Anaïs Mitchell interview
Singer-songwriter Anaïs Mitchell has been compared to everyone from Joanna Newsom to Ani DiFranco (whose Righteous Babe record label used to be her home) but really there is no one else like her right now as her last album, the masterful Hadestown (which boasted such guests as Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and DiFranco herself) clearly testifies. An ambitious and musically diverse concept album, it drew rave reviews and found itself on many end of year best-of lists in 2010. Her latest release, Young Man In America, is a more traditional affair but is equally arresting. We asked Mitchell all about the new album, her up upcoming UK tour and more.
Your last album, Hadestown, was an opera based on the story of Orpheus and Eurydice and although you’ve said that this one, Young Man In America, isn’t a concept album, do you think they share any themes?
People have pointed out that they DO share themes, but I totally didn’t notice that when I was writing the songs. Hadestown is the Orpheus myth as you said, but it’s set in a post-apocalyptic depression era that takes a lot of inspiration from 1930s America, the poverty and exploitation of those times. Young Man In America takes inspiration from the current recession and the first two songs on the album are set in a wild America, an every-man-for-himself version of America. So I guess I have some kinda bone to pick huh?
It’s interesting to hear a woman singing as a male character. What made you interested in taking on that perspective and what inspired the stories on the album?
The characters kind of announced themselves, and they were men. I guess if I take a hard look at it there’s a way in which I wanted to be able to trawl some deep feelings but not have people assume the songs were autobiographical, so dressing up in men’s clothing was a way of doing that.
Is there a freedom in taking on characters to tell stories? How much of you is in there too?
All of the songs came from a very true emotional place inside myself. I think you’re right that there was freedom in the taking on of other voices. Like dancing with a costume on. You can dance crazier.
One of the songs on the album is an adaption of one of your father’s stories. How did that come about?
My dad is a writer and wrote a bunch of novels when he was younger. When he was about the age I am now he published a book called “The Souls Of Lambs”, it was sort of a philosophical book, but there was a character called The Shepherd, and the story that I tell in my song of that title is really just the first chapter of the book. It always struck me as a powerful and endlessly sad story. The Shepherd is trying to bring in a crop of hay before the rains come and ruin it. At the same time his wife is in labour with their child but she keeps urging him to attend to the chores before they go to the hospital. It’s really no one’s fault what happens, but in the end he loses his wife and child both. It’s about workaholism, really. It’s about the things we relentlessly pursue and then the good pure important things we neglect and even destroy in our singleminded pursuit.
Your dad’s photo is on the cover of the album. Was it interesting growing up with an author for a father and did your dad’s writing inspire you as a songwriter?
Words were always important in our house, and I know my dad has a lot to do with why I became a songwriter. The photo is on the one hand a photo of him, to reflect his influence on this particular batch of songs. But it’s also meant to be an iconic ‘young man in America’. The photo was a promotional photo for the book I describe above. In the entirety of the photograph he’s holding a yearling lamb in his arms! He was just my age when it was taken, I wasn’t quite born yet.
Is it true you were listening to a lot of English folk music while making the album?
True! I’ve been working on a collection of old English and Scottish folk songs with my collaborator Jefferson Hamer from Brooklyn. The two albums were neck and neck for a while, and then Young Man pulled ahead. So I expect the ballads to be out maybe early next year. I have a big five-volume set of the child ballad collection… it’s probably the book I spent the most time with in the past few years, I’d read it like a collection of short stories, or a graphic novel.
Tell us about your new band, The Young Man Band, there are a lot of interesting instruments on Young Man In America.
Yes, Todd Sickafoose (who produced the album as well as the Hadestown album) has such a vast imagination for instruments! There was no way we could recreate the tapestry he put together for those songs, although we do nod to some of his arrangements. It’s been fun working up tour-able versions of stuff. I’m touring with my husband Noah Hahn on fretless electric bass, my longtime friend and collaborator Rachel Ries on voice and Wurlitzer piano, and our new friend Ben Davis who plays a sort of stripped-down drumkit, banjo, glock, guitar, etc. We really are having a lot of fun!
Are you looking forward to coming back and touring the UK again? How do you find UK audiences?
I adore the UK and especially playing music in the UK. I find people are such careful listeners, very intelligent and emotionally present. There is such a great tradition of narrative songwriting in the British Isles.
There was talk of turning Hadestown into a theatre production. Is that still happening?
We are working on it! Swear to God! Thanks for asking.
Finally, is there any music you’ve been listening to that you would like to recommend to our readers?
I recently got really into the Swedish pop singer Robyn (Body Talk). The other album I got obsessed with is the Sam Amidon “I See The Sign” album. The new Shelby Lynne is remarkably great. I have a feeling this band Field Report is going to take the world by storm but I’ve only heard one song so far.
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