Q&A: Elizabeth Moen Gets Real On ‘Wherever You Aren’t’
WITH HONESTY AND DISARRAY — Elizabeth Moen’s third album, Wherever You Aren’t, doesn’t pull any punches. Through its 10 tracks, she gives listeners an intimate self-portrait through passionate guitar playing and cutting lyrics.
Moen wastes no time getting down to business on “Headgear,” which finds her voice cracking and thrashing under a guitar straight from the swamp. From the midwest but currently based out of Chicago, these regional influences are present within her incorporation of blues and soul. Moen doesn’t stick to one style with her singing, bringing to mind artists such as Stevie Nicks and Amy Winehouse.
This variety is apparent in the record's singles, as “Synthetic Fabrics” has a dramatic, stabbing, guitar over weary vocal delivery while “Emotionally Available” is closer to ’60s soul with its lush wind arrangements and crooning. “Where's My Bike?” is playfully bleak, with details from an existential breakdown over an uptempo arrangement.
But Moen doesn't set out for these variances: “When I'm writing a song, I don't really have an end goal for what I want it to sound like,” she says. “I just kind of let it veer into whatever genre it kind of ends up being… I let the song figure itself out. I don't try and force anything.”
On the record’s back half, Moen dives more into ballads. She closes out with the title track, which features a duet from collaborator Gemma Cohen over minimal acoustic guitar. The song’s production is pristine, with each instrument giving its spotlight in service of Moen’s authorial voice.
Wherever You Aren’t is out now, and Moen expects to tour the album next year. Read on below to hear more about her lyric writing, influences, and love of tour.
LUNA: I noticed you have some production credits on this album. How does that process work of shaping it in the studio?
MOEN: I co-produced this record with my friend Scott McDowell over in San Francisco. We had become acquaintances before this record and then he hit me up. I was like, “Yo, I would love to work with you.” And I really love his style, and we kind of talked about a vision for the record… This is the first time I co-produced an entire record with someone. Then there are a couple of songs that my friend Gemma Cohen co-produced. “Synthetic Fabrics,” the second single off of the record… she definitely took that song to a whole new level with some production ideas.
LUNA: Oh yeah, I love that track. It's so great. Your vocals on that song are amazing, too.
MOEN: Oh, thank you. Gemma also plays bass and does the harmonies on that song as well.
LUNA: Who do you kind of look to for inspiration for your vocals and guitar playing?
MOEN: Oh gosh, like, so, so many people. I mean, I'm a big fan of all different kinds of music. Actually, my favorite band is Fontaines D.C. It's a punk band from Ireland … I don't sing at all like that but I'm very inspired by heavier punk music, but then I don't actually play that kind of music. Maybe that kind of angst comes out in the way I sing.
I'm inspired by… Brittany Howard. Bonnie Raitt. Honestly, Willie Nelson. I love older country singers — Patsy Cline. Jeff Buckley, his range; I love how high and low he can go, how loud and quiet. I actually wasn't really familiar with his music until recently. A couple of years ago, there was a Jeff Buckley cover night in Ireland when I was over there one time. I was asked to sing a song of his and then someone at the show was like, “Oh my god, you sing so much like Jeff Buckely — he's got to be an inspiration to you.” Honestly, it wasn't until I got asked to do this that I realized, oh wow, I am definitely inspired by this guy and I didn't even know it. So he's definitely a big one for me. Just in how raw and loose he keeps it in his vocals… It sounds like he also isn't forcing anything.
And then [with] guitar, I mean, again, Brittany Howard. Obviously, the reason I want to play guitar is Jimi Hendrix. I don't necessarily play like him, but he inspires me. Mike Duffy from Hand Habits — I've always been a fan of theirs. I'm actually new to Cassandra Jenkins' music but recently seeing her play live… I think she's a fantastic guitarist as well. Great singer. The way she sings and plays, I look up to her for that.
LUNA: In “Emotionally Available,” the arrangement is really unique with its flutes, and it's very lush. How did that come about?
MOEN: I was playing these certain chords, this one soulful, saucy kind of thing, then I accidentally went to an E chord when I was thinking of a chorus, and it sounded really wrong but I liked it. And my pinkie hit this other note — that felt even more wrong. And I was like, “That’s cool,” and I was just playing that chord and then … an iteration of that chord back and forth. And then lyrics made sense to be a little more angry. The way I sang it… I really wasn't trying to sound pretty. If anything, I was trying to sound upset. I guess that's the closest I've gotten to singing in a punk way. That song accidentally became this very stark contrast of this pretty sexy thing to this angry, “what the hell” thing. In the chorus, I was like, “How can we make this chorus sound even bigger?” I was picturing horns and then Scott, my co-producer, wrote the horn parts. I think the way he arranged those was so cool to see, [as well as] his idea of “add trombone for that too.” And some extra percussion things that his friend, Andrew Maguire, added after the fact. Definitely his horn arrangements took that one to a new level.
LUNA: Yeah, it's fantastic. Where was Wherever You Aren’t recorded, and did that setting impact its development?
MOEN: Oh, absolutely. It was recorded in a bunch of different places. Some in California, Alabama, Iowa, and home studios around the country for overdubs. The first song on the record, “Headgear,” was actually recorded in Dublin, Ireland with my Irish band. I did a Kickstarter for the record to be able to really record and be able to pay people who I wanted to record with. I actually flew some of my Irish band over to California to record a handful of other songs on the record. It was kind of done all over the place but a lot of it was done in Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco.
