FRÄULEIN: Congratulations on your third LP, “Lover, Other”! What is the story behind the title?
LOWE: Thank you! when I was on a Spanish residential at the very beginning of the album process I was recommended a documentary called ‘lover other’ about the performance artist and photographer Claude Cahun (who I’m now a huge fan of). I scrawled the name big in my lyric book so every time I opened my lyric book over the album process I saw these words. It felt fitting as the album thematically looks at the delicate line between opposing feelings I was questioning; self-doubt pitted against self-assurance, age against youth, life against death.
Your songs combine a mix of music genres. How would you define your music style?
I’m inspired by so much different music and knew I wanted this album to be a collage of different elements and processes of music I love to make. I love choral music, sample culture, live music & the more produced elements of electronic music. I wanted to weave all these things together in one body of work.
Since the release your last album “YU” five years have passed. What has changed in that time for you as an artist? How has your music evolved over the past five years?
I think my music is always a reflection of where I’m at in my life and a lot has changed for me in my life in the past 5 years. I parted ways with my previous label and that gave me a new sense of freedom being away from a label schedule and expectation. I co wrote and produced a collaborative album with my friend, Duval Timothy, in 2021 and that has also been a big part of me wanting to make this album in the way I have. In many ways I’m more self assured than I was 5 years ago and that will have had an impact on the music and my intention to be producing and steering the ship.
Which one of your new songs is the most meaningful for you and why?
Sundown is the opening and closing song of the album. I wrote it a few days after a beloved friend took his own life and it was a very necessary song for me to write to process what had happened. It holds a space in my heart.
Can you walk us through your typical process for writing and producing a song?
My process for this album was quite different from normal. I made the intention at the beginning of the process that I wanted to keep writing until I had a pool of ideas (30-40 songs/ideas) to pick from, and then move into the production process. I usually start with a musical element whether that be a few chords, a sample loop or a drum break and riff melodies over that. Once something lands and feels good I try to work out what lyrics I’m subconsciously singing, there’s always something there. From there it’s about forming the rest of the song and I’m usually led by the music and what feels good. I try to stay in my body and not be in my head in these processes as I think my body knows best. Naturally when making a song I’m recording at the same time so production choices are happening simultaneously, but for this album I was intentional about not going in too deep with the production choices and leaving everything rough around the seams. As long as the idea was there, I’d move on and come back to the production later.
