music give you that nothing else does?
A great way to spend my time.
