Artist Highlight: Gena Rose Bruce

On her sophomore album, Gena Rose Bruce makes it clear – to herself greater than anybody – that she doesn’t wish to waste any extra time. “Too many instances you let life go by/ Nicely now’s the time to take the wheel and drive,” she sings on the one ‘Foolishly in Love’. The Melbourne-based singer-songwriter launched her first EP, Mad Love, again in 2015, earlier than coming by means of along with her debut album, Can​’​t Make You Love Me, in 2019. However throughout lockdown, when Bruce was residing in a small condo with a grieving companion, the frustration of not with the ability to totally reside as much as her artistic ambitions led her down a darkish path. Deep Is the Manner, which arrived on Friday, finds her embracing songwriting with a brand new sense of function, fortitude, and certainly, depth. Working as soon as once more with producer Tim Harvey, Bruce widens her musical scope and is ready to steadiness emotional complexity and vulnerability, taking possession of her wishes whereas letting no matter conflicts come up play out somewhat than forcing a manner by means of them. Even with none actual solutions, she stands agency in her pursuit of honesty: “All these questions will lead us to the reality,” she sings on ‘Harsh Gentle, “And our love will maintain true.”

We caught up with Gena Rose Bruce for this version of our Artist Highlight interview collection to speak about collaborating with Invoice Callahan, her headspace going into Deep Is the Day, being a dreamer, and extra.

I wished to start out by asking about your collaboration with Invoice Callahan. What was it like sending lyrics forwards and backwards with out actually having any prior contact?

It was form of good for my persona, I feel, as a result of it simply felt like we actually have been in a position take our time and take into consideration what we have been sending one another. Perhaps if I used to be in a room with Invoice Callahan, I may need simply been both so nervous or attempting to please him, like, in fact I like that as a result of he advised that. However having time to truly sit with what he had despatched over lyrically, I may very well be like, “Oh, really, that’s not proper,” or, “That’s proper.” I feel it gave that house the place it felt like I didn’t have to know him as an individual or something, we have been simply strictly there to write down the music within the music, and for me personally that made me extra assured with all of it. I felt like I may very well be actually sincere and form of extra courageous as properly with what I used to be sending him, as a result of I didn’t should see his face when he learn it. [laughs] I actually loved that have. And I feel throughout lockdown, it simply was enjoyable to strive new issues, as a result of I don’t assume I’d have carried out that beforehand.

What perspective do you’re feeling like he finally dropped at the songs, and did your strategy to songwriting shift in any respect on account of your correspondence?

He positively pushed me as a songwriter. Up to now, I may need possibly accepted issues, like, “Yeah, that may do, I’m proud of that.” However he form of goes, “We’re proud of it, however let’s maintain going.” He’s like, you recognize when it’s an excessive amount of, once you’ve overkilled a music, however that’s like an ideal place to be as a result of then you’ll be able to all the time deliver it again. However to cease when issues are good – you’ve simply received to maintain going, which I form of utilized then to a few of the different songs on my album. I went again to all those I assumed had completed and, like, wrote a brand new bridge and added verses. It wasn’t perfecting a music, it was extra simply taking part in with the music. And I discover he’s actually good with metaphors. He’s actually poetic along with his lyrics, and I’m a bit bit extra conversational, I feel, with my lyrics. So it was actually cool to see what he would come again with and made me assume a bit bit extra poetically in what I’m attempting to say as properly.

I hear that strategy within the album, of virtually stretching out the songs a bit. However you additionally depart house for the manufacturing to deliver out the subtleties of emotion that you simply’re describing, and a part of that’s by means of using electronics. What led you in that path on songs like ‘Distress and Misfortune’?

I all the time hear form of melodies happening, however I’ve by no means actually wished to place quite a lot of different vocals on my tracks. Particularly with ‘Distress and Misfortune’, these backing vocals have been the synth. I’m an enormous fan of Weyes Blood, so all her synths actually impressed me. She was on my reference for each music, in addition to Electrical Lighthouse Orchestra. I identical to bizarre sounds on songs that don’t actually make sense, and my producer, Tim Harvey, is de facto good with that form of manufacturing as properly. I really feel like we tried all of the weirdest sounds we may discover, it’s one thing actually enjoyable to only have sounds from in every single place. And emotionally, I feel it really works as a result of quite a lot of my songs emotionally really feel far and wide typically.

