Grass

RS: To what degree do you want your lyrics to be understood? Obviously, there are certain songs where the lyrics seem to be obscured by vocal techniques or effects or mixing. Do you like using the voice as more of an instrument, with words being secondary to tones? Do you think words can ever distract a listener from the music? Do you think language and music are even suited or unsuited for each other?

AVEY TARE: In my perfect musical world a person could understand the lyrics or not understand the lyrics as they wanted. Initially, with writing music that included vocals, it was primarily the goal (and still is) to have the voice be seen as another instrument, as having a very integrated role in the overall scheme of a song. Though our song writing has become a little more focused on vocals than it had been in the past, it would still feel awkward to only focus on hearing the lyrics. Just as we like sounds to fit in with the color and feel of a song, I’d say we approach vocals in a very similar manner. Since “Sung Tongs” was a lot less effected and more minimal, it was the first time we could really use the lyrics as a guide to the color and the feeling of the tunes. It’s fun to think of characters taking you through these environments we are creating and speaking to you about what’s going on and have the lyrics hint at the sounds and maybe even mess with your mind a little. For our new record I think it’s the first time where the lyrics are basically from my point of view. I guess I just feel like I wanted to say something and that’s the way it came out.

But the music and the vocals will always be very attached and I think, most of the time, the lyrics get lost in the sound anyway, which is fine cause I don’t necessarily think lyrics are that important to getting into a song, as long as the feeling stays intact and the emotion doesn’t get lost — though it’s nice to think that people could know them if they wanted. Bands like My Bloody Valentine or Lightning Bolt or Wolf Eyes, even Nirvana are examples of bands that have gotten away with mastering the full effect of a song without necessarily having the vocals be heard perfectly. And yet you still know they are there and they convey a certain feeling that fits with the song. I think language blends itself perfectly to making music that’s primarily sound-based, because you can manipulate words and phrases just like you can manipulate sounds. Lyrics don’t even have to make sense so much as words and letters sound good with the way I write a song.

RS: Do have any specific themes you focus on? I know you said that you are more concerned with the phonetics of words, but are there any reoccurring ideas? There are quite a few animal references — kitties, tigers, bats, rabbits, penguins, manatees, etc. But is there anything else?

AVEY TARE: Mostly, I focus on what’s in my head and in my heart at the moment. I guess these things are affected by a combination of my dealings and feelings with my friends. What I read and a lot of what I just see around me. “Kids on Holiday,” for instance, is basically just about Noah (Panda Bear) and I getting used to traveling around and playing music and what it’s like to be traveling so much and feeling tired and all the kinds of people you see around you moving. Moving for work, moving for pleasure, moving for nothing.

But I read a lot of mystical literature, and surrealist literature and I watch a lot of twisted films, so I think my viewpoint is kind of skewed by these things and the words come out like they do. But in a nutshell, it’s about being alive, you know? That’s basically what playing music is about for me, being alive. It makes me feel alive and it gives me a chance to talk about how I feel about being alive. I think it’s a shame cause most singers today just turn themselves into a cliché and that’s what they think a singer is supposed to sing about. I don’t really care at this point and I don’t really care if people like or hate my lyrics. I want to write something that sounds good with the music we make and that makes me feel good to sing about. I do hope others can relate to what I say, if they can hear it, but really I’m just talking about what’s in my head and trying to say what life is like to me.