Jill Donenfeld interviews Meredith Bragg. Make sure you pick up Meredith Bragg’s latest album, Silver Sonya, here.

JD: So let’s get to it! I had only loosely heard of you and then this sweet acoustic CD lands in my lap and I am blown away!

MB: Oh, sweet! I am told I don’t do enough PR. Sometimes I find it hard to talk about myself.I’m glad you like it.

JD: Well, here’s your interview, and we are talking about you babe. I guess when you can get such great shit out musically, maybe it’s hard to get it out via PR as well? Seems redundant… Seems like you already said what you wanted to say… And so speaking of what you wanted to say, or didn’t… I understand this album is totally different than your previous? Why? Why now? What’s up?

MB: Sometimes I feel like it’s a singer-songwriter stigma to talk about yourself too much. Always talking about how personal a song is, or making sure to tell everyone how or why you wrote something. I guess I find it hard… That is probably why my PR isn’t up to snuff. The long story about this album… in 2005 my wife and I left our jobs, put our stuff into storage and traveled for a year. During that time both the first record and the EP were released. Those were both with full bands.

Read the rest of the interview and grab a couple mp3’s after the jump…

JD: So you wrote/recorded/produced the album and EP while traveling? Is she a collaborator?

MB: Oh, no. Sorry. I’m not explaining myself well. The first record was recorded with Archie Moore (Velocity Girl) in 2004. It wasn’t released until 2005. The EP was recorded during a break in traveling, and was released in early 2006. The first record was basically built around songs I had written and brought to friends of mine. It was a very singer-songwriter kind of record. The EP was written more as a band, but still had the same sort of feeling.

JD: Whereas this one is more…

MB: Simply put, the band and I weren’t interested in doing what we had done before, so it was decided that I would record this one on my own, with just my guitar, while the whole band wrote another record. So this record was just me and a guitar, but I didn’t want it to sound like a singer-songwriter record. I figured I’d done that. So we decided to add some severe limits in order to make it interesting.

JD: Such as?

MB: Well… everything on the record is just me and a guitar. Every note you here is either from my voice or from my acoustic. It was just warped at the studio. We had rules: (a) only my guitar and my voice could be recorded (b) once recorded the sounds could be manipulated in any way we wanted. So all the “drum” beats you here come from me hitting the guitar and looping it. All the strings are me playing the guitar with a bow.

JD: That’s insane. Wait, seriously? Well, what about the bell sounds?

MB: Which track?

JD: Rejoice.

MB: The high-pitched notes at the beginning that come back in later?

JD: Nah man, like the first thing we even hear…

MB: Yeah. Those opening notes are from plucking the strings above the nut — basically above the neck of the guitar — there is so much tension in the string there, that it is really high pitched. And then Chad (who mixed that song) ran it through all these filters. Those guys at the studio are geniuses. I wouldn’t have done the record this way if they didn’t say yes. That’s why the record is named after their studio.

JD: Wow. That’s really far out. Is there a precedent for taking it to this level? And wait, how are you planning on performing these songs? Or,aren’t you??

MB: In answer to your last question: I do perform a lot of the songs live. They are different, but they still work. I use a loop-pedal for some. Other’s I play just the way they were brought into the studio: just a guitar and voice. I think they still work. The whole band has also played a few of these songs live, like Rejoice. But for the most part, the songs sound different then they do from the record. That’s the nature of a project like this I guess.

JD: Cool, cool. And, they are very tender songs, regardless of studio mixing; so I imagine they are very enjoyable live in any guise.

MB: I think so.

JD: Speaking of… Is there a tour planned?

MB: Well, the whole band is going to SXSW, and we’ve tried to self-book ourselves a few shows on the way down.I am trying to do a few short tours after that.

JD: Cool. Any in NYC?

MB: I think so. And NY isn’t so far that I couldn’t just make a trip. I should. Not sure if this is blog material, but I started a company with my brother and a friend after we hit some initial success with some funny Internet videos… seems very un-singer-songwriter, I know. But we were hired to write a TV pilot out of it, and then we received finishing money to edit a feature-length documentary we shot in 2006. I am making excuses. Yes, I will make it NYC. Probably in early May or late June.

JD: Wait, that’s fantastic!!

MB: Do you know Channel 102? It’s run out of NY, a sister to Channel 101 from LA.

JD: No, but then again, I can’t even turn on the TV with much success; my boyfriend has to do it for me so…

MB: Oh no. Not TV, Internet.www.channel102.net… We do The Defenders of Stan. And we just got to turn in our TV pilot to Warner Bros last night. Now that the strike is over.

JD: RAD! I will check it out after we wrap up.

MB: Go to www.thedefendersofstan.com. Better resolution. Just skip episode 2. It’s not so good. Eps. 1, 4, 7, 11: those are the winners.

JD: Is there a soundtrack? I bet that it’s good.

MB: hahahahaha… Actually I have only done one song on there, and it is episode 2.

JD: haaaa. The tanker.

MB: Awww. Truth is, most of the music people don’t know about the video work, and most of the video people don’t know about the music. We dress up in spandex and try to make the other two laugh. Sorry, I have totally derailed this interview.

JD: Nah, you haven’t. But music people will know about this now.

MB: We come up to NY for most every screening, every month.

JD: when are the screenings; are they open to the public?

MB: Yup. They used to be in Tribeca, but the last one was at Pianos. I think that it will be the new home from here on out. The last one was free, but occasionally they charge $5 to pay for the Internet servers.

JD: Well, certainly let me know when the next one is. And, for thetime being, I’ll check them out online.

MB: You should. They are fun.

JD: Ok Meredith… for a guy who doesn’t like talking about himself…

MB: I am hanging my head in shame…

MP3’s:

Meredith Bragg - Ballad Of An Opportunist (mp3)
Meredith Bragg - Twin Arrows (mp3)

For More Information:
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The Kora records