Elizabeth Le Fey, young, fresh and solo is the lone official member of speedily growing heartfelt project, Globelamp. Poetic, soaring vocals meet an eclectic 1980โs inspired style in the thoughtful Globelamp. Where Elizabeth once stood in the line-up of short lived brilliance Foxygen, her second solo album โThe Orange Glowโ leaves no room for nostalgia. Globelamp is musically and personally a strong woman and her future is alight with growth and possibility.
indieberlin: Youโre about to drop your second album โThe Orange Glowโ. Iโve really enjoyed it, it feels super authentic. How long did it take you to record?
Elizabeth Le Fey: Thanks very much! Itโs been so scattered. It took about a year I guess. Itโs been on and off. Iโve doe parts of it in a straight session but then gone away for a while, so itโs been like a year all together.
indieberlin: You talk about some hard hitting content. Do you feel like this is a healing process for some of your personal trials?
I just want to get to the heart of something and I think that does come across in my music.
Elizabeth Le Fey: Yeah, I think thatโs how I am as a person and it comes out in my music. It sounds dumb saying โIโm really deepโ but I just mean that I donโt like superficial things, pointless conversations or that sort of thing. I just want to get to the heart of something and I think that does come across in my music. I donโt mind talking about my life. It is therapeutic for me. Ultimately, I make music for myself because it feels good to express myself through song. It always felt good to write poems and it felt even better to sing them, and then if other people like it thatโs even better but like it was always for me.
inideberlin: Yeah, I saw that you started off writing poetry. Do those two creative outlets have separate positions in your life, or do they come together quite naturally?
Elizabeth Le Fey: I had always written poems and then I realised that I could put them to a song. Poems are longer, more descriptive and I usually just pick parts out of them for the song, because songs are moreโฆ you know, you have to rearrange words so that they fit better. Iโve written in a journal since I was a teenager and I kind of flip through my journal, pick lines and then make it make sense. Or Iโll have a theme. Sometimes Iโll literally just go through my journal because Iโll forget what Iโve written. Letโs say Iโm here [in a bar] but I have an idea, Iโll write it down and then use it later. The same with voice memos, Iโll make up a ten second chorus and Iโll know that itโs going to be a chorus for something and then Iโll go back and make everything fit around it.
indieberlin: I guess your music doesnโt have to be so focused on one moment of your life that way, it can tell a longer story.
Iโve always loved music, listening to it, so yeah, Iโm glad other people like my music too…
Elizabeth Le Fey: Yeah definitely, itโs interesting because they can be really old poems, and no one would know, you know? Except me and I always liked that because it made me feel better to be able to speak in that language of music. Iโve always loved music, listening to it, so yeah, Iโm glad other people like my music too but that was never the main thing. If I did want to do that, I think Iโd write lighter content.
indieberlin: Is there ever anything too personal worried about sharing?
Elizabeth Le Fey: Kind of but if I felt that it was too intense I would probably just word it in a way that made it seem like it wasnโt necessarily about me. If I were to write something really vulnerable I would write it from the narrative of something else. Thereโs always a way to tell something. I feel like maybe I wouldnโt necessarily tell everyone much about my family drama, I mean that would be a lot to dump on someone!
I could put it into a song and there are things that have happened that maybe if I put into a song, other people out there will have experienced something similar, they could listen to it and appreciate it. I would rather turn it into that, more of a universal feeling. Take something thatโs bad and turn it into something that people can relate to. Also, I donโt think thereโs anything worth hiding really.
Iโve always preferred intense song-writers and emotional music.
As a culture weโve been hiding things for a long time and itโs lead to people having all types of problems like people being in the closet, people being afraid to talk about abuse, all these things have made people afraid to talk about the truth and the more people that are vulnerable and open and talk about these things, itโs actually kind of radical to be emotionally open because weโve lived in a heartless society, so Iโm totally about it. Iโd just deliver some things in a more lyrical sense. For instance I smoke a lot of weed but my songs are never explicitly like, โIโm smoking, blah blah blahโ, I donโt need to say exactly what I do in my life. There are some song-writers that do that. Iโve always preferred intense song-writers and emotional music.
indieberlin: Who are your biggest inspirations?
Elizabeth Le Fey: I have a lot. It depends on my mood and I have a few different sides to me. Thereโs the singer-songwriter side that is inspired by Elliot smith, Syd Barrett, Catpower, Tori Amos and Nike Drake. Then thereโs another side of me that is more inspired by punk like Bikini Kill and Against Me and then another side is influenced by Neutral Milk Hotel and also Kate Bush, Patti Smith, Niko and of course The Beatles.
David Bowie was always one of my favourites. He made characters, had different personas, he created worlds.
