French For Rabbits: Dream-Folk From Canterbury (Interview)

New Zealand self-described “dream/folk” band French For Rabbits release their debut album, Spirits, today. The Canterbury-area based act began as a duo with Brooke Singer and John Fitzgerald gaining international acclaim after releasing their EP, Claimed By The Sea. They have now expanded to a four-piece while recording Spirits in Wellington. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke to Brooke Singer just as she and the band were about to head out for a European tour supporting Agnes Obel. French For Rabbits will play dates in New Zealand when they return in December.

Click here to listen to the interview with Brooke Singer:

Or, read a transcription of the interview here:

MD: I think for a lot of people, this will be the first time being exposed to you guys. I know you had an EP out in 2012. So we’ll start by just getting some background information about you. So you’re originally from Christchurch?

BS: Kind of. Me and John started French For Rabbits when we moved to Wellington, which was I think in 2011.

MD: Right.

BS: Yeah 2011 I think, just around the time of the earthquakes in Christchurch which is where we’re from.

MD: Right.

BS: And so we moved to Wellington and kind of started to play there, yeah we were just really quietly beginning, cause’ I didn’t used to sing so when I started singing, we played some open mic nights and then, yeah, just started.

MD: How did the two of you get together musically?

BS: Well, we’ve known each other for a really long time but we just… he studied jazz and I didn’t study jazz,  so we had quite different musical backgrounds but yeah we eventually started playing together.

MD: And what is your musical background?

BS: I grew up playing the piano, so. I was meant to be a classical pianist, well, you know, that’s what I studied but I didn’t spend much time actually practicing, I spent more time writing songs. So that’s how I ended up being a song writer. I did study music at university but yeah that was all the while I was writing songs which kinda took over from my studies really.

MD: So what inspired you to be a song writer rather than a classical pianist? Were songs just kind of coming to you or were you inspired by someone else and decided to do it.

BS: Yeah, I’ve just always written songs. I wrote my first one when I was about 5 and it was about my cat who died.

MD: Right.

BS: I’ve been on a, you know, ever- onwards spiral  of depressing music. Yeah, I guess, I don’t even know what a song was when I started writing, you know, I  didn’t know that song writing was a thing, I just started doing it.

MD: And were there any song writers that you listen to that you kind of drew inspiration from?

BS: I mean originally, I really liked the soundtrack to the Cats musical.

MD: Right. Okay.

BS: Really good musical but I don’t listen to musicals anymore besides from that one part.

MD: I would have to say that’s a wise move on your part. I’ve never been particularly fond of musicals myself.

BS: Yeah so I mean I really, at the time I really liked Pat Benatar and Blondie and The Beach Boys… my original musical favourites when I was like 4 years old.

MD: Alrighty and so what would you say is kind of the musical glue that brings and hold you and John together?

BS: I don’t know. We’re quite different in that respect. Like John’s quite analytical and he thinks from a more theoretical perspective and I’m a bit more airy-fairy, well I’m definitely not airy-fairy but I come at it from quite a, like a, just like comes out, you know, intuitive.

MD: Right.

BS: Yeah I don’t really think about chords and stuff all that much.

MD: So you say you didn’t start singing until you moved to Wellington.

BS: Yeah. I think I started singing when I was like 23, 24, I don’t know, something like that  It’s basically I didn’t know anyone in Wellington, so it wasn’t quite so terrifying singing in front of people you meet.

MD: Right. It’s easier to sing in front of people you don’t know than with the people you know.

BS: Yeah.

MD: Did you know that you could sing? You just chose not to until that point or?

BS: Oh no, I actually didn’t think I could sing before that so. I didn’t think I had a very nice voice so. It just suddenly happened really, yeah.

MD: And so the song writing…I have a promo copy of the album but it doesn’t have any credits or anything.  So I’m wondering first of all about the song writing and is it done by both of you together, singularly, individually? How does that work?

BS: So I guess most of the time I write the beginnings of songs but sometimes not, like we’re got a song on the album called Seafarer and that started with like the guitar part so that is what John wrote and then I kind of came up with lyrics afterwards, which, and that’s quite a story-based song.

