Q&A: A Climactic and Anticlimactic Wave of Emotions, Ali McGuirk Talks Debut Album ‘Til It’s Gone’

Q&AMusic

Oct 3

☆ Jasmine Aguirre ☆

BREAKING THE BARRIERS OF GENRE — is a brilliance of Ali McGuirk that is undoubtedly present in her newest album, Til It’s Gone. A sweet blend of R&B, vintage soul, ’70s jazz, folk, and even country, McGuirk’s record is one that does not restrict itself from delving into multiple genres and makes a name for itself alone.

Having lived in Massachusetts most of her life growing up, McGuirk recalls that her interest in pursuing music began in her mid 20s, as she continuously absorbed different musical influences from the settings around her. In her most recent home, Burlington, Vermont, she wrote most of the songs on the debut record before traveling to record it in Los Angeles during the majority of 2020.

From odes to past lovers, singing the stories of her ancestry and harmonizing about her relationship with music as an artist. McGuirk’s aura and powerhouse of a voice weaves each track beautifully together in a way that allows her to express all of the different sides of herself as an artist. She is confident in allowing herself to be given the space to explore herself creatively in a way that is limitless.

Til It’s Gone is warm and brilliant, with sounds of smooth, groovy organs, a distorted powerful guitar, and a blend of harmonized, layered vocals that sway around throughout its entirety.

Read below to explore the wave of emotions and different themes that Til It’s Gone embodies:

LUNA: First off, congrats on the new album, Til It’s Gone! How do you feel?

MCGUIRK: Thank you! It’s very surreal and I'm so excited about it. It’s kind of funny, it’s like a mix of climactic and anticlimactic to be releasing all this music because we’ve worked so much on the project and waited so long, so it’s a huge relief to finally get it out there. I hope everyone likes it.

LUNA: I really liked the whole vintage, soul sounds on it, and what stood out for me was all the beautiful layered vocals.

MCGUIRK: Yeah, it was game-changing for the whole record when the singers came in, and it was one of the most joyful times with all of us singing together. It was awesome — they’re amazing vocalists.

LUNA: When did you know that you wanted to pursue music?

MCGUIRK: I always knew I wanted to pursue music on a personal level. I always was just obsessed and really invested in music and singing and everything like that. I don't remember a time when it wasn't like that. But I guess I started wanting to do music as a career much later in the game, like when I was in my mid twenties, and it sort of just took over slowly over all that time.

LUNA: Who are your main musical influences?

MCGUIRK: It’s always changing. When I was a lot younger, I was obsessed with Lauryn Hill. I love her and I stand by her. She’s just one of the greats of our time and, I mean, all she had to make was Miseducation. Once I heard Aretha Franklin, things changed for me a lot in the way I thought about singing and what a voice can do, then I got into jazz singers like Sarah Vaughn. There’s just so many to name. I’m always on this lookout for people who can deliver good vocals.

LUNA: Nice, nice. I certainly felt that Lauryn Hill influence weaved in. I feel like musical influences change over time as well.

MCGUIRK: Wow, yeah! Thank you. Exactly — you look for different things at different times.

LUNA: As a songwriter, how would you describe your whole writing process? Do you have any spots or any specific places that you find comfort in when you're writing?

MCGUIRK: That's a good question. Most of this album I wrote at the table I'm sitting at right now. It's just like this table next to the window in my apartment that also happens to be the table that's on the album cover. This is where I sat … from 2020 to 20-whenever we got out of our houses. I do a lot of my processing [of] my songs and doing the songwriting when I'm walking by myself if I'm somewhere private or where there's not people around, or maybe just silently in my head, but just like walking and working through different phases and what the lyrics should be and what it all is. Sometimes it's good for me to just keep it moving and not be sitting down stagnant in one place.

LUNA: Yes! I totally get that. I find that writing comes to me best also when I’m out walking or even driving.

MCGUIRK: DRIVING! Yes, I was just about to say that. Perfect place!

LUNA: Could you tell us a little bit more about the creative process and inspo behind the song “Milk”?

