questions

Ok, we are a bit obsessed with your song My Paradise. Lines like 'your not my paradise', and 'your not my worlds collide' build the narrative and land us on 'your not my one way ride', with this ethereal mysterious build and then you drop in 'your everything I lost, but I was in disguise, cuz what I desired most, came from someone else's eyes' and Lydia fucking SLAYS us. Where did this come from, did it come on you like a fire, or a small ember that you had to blow gently?

My Paradise I’ve been working on for over 20 years. I knew the song was in there, but I couldn’t put the pieces of the puzzle together. I lived in NYC for a little while. And everyone told me it’s the place to be if I wanted to make it in the music biz and I really wanted that to be true. That might be true for some, but that city ate me up and spit me out. I felt like I had failed when I came back to Columbus. But I was looking at that city from someone else’s point of view, from the POV that others had, not me. 

Tell us about this line from Dear Albatross, its hauntingly beautiful and I feel like its one of those lines that once you sing it , the sound waves just travel out into the ether and just go on forever:

'My dear albatross I am to blame
The girl knew not from where you came
Your gift of wings I tossed away
My dear albatross I lost my way.'

I have a thing about the albatross. The metaphor about it being the guide that’s trying to lead you out of danger, but then wearing the dead bird around your neck after you shot and killed it (poem by Samuel Coleridge 1798). That story really resonates with me. I think about a lot of artists who get in their own way by not thinking they’re good enough. So the albatross is leading them to their deepest desire, but we’re too scared or tormented by our own self to follow, even killing it and giving up completely. I feel I do that. It’s like an abusive relationship. I come back and apologize for not following. But keep abandoning him again and again. Poor albatross just flies around with nowhere to go. This song is a letter to my albatross.

You wrote a short children's song album, please tell us about that experience, and how you felt about the results? If you were to rewrite these songs today, would they change at all?

My intention for this was a full concept album of songs for parents and their children. I only got 4 songs in though and just went ahead and made it a short EP, with plans to add to it later. I absolutely love the song, Saying Goodbye. And I did remake one of the songs, Holding Hands and I put it on my album, Dig. I rewrite my songs all the time. I can look at it in a positive light or negative, I’m fortunate that I don’t have a record label to keep me from rewriting my songs, or, It’s unfortunate I don’t have a record label to keep me from rewriting my songs. I was pretty happy with the outcome of the EP though and I had a lot of fun recording it and working with a grammy-winning producer and songwriter, Felix Weber. He lives here in Columbus! 

You've had an impressive career and worked with some amazing people here and in Georgia. What do you find great, and challenging, about being a working musician in Columbus? What would you say to young people thinking of going into music scene here?

The most challenging part about being a working musician here is, mainly, that there are not enough venues. I’ve been a part of some workshops and forums and meetings where we talk about how to make Columbus more of a music city. But there are no resources here; booking agents for original music (Booking agents exist here for cover bands), no record labels, no song contests to gauge the talent here. The venues for local original artists are incredibly minimal. I know Columbus is trying to change that, but we also need people to come out who WANT to listen to something new. Cover bands rule here. It’s a vicious cycle; we need venues for all the original artists, but need people who want to see original artists.

Ok so who are the writers and songwriters that break your heart, make you feel alive, or challenge your paradigms?
Actually, that’s a tough one. I honestly don’t know who I like nowadays because it’s everywhere all at once. I love PJ Harvey and Radiohead. Both of those artists keep reinventing themselves, like they’re on a journey in their mind, and are able to take their last project and build on it for their next one. I love to see a thoughtful progression like that in artists. I have a real admiration for their work. I listen to a lot of foreign language artists and instrumental music because I’m working on songs in my head almost all the time, and English vocals are distracting. Asgeir, Nils Frahm, Ancient Astronauts, Olafur Arnold’s, Phil France, all of them really move me, to just name a few.

Tell us about any additional work or projects you are excited about!
I started a band called Albatross City. I’ve wanted to have a show like this for 30 years! I’ve made short films/videos that play behind us on a screen. I’ve written little instrumental snippets of songs that play between songs to create an immersive experience. We are only a 3 piece, and we swap instruments throughout the show. Jeff Dalrymple plays guitar and bass, I play guitar and bass, and Ty Landrum is the drummer, and he syncs up the click tracks, backing tracks, and the video. We played it a couple times at Natalie’s on Charlie’s Stage and at the Rambling House. I think people liked it, but both stages are a bit too small for it, especially if I wanted to add any other players, (which I really want to do). And places like McConnell Arts Center would be perfect, but I’m a local act, and I’d have to rent the space, so IDK the future of that project. My website has a video I made of one of the songs, “Like a City” https://lydiabrownfieldmusic.com/albatross-city.