Click here to listen to Seafarer from Spirits:

MD: Right.

BS: Which is a bit different perhaps from some of the others. And also we play with a full band now. So we’ve got Ben Wood on base and he sings as well and Hikurangi on drums and so since we’ve started playing with them, it’s gotten, definitely gotten loud and this album is kind of a reflection of that cause’ yeah things have got a bit more dramatic on this in comparison to the EP which is a lot softer and quieter.

MD: Alright and they play on the album, do they?

BS: Yeah they play on the album. Yup.

MD: Where was the album recorded?

BS: We recorded it in Wellington in a place called the Blue Barn and it’s just like this big open space. Yeah which is quite nice acoustically. So we did it that and it’s nice and homey which I liked.

MD: Right.

BS: But we recorded bits, I recorded all the vocal parts mainly in my laundry, in my old house in Wellington.

MD: Okay.

BS: Cause it was quiet.

MD: Right.

BS: And sounded nice. So I kind of like hole up there late at night when theres no cars driving past and do all the vocals by myself.

MD: Oh I see. So is it a self-produced album or?

BS: Kind of, yeah. It’s produced by Ben Wood who our bass player. He also plays in TrinityRoots so.

MD: Right.

BS: He’s had a bit of experience doing production and stuff. Yeah and we kind of just did it ourselves. We started off with one idea for how we wanted it to sound, which is kind of lo-fi and hazy and things and I think what we’ve ended up is a bit different.

MD: Right.

BS: Yeah it’s a bit more.

MD: It’s definitely not lo-fi…

BS: No it’s not lo-fi anymore. It’s kind of got much more modern approach now.

MD: Theres strings throughout it or are they actual strings or are they?

BS: Yeah, we had, I think string players on maybe 3 or 4 of the songs.

MD: Right.

BS: They’re just friends of ours from Wellington so. Yeah that was really good. They just came in for a day, or half day and we made some stuff up on the spot. Yeah so I guess that, it makes it quite lush like we wanted a really warm sounding record.

MD: Right.

BS: Kind of a warm sounding but it’s also a bit cold, that kind of strange combination of being warm and cold at same time.

MD: Well you do have a song called Cold.

BS: We do have a song called Cold. It sounds kind of cold and warm at the same time.

MD: Right.

BS: I feel.

MD: Well anytime that you have like, I think real instruments, you know, organic instruments playing you can’t help but get some warmth out of them.

BS: Yeah.

MD: It’s the sound of, you know, the strings and whatever.

BS: Yeah. So it is quite warm. We like, brought In a few ideas from electronic music. Like we used side chaining on some of the drums which does this thing where it compresses it and that sounds a particular way.

MD: Right.

BS: Theres a little bit of that in there but it’s still quite organic. Yeah.

MD: Alrighty. So you’re heading off to Europe, starting in Paris I guess tomorrow.

BS: Yes.

MD: Which is where, I assume from what I’ve read, you’re more well-known over there than here. Is that, would that be a first statement?

BS: I don’t know I that’s true or not. I mean we’ve kinda been a bit under the radar especially like when we put out our EP we didn’t do any promotion or anything for it really. We just put online.

MD: Right.

BS: But we’ve definitely had, like I think we’ve got people who know us around Europe but they all spread out to random places. Yeah so, which is quite cool, so wherever we go we’ve found there’s always been someone who knows us, even if it’s in the most random place.

MD: Right.

BS: It’s been really funny. Yeah you get to hear their funny stories about how they found our music and you know, it’s pretty cool. Yeah, so we’ve travelled, we’ve been there quite a lot just in the past few years. So we went there in June last year and we went for 4 months just as a, like an experiment and we did this like crazy ramshackle house concert tour.

MD: Right. Was it just the two of you at that point?

BS: Yeah it was just the two of us, yeah and yeah we met lots of great people. So and then we went back again and that was also really fun and but mainly playing more shows rather than concerts.

MD: Right.

BS: And this time we’re going back with our full band and I suppose it’s our biggest tour,  probably the tour that we’re going to go broke on. But it’s, yeah we’re releasing our album and playing with a lady called Agnes Obel, who’s a really good song writer.

MD: Oh yes. Yes I am familiar with her.

