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WILL: You've described The Union Themes as a "100% Fictional" record, whereas many of your previous songs have been partly autobiographical. Did you hit a wall with autobiographical songs and feel a need to write "fiction," or was the decision to write fictional "character" songs more of an intellectual challenge? How is your writing process different on the two different kinds of song?
LOIS MAFFEO: One big change that occurred in my life between my last album "Infinity Plus" and the new one is that I became a full-time writer. For years I have contributed occasional reviews to zines and weeklies, but I finally decided to devote myself to writing for a change! And I think that by changing courses like that, it really affected my songwriting. I knew more about the process of writing and the different ways to take on tone, setting and character.
W: Brendan Canty has been playing with the band "The Lois" for some time now. What predicated the decision to release the new album under the name "Lois Maffeo and Brendan Canty?" Was this done to mark the difference in the style of the record or for other reasons?
LM: I had more or less given up on recording music after "Infinity Plus" and didn't really feel that "The Lois" existed any longer. But when I would visit Brendan and his family, we'd always find time to go down in the basement and demo songs. When Slim Moon, at Kill Rock Stars, heard some of these songs - he asked us to do an album. So it really only felt right to say that the album was by Lois Maffeo and Brendan Canty, because that was the most accurate way to describe it. Our friend Pete Chramiec (who plays with me in live settings) added guitar parts on three songs, but other than that - everything on the album was played by Brendan and I.
W: Why did you choose the title The Union Themes? A lot of the songs seem to be about dissolving unions...
LM: I think that I was trying to look at relationships from a lot of different angles - from the first rush of excitement in "These Parts" and "How I Came to Know" to the time that anxiety and doubt sets in on "Give Faith" and the insidious pain of spousal abuse on "Handwriting". There is even a song ("Hollow Reed") written from the perspective of a man who has lost his wife.
W: You're often called "lo-fi," but it's clear from listening to your recording output as a whole that you've never consciously tried to consistently sound lo-fi. The Union Themes in particular is filled with very beautifully arranged "hi-fi" songs like "Being Blind" and "You Love Your Wounds." Has "lo-fi" sound become a constricting fetish in the indie community?
LM: I generally regard that term to mean music with a really raw recorded sound. (And it could definitely be accurately used to describe the first singles that I did with Pat Maley). But I think that because my music is simply constructed - people find it easy to call it lo-fi. I don't mind, however. In fact, I'd prefer to be called lo-fi than "singer-songwriter"!!
W: Who, in your opinion, are a few of the best rock/pop songwriters currently working?
LM: Wow- this is a hard one. There are a lot of ways to be a great songwriter. Stuart Murdoch from Belle & Sebastian sets a scene better than anyone. Gilmore Tamny from The Yips writes really unexpected prose in her songs. For poetry - Shannon Wright's songs are really nuanced in the way the words sound. And for sheer power - Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker from Sleater-Kinney have fused their talents in really spectacular ways.
W: Do you believe in Lennon and McCartney-esque artistic competition? Do you ever hear a song by a writer you admire and think "they've raised the bar. I have to be better."
LM: I don't like to think of it as competition. Ultimately, you can only write from where you are in life, and if you set unrealistic goals based on envy, you're bound to fall flat. But I can tell that I've seen a great show or a fantastic performance when I want to race home from the gig and play music. My neighbors aren't really stoked about this - but it's just the way it goes.
W: Do you leave songs as/is after writing them, or do you revise and try to smooth them out?
LM: I rarely go back to songs. Which is a pity, in a way, because I've forgotten how to play a lot of them.
W: Why did you re-record Snapshot Radio's "Not Funny, Ha-Ha" on Infinity Plus?
LM: I recorded the songs on Snapshot Radio more or less on-the-fly, in different cities with different friends. And the recording of that song that I did with James McNew was recorded (unbeknownst to me) with the vocals "gated", which means that there is an effect put on the microphone input. So, at first, I thought that we wouldn't be able to use the song - so I recorded it again. But then Calvin Johnson and Larry Crane re-mixed the original version and it sounded just fine. So we decided to use both because they sounded fairly distinct.
W: You're obviously interested in social issues, and yet your songs are never didactic or preachy. How do you approach the political in songwriting?
LM: I am a great believer in the whole "personal is political" outlook. I feel that a person's politics need to be grounded in the way they feel about themselves. I like to stress the things that I think help people become stronger individuals - namely confidence, self-belief and learning how to give.
W: You're often associated with the Riot Grrl movement, though now many of those originally associated with the movement seem leery about being described as "Riot Grrls." Do you think of "Riot Grrl" as a movement located in one specific time, or an ongoing, changing entity?
LM: I think that Riot Grrl made a great deal of change possible in independent music. It put women in a better position to make decisions about their music and careers. I think that young women right now are not being offered a lot of options in terms of body-image and self-esteem right now - but that is not such a big change from the past. But in music there are a lot more female performers, engineers and women-owned labels that have developed since the beginning of the 90's.
W: A related, but broader, question: It seems like the stylish political conscientiousness (even though it was often hypocritical) that characterized the early and mid-90s has been eroding over the last few years. The feminist movement seems worse off than it was five years ago and where we once at least pretented to be concerned about environmental protection we are now in love with the Sport Utility Vehicle. We seem to have become openly apathetic and insular. Do you agree? If you do, why do you think that is?
LM: Political strategist James Carville said it best, "It's the economy, stupid." Americans are too rich to care about anything other than their stock ratings. But things that make me encouraged - like the rising visibility of Hispanic culture and openly queer teenagers that are forging alliances at their high schools - are the things I'd rather focus on. (Rather than how much backwards-baseball-cap-wearing, SUV-driving assholes rule the world.)
W: Will the record-buying public have to wait another 4 years for the next Lois album?
LM: That is a possibility. But not a probability.
Listen to mp3s by Lois Maffeo (from Audiogalaxy.com):
from The Union Themes
You Love Your Wounds
from Snapshot Radio EP
Northern Soul
interview used by permission of Audiogalaxy.com
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