Do you have a tendency to research your individual lyrics or your music? Working that manner with Invoice Callahan, I assume that places you able the place you’re possibly compelled to sit down down and have a look at the music in a extra crucial mild, however I’m curious if that’s one thing that’s a part of your course of on the whole.

I completely do it. It form of is available in phases – I feel after I’m initially writing, I’ll simply write no matter comes out, however after I get in with the band or manufacturing kicks in, it’s like bizarre sure phrases simply don’t sound correct towards a kind of instrument. I really feel like that’s my primary factor in songwriting, the lyrics, so I’m all the time attempting to make them come out as clear as they are often. Typically after I get within the room with Tim, we then do analyze it, as a result of typically they’re very private, and it’s vital to determine what you wish to share. So we all the time do examine all the pieces and ensure that I’m snug with that, or we’ll simply discover a totally different strategy to say it that’s not going to harm anybody [laughs] or not going to harm myself.

‘Deep Is the Manner’ appears to encapsulate quite a lot of what you have been grappling with throughout the pandemic, this heavy fog that many people have been confronted with. However you additionally see a manner out. At what level within the course of did these hopeful realizations come to you?

It’s fascinating, I feel me as a songwriter is somebody who I virtually aspire to be. The songwriter me is sort of a good good friend, in order that they’re all the time seeing the perfect consequence within the arduous conditions. I didn’t really feel personally that I used to be in an excellent optimistic place, however I feel the author in me may form of see previous that. It’s like this bizarre mind swap after I’m writing, I’m simply so in that world. Each time I hearken to music, I understand the music that I like all the time makes me really feel good whereas I’m listening to it. And there’s some music I hearken to that I actually wish to love, however it places me in a temper the place I don’t really feel good. And I feel it’s simply actually vital to me that I would like my music to make folks really feel – not essentially optimistic, however to really feel like there’s all the time hope, if that doesn’t sound too tacky. Even after I really feel like issues may by no means get higher, I’m caught in a foul place, I do wish to all the time consider that you would be able to get out of it.

There’s an exquisite simplicity in the best way you describe disappointment, too: “Similar to the solar/Unhappiness is actual/ Similar to the solar/ It’s going away.” I learn that the title and the sentiment of the music have been additionally impressed by your love of gardening. Are you able to discuss that?

Yeah, gardening’s actually helped with my psychological well being, to be sincere. It’s extra nearly being in nature, really getting your palms soiled and touching soil – there’s one thing actually grounding about that, and that actually helped me really feel linked once more to myself, caring for one thing. It’s arduous to say the way it got here in into my music, however I feel after I began gardening, I began writing, and it helped me be extra of a grounded particular person. Once I’m not connecting to myself, I simply can’t write, I’m not in place, so it actually helped me discover myself.

All through the album, there’s this pressure between darkness and lightweight, hope and despair, reckless love and deep love. Which of those ended up being the toughest to write down about?

I do discover it arduous to write down concerning the darkness, as a result of I’ve to possibly go to locations that I don’t all the time wish to go to. And it’s the toughest components to share as properly – I suppose quite a lot of the time, the folks round me won’t have recognized what I used to be going by means of, and having to share that’s just a bit bit more durable. That might have been probably the most personally difficult to write down about. However love is a tough factor to write down about too, and from a technical level as properly, to not make it sound cliche or something. I solely actually may say that I discovered love inside this new album, so it was like my first shot at writing about love.

What about totally different expressions of affection, just like the recklessness of ‘Foolishly in Love’ and ‘I’m Not Made to Love Solely You’? Was that totally different from the extra grounded songs?

