Name: Eighty Ninety
Members: Abner James (vocals, production), Harper James (guitar, production)  
Interviewee: Abner James
Nationality: American
Current release: Eighty Ninety's new, self-titled album is out now.
Recommendations: The Order of Time, book by Carlo Roveli; "Water Lilies", paintings by Monet

If you enjoyed this Eighty Ninety interview and would like to know more about the duo and their music, visit their official homepage. They are also on Instagram, Facebook, and twitter.  
 


Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

For me it just starts as a feeling — an urge to grab a guitar. Sometimes I'll hear something amazing and just be seized with this urgent feeling that there are still so many great songs out there.

I want to go grab one of them before someone else takes it.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

When we begin a song generally speaking the song itself (music, lyrics) is finished. It's like the shooting script of a movie. Often we'll have a general vision for the direction we want it to go in.

We've found it's always best to have a plan but always be willing to change course if something surprising happens. If you go in without a plan, you spin your wheels. If you go in with one, you'll undoubtedly change it. But it feels good to have a direction you're headed in.

"Ruins" is an example of a song that really led us where it wanted to go; we didn't have as much of a plan going in.



Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

We've found with demos that we end up spending the magic on them, and then trying to recreate that with the "final version". So we generally start with a session that we will know will become the final eventually.

Occasionally I'll make a voice memo of a strummed out song, but nothing much more than that.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

It's more about having a feeling of equilibrium when we start.

I like to do yoga in the mornings before sessions — I find more than vocal exercises or writing or something specifically tied to the work, it just helps to quiet and clear myself so I don't get in the way of anything that beams down.

What do you start with? And, to quote a question by the great Bruce Duffie: When you come up with a musical idea, have you created the idea or have you discovered the idea?

My gut is to say discovered.

Or how about: uncovered. It's something that maybe your unique perspective and experience has subconsciously synthesized into something that suddenly feels like it has its own life. And it's waiting for you to uncover it. But only you can do it. So you have to!

When do the lyrics enter the picture? Where do they come from? Do lyrics need to grow together with the music or can they emerge from a place of their own?

They grow with the music. For me they can't be separated.

The whole point of songs is that they are another form of expression - the meaning is found in between the words and the music. It's a new, third meaning.

Lyrics can't mean the same thing with no music. At least not to me!

What makes lyrics good in your opinion? What are your own ambitions and challenges in this regard?

Honesty, clarity, personal perspective. If the lyrics have those, I think they're good.

Personally I love narratives, storytelling — but that's a preference not a requirement I think.

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

A little bit of both. I love a satisfying narrative, a surprising end.

I see where the story takes me but then I revise it to tighten it and make it feel cohesive.

Often, while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?

I'm always writing for one person: me, but as the audience member. Not the writer. A big part of the reason I write songs is that I write the songs I wished were already out there. I find I have a much stronger opinion as to where something should do as the listener and I'm rarely blocked in that way as a result.

The challenges come when the limits of my ability as an artist come up against my desire as a listener. But that's also where the fun is.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

I try to stay in that state all the time. It's open, imaginative, kind of a magical realism. I think it's the ideal state. Art helps me get there.

But one day I hope to be able to live there all the time. Every act can be a creative one. In that way it is very spiritual.

When you're in the studio to record a piece, how important is the actual performance and the moment of performing the song still in an age where so much can be “done and fixed in post?“

Totally depends on the song. I don't think there is a best way to present an idea -- it just always goes back to, what emotional experience am I trying to create with this work?

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practise?

Generally the closer I am to something the clearer I am on whether or not I'm "satisfied" with it. Because when I'm creating for myself as a listener, it is in that moment that that listener is clearest with what they want. So the moment I feel satisfied as that listener, it's done. I don't overthink it.

The more time goes by, the further I get from that person, the less I identify with them, the more I can appreciate something objectively -- but I don't think that would be helpful from the POV of the person making the song.

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? In terms of what they contribute to a song, what is the balance between the composition and the arrangement (performance)?  

I like the metaphor of a script and a film. The producer is the director — they create the whole world and context for the song, so have huge amounts of control over its meaning.

I think the job of a production is to most effectively render the emotional core of the song into 3D. Bring it from this imaginary, idealized perfection into the world. It's so important.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

Something I've found is that, especially when dealing with larger works like EPs or full records, towards the end of the process I lose the desire to create until the songs are all released.

Once the albums are out, it's like I can let go of all the space those songs took up in my heart, and there's room for more. I find it inspiring and frequently write a lot in the aftermath of a release.

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

I don’t think it is. This kind of goes back to that "state of creativity" question - one day I hope to not even notice the difference.