Working Steady - Bryarly Bishop (Cover)

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Interview — Bryarly Bishop, feating her newest video, "Working Steady"

This past week I got to chat with the lovely Bryarly Bishop (bryarly) about her self-titled album and her musical career. "Working Steady" is calm and mellow, optimistic and melancholic. The simplicity of the music flows perfectly with Bryarly's honest and relaxing voice, all the while she looks out at her audience, opening up and allowing us to see her vulnerability. The beautiful emphasis on colors — bright juxtaposed with the stark black against white — adds to the optimism. Watch her video, buy her album, and learn a little more of our artist below.

You can buy Bryarly here: iTunes || Amazon

So, at what point in your life did you realize creating music was something you wanted to do? What is your relationship with music in general?

I don't remember exactly when I wanted to do music! The first time I was serious about it was the beginning of high school, when I was a Junior Operatic Apprentice with the Capitol City Opera Company in Atlanta. It took a long time for me to actually embrace and pursue it properly. It's only been within the last two years that I accepted music was the only thing I really wanted to do!  In general, music is a compulsion. I love it, but I also can't not do it.

From whom/where do you receive your biggest influences? Is there a particular time you prefer to write your songs?

Paul Simon is a big influence for me, as is Regina Spektor and the band Why? I grew up with music from the 60s and 70s, and I'm a total lyric junkie.

"Lyric junkie" is an interesting phrase. Could you explain what you mean a little bit? In my head it's somebody who loves to collect little bits of songs that lyrically flow with some sort of cadence or beauty.

To me, a lyric junkie is someone who gets wound up and attached to lyrics before other parts of the song come into play, and holds onto little pieces that speak to them. Like, if a song has bad lyrics, I can never enjoy the line I think is awful. (Think "I come home I got the munchies, binge on all my Twinkies....) One of my favorite lines of all time is a Simon & Garfunkel lyric that goes, "So, I'll continue to continue to pretend that my life will never end, and flowers never bend with the rainfall." It's just gorgeous.

And (a fun one) fill in the blank: I feel most confident when__________

I feel most confident when I'm in the moment and my energy gets matched and returned by the people around me.

Your relationship with music is similar to mine with writing. Do you find it easier to express your feelings or understand your thoughts through music?

I absolutely find it easier to express and understand my feelings through music. Half the time, I didn't even know what I was upset about until after I write it! It's cathartic.

I know you play the guitar: How long did it take you to learn to play? Also, if you could play any other instrument, what would it be? Why?

It still feels like I'm learning the guitar! I started teaching myself when I was about 14, but I only had my first professional lesson two weeks ago. If I could play another instrument, I'd buck up my piano skills and learn the drums. It's hard not to want to learn everything!

Tell us a little about the process of recording your album. What was the hardest bit? The most fun? Did you ever have any hesitations?

Recording the album was probably the best week of my life. I got very lucky with the people I was working with - Omar Yakar, the recording engineer, was one of my first friends in LA as well as very good at his job, and I'd wanted to work with Kush Mody for months before we got into the studio. The hardest part was figuring out what to do with In the Bright Daylight, whose music video will be out next month. It's the simplest song on the album, so we had a lot of options with it. The most fun I had was doing the vocals on Oxygen - it's an upbeat track with a lot of weirdness on it, and I had a blast singing it. Most of my hesitation related to how to work what in where, how to express my ideas on instruments I can't play, that kind of thing. I hope I can improve enough before the next album that it won't be an issue!

If you're sad, whom do you listen to?

I tend to wallow and listen to things like Fiona Apple, Cat Power, Joshua Radin, any of the sad, quiet, "No one loves me," type songs.

With whom is your dream collaboration?

Man, I would love to work with Paul Simon. He's been an idol of mine since I was a kid.

Are there any parts of Bryarly that are more personal and private than others?

Well, every song on the album is either a true story, or based very heavily in life. The four songs I was nervous about were "Making A Break," "Find Your Love," "Oxygen," and "Trigger Warning," as they're all about people close to me or about things that've had a big impact on my life. Before the album came out, I was like, man, I really hope no one gets angry at me for writing about them.

And, do you have any hints you can give us of what to expect from the In the Bright Daylight video?

This one's more of a straight representation than the other two, but like Working Steady, it has a heavy emphasis on color. 

Is there any question you would want me to ask — that you would want your fans to know? You can be creative.

I guess I'd want fans to know about my musical background, or about how I write or fund things.

"The younger set is lucky and it's killin' me to tell 'em so