NATALIE RIBBONS OF TELE NOVELLA
Hi Natalie and thanks for taking the time out to speak with us at Musicology.
Given that a different physical location may not have resulted in the record and sentiment we hear on Merlynn Belle, just how integral is Texas to the DNA of Tele Novella and in the ways the intrinsic culture of the state manifests itself in the musical output yourself and Jason produce?
Texas has sneakily become an enormous presence in the music we've been making. I am not certain it started off that way, but ever since we moved to a small, historic town called Lockhart (about forty minutes south of Austin), the atmosphere really started to seep into everything we were doing. Jason--the other half of this musical project--collects rare Texas country 45's and will do DJ sets once in a while. These examples of outsider loners creating their own country songs and recording them in the 50's and 60's also really "got into the water" so to speak, and helped to add colour and texture to the life that we live out in these pastoral scenes speckled with sun-bleached, historic architecture. After being out here for four years, the novelty of it all has worn off, but not in a bad way. It's just simply become our normal, everyday world, and it changed the art that we make, without a doubt.
An album can be a lifetime worth of experiences concentrated and refined into a body of work that encompasses many years and phases in life. Other times it is a snap shot, a brief period in time crystallized into a record covering a specific epoch. Was it a case of either / or for Merlynn Belle?
Yes, you're so right--bodies of work often are one or the other. In this case, it's more of the snapshot/epoch comparison. Pretty much every song is about a person or place that is very dear to me. Even when the lyrics may suggest a fictitious storyline, it's based completely on the truth. I very rarely write songs that are personal and truthful in such an obvious way, and this is my most vulnerable and sincere songwriting to date. The events and experiences that inspired these songs are all collected from a fairly recent chunk of time, so it's a vignette of about four years.
Each of the tracks on the record were written and recorded one at a time. What do you feel is evident of that fact which is clear to hear on each song and conversely were there structural elements could not be incorporated into the tunes because of the recording style?
Recording each song from beginning to end is not unheard of by any means, but recording is expensive if you want to use a nice studio and aren't relaying on bedroom laptop setups, and so it's a somewhat rare route to take these days. In the past, I have only had the experience of structurally layering a whole body of songs as a whole work; starting with scratch guitar and vocals, then drums, bass, etc. The connection and clarity that you experience with each individual song becomes murky at best when you have ten songs with just drums and bass on them! There's also the temptation to bounce around from song to song depending on the mood that day when you do things like this, and that can dilute the potency of the vision. I think the completely unique arrangement of each individual track on this record makes it more obvious that we tried to decorate every song according to what suited its unique feeling. No structural elements are absent due to this approach, though we did make the artistic choice to seldom employ a traditional drum kit with this release.
Lyrically speaking was there an overall narrative tying all of the tracks together or perhaps more of a collection of individual tales told in a sequence that sonically married them together?
The lyrics really aren't connected from song to song in any way, each song is its own unique snow globe world. But what does tie everything together is the palette of instruments and sounds we used to arrange this collection of songs...they are sort of the backdrop of a play we are putting on for you! Haha. The songs all connect only in that they are all real stories from my life, but each has its own specific story, or chapter.
Your voice has been described as “ranging from candlelit whispers to coyote howls” which is a wonderful testament to your ability and diverse singing style that features throughout your work and that of the album. Personally do you have something of a readymade melody in mind when approaching the vocal selection for each track or are you guided by the musicality and instrumentation of the tune itself as to which treatment to apply?
I'm not totally certain as to how to answer this! The primary melody of the songs I write almost always come first. Sometimes I even write them a'cappella with no instrumental accompaniment, and then have to set out to find which chords go with the melody. Since this is usually the order of my process, the way I sing isn't something I deliberate over much, as that's the first thing that comes to me.
Jason being the rare record collector that he is, have any rough diamonds been discovered that to your mind are amazing albums and are a surprise that they are not more widely known? Furthermore, has a discovery of such sonic gems in some small part have found their way into your signature sound?
Jason finds things all the dang time that fit this description! Haha. Of course there are also records that he has in his collection that he wasn't the very first person to rediscover, but are exceedingly rare and mostly unknown. He recently released a compilation of some of these exceedingly rare country 45's called "Small Town Country" and it's distributed by Light in the Attic. That's a great collection to check out for a taste of some of the stuff we listen to around the house! And it's certainly helped shape the sound of the new record.
Of the many great tracks on the album A Lot To Want is one that stands tall courtesy of its instrumentation. How much of the track was firmly laid out prior to recording and how much of it grow organically from the recording session?
It's so funny that you picked this particular track as once that stands out to you! This was the very first song that we recorded for the record, and it was the song that helped resuscitate us from the years of musical atrophy we had only just begun to shake off. This song was essentially about how beaten down and worn out I'd felt I had become after hustling too long and too hard for the previous record. There was very little notion of the arrangement for this song, it was just a naked tune with my vocal and guitar. Jason is the primary arranger of this band and he had a couple ideas, but the song was built from scratch in the studio.
The video clip accompanying the wonderful single Technicolor Town with its French mime and Country Western characters is a captivating one. What was it precisely that you wanted to visually convey in the video that ties it back the song itself?
The video for Technicolor Town was the only music video I knew I wanted to make once we had finished the record. I wanted to capture the sweet innocence and encroaching margins of darkness that life in Lockhart represents for me. I truly belong here and it's hard to explain why. It's far from perfect, though it is so purely what it is and like no other place. It can be a struggle living in a small town, and the day-to-day subterfuge is not for everyone. Jason and I feel like we are inherently a part of this place now, as are so many wonderful people, and for better or for worse, this is where we are meant to be. I wanted the video to express what a perfectly imperfect dream it is to be here, and how it has become our reality.
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?
Wow, another great but difficult question! Of course there are so many, and every day we make micro-choices that potentially alter everything! In my very early career as a musician, I was in a band called Agent Ribbons, and we made several poor decisions to not trust our own creative vision and instead listen to people we thought we should listen to. Among these many decisions, the choice to record a record with a very kind man that had never recorded a record before! Haha. He was so nice, but our first record was recorded poorly. We were lucky enough to get some pretty incredible opportunities in the following years, touring with big bands like Cake and Camera Obscura. All things considered, we made a lot of traction on no budget or connections, but we would have gotten further if we had made a record that sounded more like us. Another decision that changed things was moving from Sacramento to Austin, that's a big one for sure. I had actually had a crush on Jason years before I ever knew him or lived in Texas, so it's kind of strange that we ended up finding each other and falling in love. But the best decision we--and I--have ever made was to give up entirely on being successful and to follow our gut on the music we should be making. It took me years to believe in myself enough to do that, and while I wish it could have happened sooner, I am grateful for my journey and I am very proud of my scars.
Lastly, on a philosophical level, what does music give you that nothing else does?
Jason and I are both people with so many interests and we both get really excited about all kinds of stuff...we're both people that could easily find a fulfilling life doing lots of other things if given the chance. I don't believe that music is my one and only possible creative outlet, and I have no way of knowing whether it's the most fulfilling one! But I have spent my life honing this craft, pouring my time and love into it. It will never not be a part of me as long as I live, and Jason feels the same way. I think that without it, I would find a way to express myself and converse with the world around me, but what it has that many other art forms don't possess is that familial community that comes with it. I think people will always crave community and connection, that's why organized religion is so popular. The music community is sort of my Godless church, I guess you could say. It's not always spiritual, but it's always a supportive lifeline, even in the darkest of times.
