HEY YOU! ADA LEA
We had a chat with Ada Lea about the release of her new album, ‘when i paint my masterpiece’
Hi Alexandra, how's it going and how are you feeling about the release of your new album 'when i paint my masterpiece'?
I always feel weird during releases and my way of coping is to not do anything about it. I'm really looking forward to people connecting with the album, though. I hope there's something that speaks to listeners.
This album has been a few years in the making - tell us a bit about the process and the environment you recorded in?
At the end of 2022 after some really long tours, I felt completely exhausted and wanted to recenter and feel connected to myself and the people around me. I worked on writing the songs and then rehearsing them at length with the band. I wanted to capture us (Tasy Hudson, Summer Kodama, Chris Hauer) playing them live-off-the-floor. Using entire takes, not copy-pasting or years of overdubs. We recorded it at Port William Sound with Jonas Bonnetta in rural Ontario, under the production guidance and tutelage of painter-musician Luke Temple.
Give us a lil bit of a background on your relationship with music and painting, and how these two art forms have shaped this record?
I've always approached music and painting as two separate activities, but for each record I’d make visual work that intended to expand the universe of the song. I am a slow processor and I don't think in sentences. The difference between paintings and songs is the temporal experience I think. Temporally, we are taking a painting in in one moment, whereas songs require a slower process, shaped over time. I wondered how songs could be more like paintings (images taken in in one moment) and how paintings could act more like songs (a feeling of time elapsing). I wanted the music to feel more immediate for this album, and not overly concerned with resolving itself. The goal was not the end result.
I sometimes have a vague plan, but it's only through the "doing" that I "learn" something.
You've recently added 'educator' to your skillset - how has passing on knowledge of songwriting influenced your own music?
I'm learning about art education through experiencing it and being launched into it! I've learned a lot in the past four years, and I'm beginning an MA in Art Education, too, so I'm sure my ideas around education will evolve the more I learn. One concept that’s been foundational for me is from the "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" (1968) by Paulo Freire. His critique of the traditional teacher-student relationship, where the teacher is the all-knowing authority and students are passive recipients, really resonated with me. That kind of classroom environment doesn’t feel inspiring. Anyone's experience and discoveries can help someone else on their songwriting journey and we are in constant exchange, no matter the experience. There are no rules, and no answers... So I try to create a classroom environment where that knowledge is shared, and where we are all responsible for each other's growth. My partner Thomas is finishing his studies in Teaching & Learning to become a high school English teacher, and I've learned a lot from our discussions, too.
I feel very changed from the songwriting course. I don't think I can articulate it now. I wrote most of the songs on this record before I started teaching.
When ~inspiration~ strikes, do you immediately know wether you're going to create a song or a painting? Have you ever started an idea on one medium then finished it through another?
Whatever is closest to me (and how much time I have). Painting is more about interacting with the materials, for me, than it is about completing an idea. I can have a predetermined idea or project in mind, but I don't think anything I've drawn, painted or written has ended up how I had planned. Being open to the direction I am being led is the most important aspect of creating, for me. If the wing of a bird wants to become a hat then it will be a hat, even if it doesn't make sense just yet.
What's next for Ada Lea?
Lots of shows coming up! In the UK in August opening for Allegra Krieger and "@". Then heading out with Tasy, Summer and Chris for dates in the US in September through November, and some Canadian shows as well.
Fri, Aug 16 - Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
Sat, Aug 17 - Bristol, UK @ Rough Trade Bristol w/ Allegra Krieger
Sun, Aug 18 - Edinburgh, UK @ Sneaky Pete's w/ Allegra Krieger
Mon, Aug 19 - Glasgow, UK @ Nice n' Sleazy w/ Allegra Krieger
Tue, Aug 20 - Chester, UK @ St. Mary's Creative Space w/ Allegra Krieger
Wed, Aug 21 - London, UK @ Lexington, Line of Best Fit w/ Allegra Krieger