LUNA: Nice. Yeah, it sounds like travel kind of impacts you a lot overall.
MOEN: I really love touring, and I think it's been a big part of my life, aside from the couple years of quarantine. In touring, especially DIY, it's all about connections and friendships. You meet someone somewhere and then they're like, “Oh, I know a friend in Wichita, you could stay with them” or, “Oh my gosh, my cousin lives in LA, you could say with my cousin,” or, “Oh, I know so-and-so who books this house show.” I've always loved traveling and getting to travel with music, and just meeting new people and making friends through just playing music together is definitely the most important thing in my life, I'd say.
LUNA: Have you played most of these tracks live?
MOEN: Yeah, I've been sitting on this record for a few years now, so a lot of the songs I've been playing a lot live. Any set I've played in the last like three years, half of this record I play, and every time people are like, “Where can I hear ‘Where's My Bike?’” Or, “Do you have ‘Headgear’ on vinyl?” And I'm like, “Not yet.” I was kind of waiting for a label and then it just didn't work out and I was like, alright, well, I'm just gonna keep DIY-ing it.
The other half of the record, a lot of the B-sides, I haven't played live. In the title track, “Wherever You Aren't,” Gemma Cohen is singing backing vocals but she's really high in the mix. It's really the two of us singing. Because of quarantine and scheduling, we don't live in the same place anymore. We've only gotten to sing that song live a few times pre-pandemic, and I'm really excited to finally play that one at shows. It's definitely one of my favorite songs I've written. I love how she sings on it and I just love singing with her. I'm gonna definitely play that one live more and teach other friends and vocalists her part so that way if she isn't around someone else can step in.
But, little secret, I think she's flying to the release show in Chicago. We're gonna get to sing that song together again for the release shows. I'm more excited to meet her baby, honestly, but I’m also very excited to get to sing with her again. It's gonna be really special.
LUNA: How many people are in your band, typically?
MOEN: Typically, if I'm touring, I love to do a four-piece: myself on guitar, another guitarist, bass, and drums. But if I can save up and get a guarantee that I can pay my bandmates, I'll go as big as I can. For these release shows in December, I'm gonna have nine people on stage. I have two horn players so we can play those parts on “Emotionally Available.” A friend of mine is gonna hop in on violin; I got pedal steel and two guitarists. One of those guitars will also play some keys, bass, drums, and my friend Danielle is gonna hop in and also do some harmonies and percussion. I mean, I love just doing solo, but I also love taking it as far up as I can.
LUNA: On songs such as “Where's My Bike?” and “Synthetic Fabrics,” the lyrics are very sardonic in a way. They're kind of sad, but the song itself is upbeat. What's your process for writing lyrics?
MOEN: I guess it's not intentional — both of those songs kind of happened fast. “Where's My Bike?” [was] kind of just shit out, like one take. I was just playing these fun, punky chords in my parent's living room because I was staying with them. Post-college … I just went through this breakup where I was living with my boyfriend at the time, we broke up, so I was back at my parent's place. They were both at work and I just spilled my guts out over [these] punchy … easy-like punk-rock chords. I looked at the lyrics and I was like, “Oh my god, this is so self-deprecating and funny, but sad.”
Then I was gonna throw that song away, and then I showed it to my bandmates. And [they were] like, “Wait, this is fun! You finally wrote an up-tempo song.” And that song has been one of the most connecting songs at shows. People always will come up to me after this and be like, “‘Where's My Bike?’ hit me really hard.” I was like, “Oh, are you also going through an existential crisis?” or, “Oh, you also live with your parents” or, “Oh, you also have panic attacks all the time.”
[With] “Synthetic Fabrics,” the verses kind of came out. I was free-flow writing, just typing on my computer. Then the chorus lyrics came to me when I was on a train in Ireland, and then I just kind of sang those over a chord progression I had in my back pocket. That one, I also was going to throw it away because I thought it was too wordy. And then I showed it to Gemma and David Herland, who plays a lot of drums on this record. That was the practice where Gemma was like, “Oh my gosh, you have to keep the song. Maybe to keep it interesting, what if we did … punchy hits during the verses and you could do more of like a shuffle-y thing during the chorus.” That completely changed the song, hence why she’s a co-producer for [it], because it really boosted the song and kept it interesting. Then Scott McDowell, his idea… Later on, when we were recording, [he said,] “What if we had like scary, movie soundtrack violins,” and that also took it to a whole ’nother level. That song is about some very serious personal stuff. The way it ended up being produced and how we play it keeps it very up-tempo, but if you read the lyrics, it's pretty heavy.
LUNA: I love when musicians do that — it feels very ironic in a way, but sincere. Melodically ironic, I guess.
MOEN: Yeah, that's a great way to put it. I love being melodically ironic.
LUNA: You released a couple of previous records, right?
MOEN: Yeah, I've self-released at least two full-lengths on vinyl, and then I've released two EPs. One of those EPs was released on vinyl, like a small batch of vinyl things to the Englert Theatre in Iowa City. They had that pressed. I only have a few copies left of that. [Wherever You Aren’t] is my third full-length.
LUNA: What is new about your perspective or sound this time around?
MOEN: I think because of how much time I was — honestly, thankfully — forced to take on making it, it’s just more thoughtful; it's also a lot more lush and full. I've never had this many layers of harmonies; I've never had this many instruments involved, people involved. I think the space between recording, mixing, and mastering helped things feel more… for lack of a better word, thoughtful.
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