BS: Yeah. So she’s from Denmark I think and we’re joining her on her full European tour.

MD: Very cool.

BS: So, yeah. Playing like fancy venues with like velvet curtains and chandeliers and things.

MD: Nice.

BS: Yeah then after that we’re gonna go back to our more lo-fi approach. We’re gonna go through Italy. Yeah we haven’t been there.

MD: Cause’ I imagine you kind of need the right environment to play your music. It’s very quiet and kind of delicate and you don’t wanna be in a bar where there’s bottles rattling and people kind of talking around you so.

BS: Yeah, that doesn’t really work for us.

MD: Yeah.

BS: That’s why we really love playing house concerts cause’ they’re like pretty much the most intimate form of concert you can get.

MD: Right.

BS: Which works really well for us and you know, I’d rather play to the least people but have it feeling really lovely rather than playing in a bar to heaps of people but it’s really poor listening environment.

MD: Right, yup. Is there interest in the United States as well? I see you’re on a kind of a Fat Possum related label so there must be something.

BS: Yeah. It was quite of a random occurrence cause’ when we were in Portugal, we were staying at a surf camp there cause’ John’s obsessed with surfing. So we were there for like a month and a half and while we were there, we somehow were put in touch with this guy from this label called Lefse. So they’re based in America and we’ve never actually met them yet.

MD: Okay.

BS: But we talk to them online. They’re really, really lovely. So they asked us if we’d like to put our album on their label. Yeah that’s just how the Fat Possum which is like a, I guess they are well-known for putting up lots of old Blues records.

MD: That’s right, yeah.

BS: Yeah so, they’re doing the album and we’d really love to go on tour there but it’s just the matter of working it out cause, you know, visas and things.

MD: Yes.

BS: A bit crazy over there so.

MD: So you haven’t been to The States yet?

BS: We’ve been, but only for 10 days on our way back from Europe.

MD: Gotcha.

BS: We didn’t do like a tour or anything .

MD: Alright and for folks who haven’t heard you yet and would be wondering what you sound like. How would you describe what you sound like to people?

BS: Well, we’ve taken to calling it Dream Folk.

MD: Yeah.

BS: Or like, it’s somewhere in the realms of Dream Folk but I feel like this latest album’s drifted away from the folk genre quite a bit.

MD: Yeah.

BS: More alternative. It’s not pop music in the traditional sense of pop but it’s got, it’s a little bit more upbeat, some of it actually.

MD: Right.

BS: Even though it’s still depressing.

MD: Yeah well Gone Gone Gone is a more upbeat song, most certainly.

BS: Yeah but the lyrics, lyrically it’s not upbeat.

MD: Right.

BS: Yeah.

MD: But then the song just the song just before Hard Luck Stories has got you drinking whisky alone in a bar..

BS: Yeah. So I’m not really, yeah. I think people should just have a listen. I think it’s really warm and I think it’s a good kind of music to listen to before you go to sleep.

MD: Okay and are there plans  for you guys to play in New Zealand at all?

BS: Yeah, we’re coming back to New Zealand in December and we’re gonna tour around New Zealand then just for like 2 weeks.

MD: Right.

BS: Because it’s getting quite close to Christmas. Yeah, so we’re gonna play a tour then and then that’s pretty much where our plans end. So yeah, hopefully people can come.

MD: Sounds good. Alright, well. So you’re heading off to France tomorrow right?

BS: Yeah. I’m a bit sleepy today because we’ve been doing all these last minute getting ready things.

MD: Like what? What do you have to do to get ready to hit the road?

BS: Well we’re been having band practices, which is great cause’ Ben’s from Wellington so he’s flown down a little bit early.

MD: Right.

BS: And we’re trying to figure out where we’re staying cause’ we’re on like a pretty much a zero budget.

MD: Right.

BS: So yeah we’re calling in every friend and vague relation into our tour plan, yeah.

MD: And so I assume you don’t get much, you don’t get any kind of support from the record label, you’re putting this tour together yourself?

BS: Well we can do, but we like to do things as much by ourselves as we can.

MD: Okay.

BS: I’m a bit silly like that, I like to do things my way..