trippin' the rift can you trip like i do?

Hungry Lucy interview for trippin’ the rift

As I announced a little while ago, Hungry Lucy (Christa Belle and Warren Harrison) have agreed to do an interview for trippin' the rift. Reed it and weep (with joy):

tipkin - First and obvious: who is Hungry Lucy and what is she hungry for?

Christa - The original story is that Lucy is a ghost, and she'd died of a fever epidemic (it's a long story!). When she haunted the house, she was hungry for food. They nicknamed her "Hungry Lucy". However, the name for us, as the band, translated more into a hunger for making music that no one had experienced before. Hungry Lucy as a band is hungry for life and all it offers.

t. - What is your reaction when you see/hear something like "trip-hop act Hungry Lucy" or "gothic-pop band Hungry Lucy". Do you think that your genre-blending opens your music for wider audience, and is it deliberate?

Warren - With our first album (Apparitions, 2000) I think we were going for a more deliberate sound, but since then we've tried to focus on creating music that moves us. Labeling the music really only comes in to play when it's time to market each album. The fact that we cross so many genres makes it inevitable that this label contain a few hyphens and mixed categories.

C. - I definitely think it makes us open to a wider audience. That's never a bad thing.

t. - Your Bio on Twitter says "gypsy electronica music". Any blood connections with mysterious nation?

W. - I was born in England and Christa was born in the United States. I don't know if either of those are particularly mysterious. The term "gypsy electronica" really comes from the combination of folk instruments (accordion, whistle) with synthetic textures.

t. - If you would describe your music in one word, what would it be?

W. - Moving

t. - Even though you are an electronica project I can't help but feel some Medieval vibe. Is it just me?

W. - Again, we tend to pull in whatever musical elements are speaking to us at the time. I really like bringing together contrasting styles so there are certainly medieval overtones to a few of our songs.

t. - There is a lot of darkness in your music. Where is it coming from? Personal experiences or outside inspirations?

C. - A lot of the darkness came from life and some of my own personal experiences, as far as the lyrics go. But the ever-present darkness is also there because that's just how life is. Whether we are aware or not, there are always dark things surrounding us. It's our perception of them that makes the difference.

t. - Despite the darkness though, most of your songs have that "light at the end of the tunnel" feeling. Would you consider yourselves optimists?

C. - These days, yes. I would consider myself an optimist. But in the earlier days of Hungry Lucy, my outlook on life was a lot more pessimistic. I learned through making music, and life in general, that it isn't all darkness and doom. You have to want to see some light, and I have finally learned how to do just that.

t. - Let's talk a bit about the new album. Is that true that you isolated yourselves completely from outside world during recording?

C. - I wouldn't say that, but we did spend time in a cabin in the woods while most of the music was written. All of the main ideas for 80% of the songs came out of that cabin visit, but it was all recorded and finalized in our usual home studio over many months after that. However, we are pretty introverted folks anyway, so to say that we were isolated isn't that far from our normal life!

t. - I hear more synth-pop influence on Pulse of the Earth compared to earlier works. Am I wrong?

C. - No, you are not wrong. It definitely has a more synth-vibe to it, and that was just what came out as we wrote the songs. We didn't try to make it sound extra synth-rich on purpose. That's just what decided to show itself to us at the time.

t. - Is that Warren singing on 'Sunday Smiled'? I don't remember this happening before. What was special about this song?

C. - It is indeed the lovely Warren singing on that song. He has sung on many of the other songs before, but not in that type of showcased performance. He's also on "Hill" in the backing tracks and many others from our past albums. The song "Sunday Smiled" was very different than what we'd done before. It was a song that was inspired by a view from two different people, and it needed two different voices. So, it just made sense. People always think it's more a song of lovely things, but the twist is, it isn't.

t. - Are there any tour plans to promote the album?

C. - We aren't planning any tours or live shows at this time.

t. - You make your music as accessible as it can be and doing nice things for your fans like this interview. How do fans return the love?

C. - Oh goodness. The fans return the love in many, many ways! As most of your readers may know, we are licensed under Creative Commons. This means people can share our music as much as they want, and in return we've had more sales than ever just by encouraging people to share! Plus, they send us direct emails telling us of their love for our music and how it's helped them through difficult times. To know that our music has helped people makes it all worthwhile. That's part of why I do music: to let people know they are not alone.

t. - Last question: my blog is bi-lingual and I will be translating this interview into Russian. Anything you'd like to say to your Russian fans? Any plans to visit Russia?

C. - Thank you! We've always had a pretty significant Russian following, and it is always greatly appreciated. I'd love to see your country someday, but there are no plans in the near future.

For those of you lagging behind, here is a promotional video for Hungry Lucy's fourth full-length album Pulse Of the Earth, which you can buy here:

Visit band's website to see, read and, of course, hear more (I know you want to).