MCGUIRK: It's one of my favorite tracks, and I just love the high energy guitar on there. Writing that song, I had certain imagery in my head and a certain setting, like end-of-days, industrialized dystopia, futuristic things. I don't know if it was explicitly there in the lyrics as it was in my mind. I was like, “I hope some people get these metaphors, but they might not.” Then when I had the idea to make the video for it, I was able to add onto the imagery I was pulling from to write the lyrics of the song.

LUNA: I watched the video and saw it was a bunch of archives put together. Could you go a little more into that?

MCGUIRK: Yeah, it was like an iMovie collage project basically, and it was cool to go through so many videos to choose which I wanted. I put in keywords of the things I was talking about, like the dairy industry, footage from the ’50s of government training programs for farmers back then in subsidies, or a documentary about the first industrialized farms in America and all this kind of stuff. You know, you look up industrial agriculture and then you find all these awful implications of it so there was that footage, too, that got me fired up. It was a really enjoyable process and fulfilling to have gotten that in depth with the material.

LUNA: “Leave Me Here” stuck out to me the most. I read that you felt your inner ’60s folkie come out in that track. I’m a huge folk lover so I definitely heard that sound and got excited. Did you have any specific artist(s) in mind from that folk scene that inspired that?

MCGUIRK: I would say the biggest one was Joni Mitchell. I mean, she is the ’60s folkie pinnacle for me. I wanted to make sure I hit the ’60s folk aesthetic on this record because it is such a central part of my influence. When I'm leaning fully to [do] the R&B soul thing, sometimes I don't leave space for that other side so I was happy to be able to do that on this track.

LUNA: I noticed a mix of different genres in the album. I heard a song that was a bit country that stood out from the others.

MCGUIRK: Yeah, that's my accidental country song. That wasn't my initial goal, to span genres, because I feel like I've done that in my career when I was younger. I would take all the gigs I could take and take any chance to sing for so long and so I ended up being in all these random different settings and getting all these different influences.. But when you're trying to create your “own sound” as an artist, it’s just a fickle thing, and I wanted to make sure I was able to show more different sides of myself and my interests on this record, for sure.

LUNA: Yeah, I think it's good to not just stick to one thing also, especially when you have a ton of different influences.

MCGUIRK: Exactly. Nobody really wants to stick to one. It’s beautiful to keep our traditions alive, and I wanna be able to sing straight-up jazz, straight-up blues and everything, but I’m not a straight-up jazz or straight-up blues artist, you know what I mean? It’s one ingredient. It would almost be inauthentic for me to just say, “I’m a pure this type of genre person.”

LUNA: What songs from the album are you most excited for people to finally hear?

MCGUIRK: Oh, man. Well, I'm so grateful that you pulled out “Leave Me Here” because when my mom first listened to the record, she [was] like, “This one hits me where I live,” so I'm hopeful people like that one. Also my song “Evelyn” that my mom and sister both recently told me is their favorite. It was a song that took me a long time to finish the lyrics, and it's one of those songs I'm really proud of.

LUNA: What would you want your listeners to gain from Til It’s Gone?

MCGUIRK: I hope that they’re able to like groove to it and have a mood elevation from having it on.

LUNA: I definitely got that vibe from “X Boyfriends.”

MCGUIRK: That's the feel-good summer jam! I’m so glad. I would hope that these songs could be empowering to some and validating to people if there's anything relatable in the lyrics. I also hope that people appreciate all the talented players on the record. Feel good about it, feel validated maybe, feel empowered maybe. Introspective and thoughtful, but not too heavy (laughs).

LUNA: I see you're going back on tour soon! What are you most excited for?

MCGUIRK: Oh my gosh. I think going on tour is what's going to make it feel all more real. I’m looking forward to playing the songs with the band for new audiences because I'm going to so many places I've not been to before. I think it's gonna be really fun! I’m gonna learn a ton and hopefully meet some cool peeps.

LUNA: To end on a lighthearted question, what's been giving you joy lately?
MCGUIRK: My man! (Laughs) He's right around the corner here. But, being home, being on a lake and mountain, [this] time is so restorative for me. Starting to feel at home in Burlington after a few really tough years and just being able to live our lives again. Joy is friends, family, all that good stuff.

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