A Conversation with Joy Eden Harrison (continued)

PM: The latest work, Blue Venus, a swell record that I like very much, came to me as a personal advance, so I have no credits. Tell us, please, who produced, and who plays.

JEH: Well, I produced it with the engineer and the drummer that I've been working with. We all put in. But Mike Hagler was the engineer, and the drummer that I've worked with, that I've been working with for a long time, is Chuck Harling. The main horn player is Paul Von Mertens. And he actually just came off tour with Brian Wilson, so it was kind of nice to have that one little link present from the old album.

PM: Right.

JEH: And the trumpet player on "Calico Cat," that was actually my nephew Joe Harrison. And then keyboards, Mike Hagler played keyboards, and he also arranged the ambient sounds.

PM: Yeah. Let's talk about the ambient sounds, because that's quite a departure, and certainly a welcome addition. It really works beautifully in your music.

JEH: Well, the vision for the album was to have a rich, traditional acoustic core, with a luscious electronic textural backdrop. And before any notes went, before anything happened, I was thinking of sort of like a colorized black and white film. Technicolor, I think it's called, or that kind of richness, but with a simplicity at the core.

PM: Sounds fantastic. Do you know how he generated those sounds? I mean, I don't know too much about that.

JEH: Well, originally--I'll just talk about my favorite one. The white noise of a radio?

PM: Uh-huh.

JEH: And then amplified through a microphone, and into the system, and then manipulated with effects. And that became a backdrop that's perfect for "Bullet on a Wire."

PM: Wow.

JEH: So just taking sounds from the environment, just things like that, and putting them through electronic devices.

PM: How long a period was involved in the writing of that record?

JEH: Well, there is one song that's older than the last album, and that's "Popsicle Town." That was going to go onto Unspoken, but it never sounded right in the studio. The rest of it, I guess it's a two-year period of writing. And then, equally, a two-year period of development in the studio.

PM: It's a fantastic record.

JEH: Oh, thank you.

PM: Are you going to use anybody in the promotion of that record, or are you just going to have it and play behind it as your lifestyle and other obligations allow?

JEH: I guess both. I mean, I want to do the main concert with Mike Hagler playing electronic backdrop. And I will tour with Chuck Harling on drums. And I think we'll sort make a very small core out of the larger sound.

PM: Wow. That's ambitious. That's great.

JEH: Part of me can't wait to get back on stage again. And this break has been very rejuvenating.

PM: Because that's the other thing about you, is that although the music is great and the tunes are great, and the playing and the singing is great, really, there's a very unusual and captivating presence that you're able to produce on stage that really needs to be seen.

JEH: Oh, you're very kind.

PM: I'm not really that kind. Ask around.

[laughter]   continue

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