Thatโs how I learned to write all my music, The Beatles really helped me to develop my use of all these different chords and then Modest Mouse taught me about tempo changes. I love tempo changes! David Bowie was always one of my favourites. He made characters, had different personas, he created worlds. So all of these people may be very different but theyโve all come together to make me who I am and my music the way it sounds. Oh and Bright Eyes, I forgot about them. Thatโs actually why I started writing music.
I saw Conor Oberst live once and I was always afraid to [perform] live by myself because youโre alone, but watching him felt so powerful, I felt like I couldโve been watching one of the greats like Bob Dylan or something, everybody was perfectly quiet, he sang about really political stuff and it was cool to see someone have that much control over an audience by themself. I forgot what a good songwriter was about before I saw him live. I realised that I donโt necessarily need a band so it made me feel ok about being alone. Iโm not playing with a band right now, but I will. I can do both.
indieberlin: Do you get nervous being alone on stage?
Elizabeth Le Fey: I donโt get nervous but I feel better after I play. Iโm not afraid of being on a stage, but if I know I have to play I canโt stop thinking about it. Itโs not stressful but itโs just waiting for when am I going to do it.
indieberlin: I can really hear a lot of the artists you mentioned in your musical style, as well as your dress personal style.
As a singer/songwriter I want to be more diverse and become more of a storyteller rather than someone who just plays the same chords and never changes.
Elizabeth Le Fey: Thanks so much, I like that. I didnโt ever stick to one genre or vibe. As a singer/songwriter I want to be more diverse and become more of a storyteller rather than someone who just plays the same chords and never changes. David Bowie had his thematic albums and was so big but he also had a private life, and people felt like they knew him so much still, itโs interesting. His imagery and lyrics, they make you think about the future and the past. Thereโs a lot about space but imagining something distant, heโs just the best! We went to the David Bowie mural in Brixton. I put a bunch of gems on a lightning bolt and threw a bunch of glitter everywhere, yeah that was awesome. Probably the best part of the tour for me!
indieberlin: Do you feel a big development between your 2014 debut โStar Dustโ and โThe Orange Glowโ. How do you see your music developing in the future?
Elizabeth Le Fey: I think it happens naturally for me. Iโm not necessarily a techy person, I consider myself more of a songwriter and storyteller. I have friends who have all this gear and Iโm always just writing. Iโve actually already written my next album but the songs need to be refined. Often Iโll write a song and then it will be six months until I really figure out how it goes. When I keep on playing it, I might realise how I should sing one little part. You can have it written but it will change the more you play it.
Iโm certainly getting better as a songwriter, or at least I can write faster now. The Orange glow for me consists of older songs, itโs thematic whereas the first one wasnโt so much. The next one, I donโt know a name yet but I know the songs so maybe itโs not so much a thematic album. So they differ in that sense. Iโd love to write another thematic album after that one.
indieberlin: What kind of process would you use to make a thematic album? Would you want to go somewhere, lock yourself away in a forest and write?
One of my last songs was called Faerie Queen, so I want to make an album thatโs mystical and alludes to these things.
Elizabeth Le Fey: I think you write wherever you are, if youโre imaginative enough. Iโd love to do one called The Goblin Goblet or something. One of my last songs was called Faerie Queen, so I want to make an album thatโs mystical and alludes to these things. I also want to do a zodiac album with twelve songs focusing on the 12 zodiac signs, just focusing an entire album on something specific. I could probably do that anywhere. If I wanted to draw inspiration from a city then sure, Iโd go there, but Iโm talking about mystical things and I can find those inspirations anywhere.
indieberlin: In Washington Moon you compare your two homes, Washington (state) and California. Do you feel like location has a big impression on your art, or even your person?
Elizabeth Le Fey: I think so. I hate the heat. It draws my energy. When I was in Olympia, Washington the rain helped me to write more, but also it could be draining with the cold. Thereโs more solitude in Washington and more time for introspection of writing. I donโt really like California that much. I mean, I love it, Iโm from there but then itโs too crowded and I get social anxiety. I donโt love the traffic, the pollution, itโs hot and smoggy and it can make me miserable. In Washington I feel blissed out more; I can go outside and smell the trees, itโs beautiful. Iโd rather be around nature, even though it might be lacking in the arts compared to LA or something, I feel like I make better art being secluded than I would if I was in a City.
indieberlin: Vaguely ironic donโt you think? You need to be in a city to make your artwork, but itโs often much less inspiring than being away from it.
