| Jennifer Charles is Queen of the Meadow
by Brenda Kahn Jennifer Charles of Elysian Fields
Elysian Fields' new CD is an exploration in sensuality. "Queen of the Meadow," just released on the indie label Jetset Records, is the torch siren's second full length album and features a cast of the best players on the New York scene. No small wonder Elysian Fields has managed to chart on CMJ at a time when the charts are dominated by major label bands. Jennifer Charles is enigmatic, intellectual, sultry and an excellent chess opponent.
WOMANROCK:
What was the start of Elysian Fields?
JENNIFER:
O. [Oren] and I were writing tunes with a jazz bent and then we were writing tunes that didn't really fit into that oeuvre. Those tunes were the start of the Elysian Fields catalog. The Bedtime Band went into the studio to record. The "oddball" songs went onto the first and only Elysian Fields demo which went out to about ten people, one of whom a friend gave to a lawyer, who said he wanted to represent us.
WOMANROCK:
How did your first deal with Radioactive come about?
JENNIFER:
The next thing, we played a show where our attorney brought a bunch of record company people down to see us play at the Mercury Lounge. We got offered a deal right after we played, (it was our second show).
This was the mid 90's and we were just one of the many bands then who got snapped up by major labels. It was weird, in a way, because many of our pals had deals then too, it was like de rigeur. Things are pretty different now. That gold rush is over, and the music biz has been turned over on its ass.
WOMANROCK:
Were you happy with that record and the promotion that went into it?
JENNIFER:
We made three recordings while under the Universal umbrella. I still like the way they sound, yeah. It can be fun promoting a record. I love to travel, so that's a good thing. Especially in Europe. The people seem to tune into the music in a very profound way, so that reflection can be very inspiring.
WOMANROCK:
My understanding is this band is a joint project with you and Oren. Did you get a lot of pressure from the label to play that down and be a centerpiece for the band?
JENNIFER:
We've never played down, played up, this way or that, for anybody. We've always just been who we are. The label did their job and we did ours. As far as being the centerpiece, I am.
WOMANROCK:
What happened with the deal with Radioactive?
JENNIFER:
We made our second full length with Steve Albini. It wasn't at all what the label was looking for or wanted. The label wanted us to redo things, go in with more commercial people, and give them songs that they could sell. I didn't want to mess with what we made with Steve. It was what it was. In the end we agreed to disagree, I asked to be released from my contract, and we parted ways. They own that record. For now it sits in some vault gathering dust, I suppose.
WOMANROCK:
Tell me about your newest record, Queen of the Meadow. How did this most recent deal come about?
JENNIFER:
Jennifer Charles of Elysian FieldsQueen of the Meadow was made in two weeks over this past summer at Good and Evil Studios, for Jetset records. We produced the record with our good pals Chris and Danny (the brilliant studio team Good and Evil). It was a very intense experience, but those guys know what they're doing. They gave so much to the record, professionally and personally. We all pulled countless all-nighters. I did all my vocals in two days. When we went to the mastering, coming straight from the aborted dawn of our last mix, we were all in some strange limbo universe of oozy hearts and raw nerves. Luckily, we had only to fall into the deft mastering hands of Scott Hull.
The rest of the band on this record is almost the same line up as our first album, Bleed Your Cedar - Oren, myself, James Genus on bass, Ben Perowsky on drums, with the exception of keyboards now being played by Jamie Saft. Michael Tighe also contributes bass on the song Hearts are Open Graves. All really great musicians.
WOMANROCK:
Who does the writing for the band?
JENNIFER:
Oren and I write the songs in Elysian Fields.
WOMANROCK:
What inspires these images?
JENNIFER:
My experiences, dreams, desires, fears, obsessions, reflections, observations, imagination ...
WOMANROCK:
Is it difficult to be in a band with your partner? What's good/bad about it?
JENNIFER:
I think it is difficult to be in a band in general. No two people share the same exact vision, there may be intersections, but everyone has their own path. Without getting into our personal life, because I hate to define my relationships, I will say there is something beautifully special when you are working with someone who you are intimately connected to, because you can fearlessly go to that soul place and trust that you can go there together and that the work will happen.
WOMANROCK:
Did you do a lot of touring in support of Bleed Your Cedar? Any good road stories?
JENNIFER:
Most of the touring we've done in the U.S. has been on the East and West coasts. We've done a good deal of touring in Europe, especially all over France. We haven't started touring this new album yet. Road stories? Lets see, Well we have a history of missing planes. One time Oren was still looking for the parking lot while the plane took off with me and Ed. One other time, Ed warned us that we were going to miss the plane if we continued making our peanut butter sandwiches, also I think it was snowing out, sure enough when we got there, they wouldn't let us all on the plane. Sorry, all the interesting stories are too spicy to divulge in print.
WOMANROCK:
Who are some of your personal heroes? Heroines?
JENNIFER:
My family, my friends, and my loves, living and dead, are the ones around me who are my true inspirations. Certainly there are important historical figures, great thinkers, people that are masters of their craft, who have had an effect on me.
Of course I can't name them all, but some are: Marguerite Duras, Cleopatra, Gandhi, Genet, Eleanor Roosevelt, Duchamp, Harriet Tubman, Buddah, Peter Sellers, Lenny Bruce, Billie Holiday, Dylan, Baudelaire, Lorca, Leonor Fini, Anna Magnani, Lennon, Anna Akhmatova, Abida Parveen, Krishnamurti, Donne, Gertrude Stein, Henry Miller, Segovia, Leonard Cohen, Noam Chomsky, Shakespeare, Einstein, Beckett, Mingus, Lewis Carroll, Bette Davis, Gaudi, Robert Johnson, Bataille, Homer, Wilde, Neruda ...
Anyway, I could go on, you get the idea. Ernest Becker has some brilliant things to say about heroism, and transference; that we need to create heroism to affirm the meaning of our lives. (The Denial of Death). Oh, and Gilda Radner had a big effect on me too, when I was growing up.
WOMANROCK:
Do you have any favorite films?
JENNIFER:
Yes. Some favorites are: The Nights of Cabiria, Ugetsu, Pixote, The Fugitive Kind, Night of the Hunter, Bringing up Baby, Eraserhead, and A Woman Under the Influence.
WOMANROCK:
Do you have a Web site?
JENNIFER:
Not yet. Pretty pathetic, huh. We're working on it, so stay tuned. I imagine one could go to the Jetset site for info, and eventually for links. Thank you.
|
!
