Q&A: May Rio Reinvents Her Sound on Upcoming Project ‘Elegant Ensemble’
INDULGING IN CREATIVE FREEDOM BY REINVENTING HER PAST TRACKS — May Rio’s upcoming album, Elegant Ensemble, is set to release on May 3. Rio recently released the first track off the project, “Fun!,” an exciting introduction to rearranged versions of her previous songs. Elegant Ensemble isn’t your typical acoustic re-release — rather, the project includes 13 new arrangements of songs from Rio’s discography, accompanied by the brand new “Fun!”
The tracks feature Rio on vocals accompanied by a piano, cello, and saxophone. This ensemble rivals her typical band setup of synths, guitars, and drums. It was “supposed to be just a one-time, special occasion” setup when a club couldn’t accommodate a drum kit, but playing in this arrangement gave Rio’s songs new life, and each musician immediately knew that they had to play together again. Thus, Elegant Ensemble was born.
In it, Rio takes her typical synth-pop sound and morphs it into a project that is intoxicatingly delicate and charming. “Fun!” gives us a taste of what is to come on the full release, featuring Rio’s vocals floating above even plucks from the cellist and a steady, grounding piano line.
While most of us would cringe at the thought of listening to our old songs or voice memos, Rio shares that she loves to revisit her past work. While it can be painful to listen to, she finds beauty in hearing how she’s grown as a musician and the confidence she feels in creating work at this stage.
The project will feature tracks across her discography, including “songForNeo” and “Aspartame.” Luna got a chance to talk with Rio about her creative process and the whole story behind the creation of Elegant Ensemble. Read the interview below.
LUNA: Congrats on the first single from your new Elegant Ensemble series. Can you tell us a little more about the story behind “Fun!”?
RIO: Yes. When I was 16 I totaled my mom's Isuzu Trooper.
LUNA: How did the idea of your Elegant Ensemble recordings of your past songs come to light?
RIO: I had been playing out with a more classic "band" setup (synth, guitar, drums). The elegant band (Pat Latham on piano, Daniel Hass on cello, Syl DuBenion on sax) was supposed to be just a one-time, special occasion thing. But it felt so good playing with this arrangement. We all looked at each other after our set had ended and were like, “No, we need to do this again.” For the past few months, this is how we've been playing out. I'm so proud of “French Bath” — [I] stand by it. But it's been gratifying to give the songs a new life and let the writing shine through a bit more.
LUNA: Was the recording process for this project different from what you’ve worked on in the past, especially as many of your songs utilize electronic elements while this one features more stripped down instrumentation?
RIO: The more pop recordings that have been out (“French Bath,” “Easy Bammer”) were born out of producing sessions. Lots of revisiting, tracking, re-tracking, editing out. The production of those songs were built over a period of months. For this album, we went upstate, rehearsed for a day, and then tracked 15 songs the following day. It was all live, including the vocals, no overdubbing. Of course, a lot of preparation went into this, but the execution was pretty swift, and the amount of preparation allowed for spontaneity. With live tracking, you can't be as precious as you can with multitracking. There will be imperfections, but sometimes those end up being the best moments.
Which is all to say, the process of creating this album was essentially the opposite of the previous two. I don't think that any one way of working is better or more "pure," but recording a live album did feel like a healthy exercise. I also think it's fun to fight against the idea that the recorded version of a song is "the song," its final form.
LUNA: How does it feel to revisit your past work? Do you feel your creative process has changed since then?
RIO: I don't do it so often, but truth be told I love to go back and listen to my past work. It's both cool and a little bit painful to hear how I've grown as a singer, as a writer, as a producer or co-producer. For my process, I've never had a formula that I execute — it's a lot of throwing different things against the wall and seeing what sticks. So in that way, I suppose it hasn't changed so much. But I do feel more confident in what I'm capable of and my decision-making, which expands what I think to try.
LUNA: How do you think creating the Elegant version of your songs will influence your future projects?
RIO: This is a hard question to answer because the truth is I never know what I'm going to make until I make it. I can say that since the beginning, I have wanted to keep whatever I'm doing plastic and open to changing shape. I do think playing out and recording this arrangement has been faithful to that desire.
LUNA: Will you be performing these new versions live? How do you think that live experience will be for your fans that may be more familiar with your music?
RIO: We will. I don't know if we'll play with this arrangement forever, but it's feeling really good right now. Lyrics are important to me, and dressing down the songs allows more space for those to resonate. I've had many people approach me after this set excited because they could hear the lyrics for the first time.
LUNA: When you’re not performing or working on projects, what do you like to fill your time with?
RIO: Going to shows, knitting gifts, writing (not music). I try to make karaoke once a week.
LUNA: If you could wake up one day and be an expert at anything other than music, what would it be?
RIO: I used to paint, and I hope to return to that one day. The other answer I could give is I wish I could know what my little animals, Mickey and Oleg, are thinking.
