Q&A: Nashville-based singer-songwriter Isabel Pless on New Single, “Shirley Temples”
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY SAMANTHA SORIA ☆
Photo By Patrick McCormack
ISABEL PLESS LOVES WORDS — The 24 year-old Nashville-based singer-songwriter is a self-proclaimed “word girl.” This is evident in the fact she has a bachelor’s degree in linguistics, but it’s also something listeners can hear in her latest single, “Shirley Temples.”
The new song, which is the final single before the release of her debut album Workhorse on February 21, shares an intimate portrait of Pless’ life as she spends one last summer in Vermont before moving to Nashville, which is somewhat bittersweet. There’s a feeling of wistfulness sprinkled throughout the song as she softly sings, but through it all, as Pless looks back on the place she once called home, gratitude is at the forefront.
In an interview with The Luna Collective, Pless discusses her new song “Shirley Temples,” how growing up in Vermont influenced her music, her exciting plans for the future, and so much more.
Photo By Patrick McCormack
LUNA: You began writing songs at the age of twelve and followed in the footsteps of musical inspirations Joni Mitchell, The Chicks, and Alanis Morissette. Aside from the storytelling aspect that each of these artists excel at, what else had you gravitating toward them?
PLESS: I think it was hearing younger women telling their stories with such honesty. All those artists are such visceral writers, and also do not shy away from their emotions or their truth at all. I think that’s what I strive for in my music, and what I found so inspiring about them was their ability to just say how it is. I really look up to all of them for their radical honesty.
LUNA: What are your favorite songs by them? What are the ones that really strike through?
PLESS: I don’t know if I can pick a favorite off Jagged Little Pill. “Ironic” sticks out to me because that was my mom’s favorite song. My favorite Joni album is Blue, which feels like a really basic pick but that’s the one that I was introduced to. I guess my weird favorite is “My Old Man,” because there’s something about the melody that is just like she’s jumping all over the place and it's sad and sorrowful but also filled with love. And for The Chicks I would say “A Long Way Around.” That song has always been my favorite.
LUNA: Though you’re based in Nashville, you were born and raised in Vermont. Can you talk to me about how it was growing up in Jericho and how it shaped you musically?
PLESS: Jericho only has like 2,000 people in it. I think it’s probably bigger now but when I was growing up, it was like everybody knew everybody. My parents were teachers in the district where I went to school. Community was a really big part of my childhood. I think both in really amazing ways and also in ways where it felt a bit invasive.
Growing up in Vermont was so impactful for my songwriting because it’s such a small state that really values art and especially nature, and it’s just a beautiful place so it’s really easy to feel inspired there. I felt very supported by my town but also by state programs for music. There were always routes for me to grow in terms of poetry or songwriting, or art or anything. So, yeah, in a lot of ways I think my love of music started with me in my bedroom but then felt supported by the community and then also the state in general which I am very grateful for.
LUNA: I would love to know more about those programs you mentioned, but have you also found that one place has given you more opportunity to tap into more creativity and growth in terms of your artistry, or are both pretty balanced in that regard?
PLESS: There’s this overarching program called The Governor’s Institute of Vermont. It’s a government funded program for academics. I went to the art section but there’s also STEM and other focuses. I also did this poetry program called Bread Loaf that was out of Middlebury College.
In terms of each place, I feel like they’re so different. I think in Vermont, I was not surrounded by a lot of songwriters necessarily, whereas here [in Nashville], it’s like, that’s what everybody does. But I felt like Vermont has such a strong sense of community that it was really easy to feel inspired there because I felt like there were a lot of opportunities to safely express yourself. And here, there’s still a sense of community but it’s different because everybody’s doing the same thing. So it’s more like, how can we share resources and help each other out and do the thing that we both love to do rather than, you’re the songwriter and I’m something else.
LUNA: You’ve mentioned before that writing is your passion, and you usually focus on the lyrics first. It's pretty interesting, especially knowing you have a degree in linguistics. What got you into studying linguistics, and how does it play a role in your songwriting process—from syntax to semantics and everything in between?
PLESS: I found linguistics so fascinating because I got an English minor. I was interested in language and how we express ourselves, but I found the structure of language so interesting. How we use this communication tool every single day and how it’s hardwired into our brain, but it has this underlying structure that we don’t necessarily understand. I find the patterns that arise in language in general, not just English, to be very interesting.
I was also really interested in phonetics and phonology, like the sound of everything, and I think that probably plays almost a bigger role in my writing than anything else because sometimes I’ll write a verse or something and be like, ‘Something sounds wrong in here and I need to figure out what word to replace it with so that it flows nicely when I sing it.’ I think it just gave me a lot of opportunities to think really hard about the little details that I had never really considered before and I still, even though I’m not actively using the degree, I think I do use it in less obvious ways.
LUNA: Speaking of lyrics, is there one (past or present) you have written that is your favorite, or one that you are particularly proud of?
PLESS: I have a song called “Isabel,” I named it after myself and there’s a line where I say, like, I’ll never be a machine. It’s not anything super crazy but I remember writing that… Sometimes I don’t know how I’m feeling and then I write it out to try and figure it out and I read it back, and I’m like, “Oh, okay!” And that was a moment where I was like, “Okay, I’m treating myself as if I’m like a computer that can kind of process everything linearly and I need to treat myself like a human being rather than a machine.” So, yeah, that’s the one I personally like a lot.
LUNA: Was there one that took a long time to figure out?
PLESS: Well, “Shirley Temples” took like a year and a half to write. I started it when I was at home in Vermont and then I had to let it sit for a while until I could really figure out how I wanted to end the song. The ending was hard so I don’t know if there’s a specific lyric in there, but I think the end of “Shirley Temples” took forever because I couldn’t really figure out how to say what I wanted to say.
LUNA: “Shirley Temples” is the final single before the release of your debut album, Workhorse. There is something bittersweet not only in the sound but in the lyrics as well. What was the inspiration behind this song?
PLESS: I started writing it when I had just graduated college and I was about to move here to Nashville, but there was like a three month period before my lease started so I went home to Vermont. It was just like a summer of me hanging out with my friends. I have the lowest alcohol tolerance ever [laughs] and most of the times when we went out, I was like, “I’ll drive, no worries, because it’s just not going to happen for me today!”
It’s this feeling of joy and happiness that I kind of struggled to have in high school because there were so many pressures that I was mostly putting on myself, that I didn’t feel anymore, and I was able to just really appreciate home. Then, when I moved [to Nashville] and I was able to finish the song, it was like reflecting on how it took me a long time to really grow into this love that I have for home.
LUNA: So, while you were working on “Shirley Temples,” did you discover anything new about yourself that you hadn’t before?
PLESS: That’s a good question. I think kind of how I was really getting in my own way a lot of the time. In the chorus, I feel like when I say “I hate the feeling that there’s some debt to be repaid,” like with home, I’m really the one putting this pressure on myself.
For my teenage years, I was always like, “I hate Vermont. I feel so isolated here. Nobody knows what’s going on in the outside world. I want to be in a city!” and then I left and I was like, “Damn I was getting in my own way with that and not appreciating home for what it was.” My perception of where I grew up was shifting when I was writing this song.
LUNA: Aside from the release of Workhorse next month, is there anything else you are excited to share?
PLESS: It’s kind of related to the album, but we’re doing vinyls and I’m very excited about that because I’ve never had a project on vinyl before and I think when I hold it, I’ll be like, “It’s real; I made that!” I think we’re planning some headline shows hopefully this year so I’m excited about that too. I feel so excited all the time that I have a platform where people listen to the things I make.
Photo By Patrick McCormack
