Creating Music with Care, and Being Cared For In Return: A Conversation with Tenci
Interview by Rivka Yeker
photo by Ash Dye
We spoke with Jess Shoman of Tenci about the care she puts into her music and the unnamed spirituality that lingers in My Heart is an Open Field. Proceeds on Bandcamp will be going toward Brave Space Alliance, as an effort to support the #BlackLivesMatter liberation movement.
This record is so soft yet visceral and strong. What do you want people to feel when they listen to it?
The biggest feeling is one that I feel most consistently when I listen back, which is a sense of catharsis. I would hope people get a sense of freedom and truth through the songs.
What/who were your influences while writing this album?
As far as other artists go, I had been listening to Love is Overtaking Me by Arthur Russell pretty obsessively. Also John Prine, Karen Dalton, Simón Díaz, Michael Hurley, Jessica Pratt, Mulatu Astatke, Chavela Vargas, Bill Callahan.
Apart from that, going to therapy for the first time really helped the songs pour out of me. I’ve never experienced such a purging feeling like that before. I would bring songs into sessions and we would dissect them piece by piece. It was really helpful in understanding what the songs really meant to me and helped me set my intentions for the album.
There is so much softness in your music, it feels like each song is intentionally cared for. What is your writing process like?
My process is very loose, but it feels like songs are constantly being written even when I don’t realize it. If bits of lyrics come into my head I’ll stop what I’m doing and write them down in my notes and forget about them. When I sit down to write I’m always surprised that the fragments I’ve pieced together over time always relate to each other more heavily than I thought. I find the connecting theme and create a melody around it and that theme usually sets the tone. I usually get through the bones of a song in one sitting, accompanied by the simplest form of guitar to give the song a lot of space to breathe. Then I’ll put the song down, forget about it almost to the point of not remembering what I played, so by the time I revisit it the parts that are still standing give me the truest form of the song. This is the longer form of my process, but with most of the songs on this album, it felt like I would blackout and write an entire song in an hour.
As with many artists I’m sure, I usually have to be in a state of intense emotion when I sit down to write. I feel like the strongest songs are the ones that I’ve finished in one sitting and cried my way through. The base of these songs are very intentionally cared for because I think that they took care of me first. I honestly didn’t think too hard about what the sound was going to be for each one was going to be, I really let the songs guide me in whatever direction felt right.
What did you learn about yourself while making this record?
I’ve learned that being honest with myself, although difficult and painful, is by far one of the best gifts.
What were the hardest and most rewarding parts of making this record?
The hardest part was the journey of the search inside myself, I encountered a lot of demons along the way; It felt like a part of me died and a new person was reborn. I’ve made it out on the other side, with my heart on the table for all to see.
The most rewarding part was getting to see it come together in a way I never really planned for or expected. The whole process was very spontaneous and incredibly inspiring to see how it came so naturally to everyone who played on the album, it’s like they had been playing these songs all their lives. The feeling of watching it come together for the first time, when I’ve never recorded an album like this before, was beyond magical.
Would you say there is something spiritual about My Heart is an Open Field?
Yes. There is an otherworldly feeling to the songs and how they came to be. One that I’m not really sure I can put into words.
Do you have advice for other artists who are tending their vulnerability by creating art?
There is so much power in vulnerability. Opening yourself up to the possibilities of being vulnerable with yourself and your art is the ultimate form of healing. Don’t be afraid to show the deepest parts of yourself through your art, most times it’s the truest way to tell your story.