The extra reckless songs, like ‘Foolishly in Love’ and ‘I’m Not Made to Love Solely You’, they simply felt like songs that I actually wanted to write down as a result of they’re conversations which might be fairly arduous to have with folks. It’s not one thing you wish to share all the time to lots of people, however I feel it’s one thing that I actually query loads, and I’m all the time somebody who’s form of questioning all the pieces. I used to be at a stage the place I used to be – I’m on this relationship, we’re married now, so it’s like all the pieces was coming collectively and I used to be simply form of panicking about actually what it’s that I would like, and what I see love as. It was only a complicated time for me, however it was actually essential as a result of I feel I received quite a lot of readability out of writing these songs. They’re questions that don’t all the time actually need solutions, so it was virtually extra about processing all these ideas.

After having that readability, have been you tempted to return and reshape a music like ‘I’m Not Made to Love Solely You’ – and even simply retitle it, as a result of that frames the music in a particular manner?

Completely. I made the choice, although, to maintain the title. I simply don’t consider that individuals ought to be all the time even held essentially accountable for what they specific, as a result of it’s simply ideas and processing all the pieces working by means of you. I don’t know what I consider on a regular basis, I’m all the time altering what I would like, and I don’t essentially assume anybody is made to like one different particular person. I really feel like that’s an announcement that I actually do consider, and I suppose I by no means wished it to be interpreted as unfaithfulness, as a result of I’m probably not speaking about that. I feel that’s what I used to be extra afraid of.

Trying again on the making Deep Is the Manner, what does it imply so that you can be true – to your self, to others, or to your ambitions as an artist? Is that one thing you’re nonetheless questioning?

Yeah, positively. I feel that retains altering as properly, however I simply assume honesty is likely one of the most respected issues we can provide to one another. Simply with the ability to query these deeper issues and having a protected place to share them. As an artist, I actually simply wish to come throughout as sincere, and likewise a good friend – for me, music seems like I’m hanging out with a good friend, and I’d love that to be the identical with my music, that individuals really feel like they’re not alone. And I feel that’s why honesty is vital, as a result of all of them come hand in hand – to be a good friend, to be sincere, to not really feel alone.

The place does your relationship with music as a good friend stand in the meanwhile?

I really feel like not too long ago, superb. I form of fall out and in of affection with music on a regular basis. I’ve had instances in my life the place, I write music, after which after I’m listening to it, it form of brings one thing up in me the place I’m like, “I don’t wish to do that anymore.” However I feel now I perceive why I’m obsessive about music and having music round all the time, as a result of I actually really feel like there’s folks on the market writing stuff that’s precisely what I really feel and we have to hear. I positively am extra aware of what I’m listening to and the way it’s affecting me.

You sing about desires and dreaming of a shiny future, but additionally the unfavourable results that may have. Do you continue to really feel like a dreamer, and what does that imply for you proper now?

Yeah, positively. I feel it’s one thing I’m actually understanding about who I’m as properly, that I’m a dreamer. And as I become old and issues turn into extra financially arduous and there’s a lot happening in life on the whole, I feel I’ve needed to actually perceive what it’s and why I’m dreaming, and what I worth in my desires. I’m not going to lie, my dream is to be a musician, and I feel I’ve to essentially perceive why I wish to be a musician and pull myself out of that typically. As a result of typically I’ll get to a degree the place I’m figuring out my happiness upon my desires – I don’t assume it ought to decide how completely satisfied you might be, how a lot your desires are coming true and the way a lot they’re not. I feel it ought to be one thing separate. And for lots of years I’d let this dream of mine – if it wasn’t going properly, then different points of my life weren’t going properly. I’m positively attempting to nonetheless be a dreamer, however attempting to be a bit extra grounded on the similar time.

I feel I’ve tried to study to like the dreaming somewhat than the dream. That’s really probably the most superb a part of it, and I by no means wish to give that up. I’ve positively considered it and tried, possibly for like a bit bit, and it’s simply not value it, once you don’t have that, the dreaming of the dream. [laughs] It’s like, I don’t even need the dream – I simply all the time wish to be dreaming. As a result of that’s really a protected place, that’s in your management, and that’s as much as you. However the dream – you’re by no means going to essentially be capable of management that.

This interview has been edited and condensed for readability and size.

Gena Rose Bruce’s Deep Is the Manner is out now through Dot Sprint/Distant Management Information.