Elizabeth Le Fey: Right, you need to be in LA, New York, these big cities and its totally expensive there if youโre an artist trying to make it, but I mean, how are you going to make it? You have to work all the time to pay your rent, you donโt have any time to even write a song. Thatโs why I moved to Washington, my rent was so fucking cheap that I could work and write songs easily and have a band and play shows and it wasnโt a strain on me, I couldnโt be a slave to my job, that wasnโt me, I didnโt want to work 9-5 in a store just to pay rent and in The OC I would have to do that. Not that I think thereโs anything wrong with that but thatโs not what I want to do. Iโd rather try and play music while Iโm young. Itโs so expensive there.
indieberlin: I think itโs a big accomplishment to not give in to this living for money lifestyle, if thatโs not what you want to do.
Thatโs why I thought, why not move to Washington, the place where that awesome music came from, the people there might get me.
Elizabeth Le Fey: Yes. Itโs weird, I grew up in California and everyone was like, โmove to L.A., thatโs where youโll make it in musicโ. Then I moved to Olympia and everyone questioned it. But if I hadnโt moved there, I would never have started Globelamp. I am where I am now because of Washington. Itโs not the place you might think to go, its not booming. I always liked Riot Grrrl, Nirvana, K Records and thatโs all from Olympia. Thatโs why I thought, why not move to Washington, the place where that awesome music came from, the people there might get me. And they did, and it worked. Itโs still small and towny, but it worked.
indieberlin: Do you get recognised because itโs a small place?
Elizabeth Le Fey: Everywhere anyone goes in Olympia, people recognise you, simply because youโre in a small town, you always bump into everyone. Thatโs weird; especially after being in a big city where youโre not going to run into the same people in every store you go in. Once Globelamp started getting attention, people would think they knew me because theyโd read something online and itโs a really small town, that type of stuff. Portland would be cool, itโs like Olympia but bigger.
indieberlin: Would you ever move over to Europe?
Elizabeth Le Fey: Iโd love to move to Europe, I want to live with my uncle in Bonn for a bit. He has a lot of land and itโs pretty and my labels in London so itโs close. My Uncle has a refugee family at his house, 6 people. In the states we arenโt accepting them and meeting them has made me more grounded. I actually want to live there so I could be by the kids that I met. Being around them has been really inspiring to me. People that have had their house bombed or walked for months, theyโve been through so much and they are stillโฆ happy. Itโs amazing. In the U.S., Iโve probably never met kids that nice. That makes me not want to go back and to stay at my Uncleโs and help with the kids.
indieberlin: You must have a pretty strong viewpoint on the refugee crisis now.
Elizabeth Le Fey: Yeah, Iโm really supportive of Germany accepting refugees; it made me so proud when my uncle housed them. Itโs an amazing thing to do. To a lot of people, that sort of thing feels so natural, to help, but then other people wouldnโt ever help. It seems like common sense to me, if I had an extra room or a place, Iโd share it. My uncle has a spare house on his land; of course heโs going to let people stay there. But then Neighbours have assumed things and said โthey need to be gratefulโ etc. and itโs likeโฆ what the fuck, they are grateful, theyโve walked for months and you just donโt know them.
One of the girls, if she doesnโt get a new hip by the time sheโs 20, she wonโt be able to walk. Her house was bombed, her dad was a photographer and a teacher, and half of the Western population are putting these people in boxes and assuming that none of them know about technology or stupid things like that. Someone literally asked me when talking about it if they knew what a phone was, the ignorance is seriously delusional. Itโs just made me think about it all a lot.
indieberlin: Itโs really cool that youโve been so personally involved with an aspect of this big world issue.
Elizabeth Le Fey: Exactly, I feel like I have a totally legit, justified opinion of the situation. I can show photos of these cute kids, I teach them guitar and theyโre all super into that. I have a brother who is the same age as one of the girls and it makes me imagine if this happened to my brother. Of course the whole family, but theyโre just kids.
I feel like I do have a more valid point because I actually know them, I havenโt just read an article that assumes theyโre bad or theyโre good. In America we have school shooters who are our biggest terrorist and we donโt do anything about it. Theyโre white males, killing kids in schools, but refugeeโs are somehow seen as a bigger threat, itโs just racism. I donโt mean to get too political!
indieberlin: Itโs important to have these conversations!
I want to be in a band but everyoneโs too into themselves to be in a band; everyone wants to be the star.
Elizabeth Le Fey: Absolutely! Aside from that, I feel like Iโm going to find my band in Europe. I follow my gut feeling, whenever I havenโt bad things have happened so if I have this intuition to move here, Iโm going to follow it. Itโs the same feeling I had 5 years ago before moving to Washington. I want to be in a band but everyoneโs too into themselves to be in a band; everyone wants to be the star.
indieberlin: Itโs been a pleasure to talk to you. When are you going to be back in Berlin?
Elizabeth Le Fey: Ah, thanks, itโs been awesome! I hope to get another European tour together around October this year, so not long at all.
Review by James Moorton
Photo byย Elva Lexa