Submission by Scott Cohen, West Coast cultural informant

Australian-born Lenka has been steadily rising to pop stardom with two successful albums on a major label and hit singles being spotted all over. Her lighthearted ditties like “The Show” have been featured virtually everywhere: an Old Navy ad, a trailer for Easy A, shampoo ads in China, 90210, and an Ugly Betty (R.I.P!) promo. And for the indie crowd, she has recorded a pared-down cover of Modest Mouse and glockenspiel-heavy versions of M. Ward and Arcade Fire, all the while working out of The Kinks’ London recording studio, Konk. So that’s worth something, right?

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Lenka kicks off her east coast tour in NY on June 10^th and will be hitting DC on June 12^th. (Full tour dates below).

The New Gay Scott: Your new album, Two, was just released in April. How does this album differ musically from your first album self-titled album, Lenka?

L: The most obvious difference is that it’s faster. There are only two ballads on this one. It’s pretty upbeat, and there are lots of danceable, poppy jams. Also, there are more songs about being in love and relationships.

TNG: What inspired the change?

L: The love thing is direct experience for me. I just got married so I’m feeling very in love and I’ve wanted to reflect that in the music.

TNG: Your new husband, that’s James Gulliver Hancock?

L: Yes, and he’s my visual collaborator as well.

TNG: I know that he does music videos for you, and you do art together. What can you tell me about this?

L: He’s an illustrator and a visual artist- if you want to check him out, there’s a website called allthebuildingsinnewyork.blogspot.com. He’s always done all the visuals for my music since I started writing solo, which is basically around the time we started dating. It was a professional relationship at first; I’d do little songs and he’d do little drawings to go along with it. From the time I signed with Epic I was very clear that I wanted to continue collaborating with James and now the two styles – his and my own – have become synonymous. But mostly it’s just me leaning over his shoulder telling him what I want.

TNG: You two also had an exhibition recently in Tokyo at the No. 12 gallery. What was that like?

L: Oh, it was awesome. I was playing the Summersonic Festival, and James had hooked up this exhibition so it was work both together and also separately. The label in Tokyo really got behind it and would do lots of cross-promotion stuff, so I’d be doing interviews for my album in the gallery and photographers would come in and shoot there. We also wrote a manifesto called “We will not grow old.” It talks about the whole scene behind my music – naïve on purpose, a childlike style.

TNG: What are your live performances like? Do you play with a band?

L: I’m trying to have fun and feel connected to the audience. I like to think we’re all at a party together

I like to play with a five-piece, including myself.  This time around we are using more electronic beats, as well. And it’s quite a lively show. It’s about half the new album, half the old album. I guess I’m trying to have a lot of fun at the moment and feel connected to the audience and make it feel like we’re all at a party together. I encourage the audience to participate a little bit and and leave with smiles on their faces.

TNG: Excited for upcoming tour?

L: Yes! We’re about to do our east coast part right now. We toured all over America in 2009 and I found it a bit overwhelming. So now we just did west coast and onto the east coast soon.

TNG: Which is your favorite city to play in so far?

L: Well I’m looking forward to going back to Washington, DC because last time around I didn’t get the chance to go out at all. Other than that, I really like Seattle, and San Francisco is always dope. And Salt Lake City, weirdly enough.

I also just moved to New York about a year ago but when I first started playing I had the typical New York audience – aloof and standoffish. But now I’ve found this really great fan base, which is not the typical New York style at all. Everyone’s happy and having a really good time and claps loud and sings along. It’s very fun.

TNG: I read that you play piano, glockenspiel, vibraphone, and more. What’s your favorite instrument to play?

L: Probably piano: it’s what I write on and accompany myself on onstage. But I do love all those little mallet instruments. And I actually have this little keyboard that I wear over my shoulder – it’s a little keytar.

TNG: You also did a cover of your label mates Modest Mouse’s “Gravity Rides Everything.” What inspired this?

L: I guess just coming to America and checking out bands here. They’re not very big in Australia and someone that works at my label was a big fan and he was like “you should check this out, I think it’d be really interesting for you to do a cover, since you’re friends.” And I liked the song and just really wanted to make it my own.

TNG: Are there any other songs or artists that you’d like to cover?

Oh, I just did an Arcade Fire cover. That was really a nice experience. “Deep Blue,” from their new album.

Well thank you so much and good luck with upcoming tour!

Yes, thank you so much as well!

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Tour Dates:

06/10 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom

06/11 – Philadelphia, PA – North Star

06/12 – Washington, DC – DC9

06/14 – Columbus, OH – The Basement

06/15 – Toronto, Canada – Lee’s Place

06/16 – Pontiac, MI – Crofoot Ballroom

06/17 – Chicago, IL – Subterranean

06/19 – Minneapolis, MN – 7^th Street Entry

06/29 – Boston, MA – Café 939

07/22 – Lucerne, Switzerland – Blue Balls Festival

 

 

 

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