Canadian-born artist Lindi Ortega's latest and eighth full-length album, FROM THE ETHER, follows a traumatic number of years. An enforced break from performing as a result of damaged vocal cords, the death of her father, and a breakup in her marriage all left her in a distressed state both physically and emotionally. Reflecting on those issues and restarting her career, her new album is a change in Lindi's musical direction. Never one to be pigeon-holed in any specific genre, FROM THE ETHER is a collection of 'ghostly' themed songs produced by Grammy-nominated producer Mike Meadows. The album was selected as the first release on Truly Handmade Records, the label recently formed in honour of Texan legend Guy Clark. Lindi spoke openly with Lonesome Highway recently about emerging from that difficult period and embracing the opportunity to return to her lifelong passion for creating and performing her art.
Welcome back to performing and recording. Experiencing damage to your vocal cords must have been devastating for you.
It was distressing and very difficult to have that issue with my voice, and consequentially, I had to give up music for a number of years. I felt that I lost my whole identity as a musician. I was getting panic attacks before shows, feeling that I couldn’t sing properly. I just did not feel right having people come to see me and not being able to perform what I felt they deserved. It was a very difficult decision to step away, but I felt I needed to do that. I had to start figuring out who I was outside of music.
Despite what we punters and observers might think, many artists experience struggles with confidence at various stages of their careers.
A lot of artists struggle with confidence issues, and you can also find artists who are great stage performers but are introverted off-stage and struggle with being in the limelight. I had never had stage fright before I had my vocal issues, and I felt like I was unable to perform, which gave me a lot of anxiety and made every show stressful. I thought that it was not what music was supposed to be like, feeling horrible after every performance. I had to step away.
How did your recovery start and progress?
I really had to work at it and I had a few setbacks. At one point, I tried to sing some harmonies for a friend in my town who was playing a show, and I felt very defeated because I knew I wasn’t there yet. I’m very stubborn and just kept working at it; I didn’t like being taken out of the game. I just knew there had to be a way to figure it out, even if it meant finding a new way to sing. What was really inspiring to me was Joni Mitchell; she had a beautiful soprano voice when she began her career and then did the BOTH SIDES NOW record, where her voice had changed quite significantly, but it was still beautiful and amazing to listen to. I’ve noticed that with a lot of singers who had to adapt, and I started to understand that for myself, maybe it was just a thing where I had to adapt myself. It took quite a lot of time. I started out doing a children’s concert in my town with another local musician. We did a few shows for some very cute young kids, and it was lovely to have fun with that and not have so much stress; it was a way for me to ease into starting to perform again. I was working on my vocals all the time. Every day, I would get up and pick up my guitar, and if there was a note that was not coming out correctly, I would sing it over and over to get it right, which it would eventually do. My voice has come a long way from where it was back then; I know there are still things that I have to work on, but I’m so pleased that I can play a show and have fun without being full of nerves and anxiety.
From there, you have progressed to playing live showcases again.
I played some shows at AmericanaFest recently, and just before that, we were doing some practice runs at some small bars. I remember one bar where we played that was really noisy, and everyone was chatting, which would have really annoyed me before. Instead, I liked it because it reminded me of when I first started, and I was just so happy to be on a stage and get my songs out and sing them.
Can you identify any positives from that break from the music industry?
Absolutely, some of the positives were feeling that sense of being rooted that I hadn’t had for a very long time. I had missed so many special occasions, such as people’s birthdays because I was out on the road. It was hard to create strong friendships with people because I was never around, so I was able to find a friendship group and feel that sense of community, which was nice. The other thing I found was simply discovering who I was outside of music because I had at the time been living in Nashville for a number of years. When you live in a music city, and all you do is music, you get caught up in work; people don’t always understand that music is work; it’s a job. Like every job, it has its struggles, ups and downs, and it was very hard to disassociate my identity from who I was as an artist and musician for many years. It is sad to lose what you love and are passionate about, which gives you confidence. It was good for me to rediscover things that I could do outside of that world and learn that I could survive outside music and not fall apart. Coming back to music after having that experience makes me appreciate things so much more because I didn’t realise that I would be back here and able to put out music and tour again. I feel very grateful and humbled by that experience and everything that I get to do. I have no agenda whatsoever it just comes down to dealing with hardships and channelling those hardships through my music. Having my outlet and passion and being able to do what I do through my music is enough for me.
Your new album FROM THE ETHER is the first release on Truly Handmade Records, the label formed to continue the legacy of Guy Clark. That’s quite an honour. How did that come about?
Yes, the label name came from a line in a Guy Clark song. The manager I worked with was good friends with Tamara Saviano, the person running the label. She was curious about the fact that I was coming back to music and asked me if I wanted to be the launch artist for the label. I thought at first that it was a joke and wasn’t looking for a label, thinking that I would release my records independently. It’s truly an amazing thing, I met them all in Nashville when I was there for AmericanaFest and I’m so lucky to have crossed paths with such genuinely honest and lovely people. You don’t often find that in the music industry, sometimes people will sell you the sun, moon and stars, especially when they are signing you, but I believe that Handmade were happy to have me, and I’m certainly happy to be there.
It’s refreshing that they were prepared to run with a somewhat experimental album.
Tamara’s response to me was that Guy Clark was a fan of storytellers and original songs. She believed that it would be a good legacy for what he was trying to support: artists doing their own thing. I don’t think she was trying to sign a bunch of John Prine clones; she was just trying to find interesting and unique music.
The 'spirits' theme that prevails on the album was stimulated by a visit to the Oakwood Cemetery in Austin, Texas. Were any of the songs written prior to that?
I had a few songs written, like the one about my dad. Cemeteries have always been inspiring to see. I love reading old headstones and wondering about those who came before us, and there are few places that I have gone to where I haven't visited a cemetery. What was interesting about that one is that we originally went there to get some sound samples for some of the songs. We were researching the cemetery and found out that John and Alan Lomax, pioneers of field-recorded music, were buried there. I love old blues music, much of which is just vocals, and they recorded a lot of that type of music, including Vera Hall, who I really love. We came up with the idea when we were there because we were at the graveside of the people who had done the early field recordings. Maybe we should do recordings at their grave to pay tribute to them. It was an on-the-fly thing, but as I hadn't got a song written, why don't we take lines from different epitaphs, rhyme them and create a song out of the different lines? It was all done in about twenty minutes.
Did the experience of the death of your father and a marriage breakup lead to you writing songs by way of coping with grief?
To be honest, it was a little bit of both. The marriage was not meant to be part of this album, but it crept in there with the addition of metaphorical ghosts on the record. I was thinking about all the ghosts I could write about. The idea was to have a concept record about ghosts. People can be haunted by things from their past, and I ended up putting a little allusion to that on the record.
You engaged Mike Meadows as producer. Was that decision driven by your intention to record a more unconventional album than your previous records and musically head in a more experimental direction?
I've known Mike online for many years and was a big fan of his percussion work. While living in Nashville, I went to see him play in Hayes Carll's band and was very impressed with him as a drummer and percussionist. I followed him on Facebook and Instagram and watched videos that he would post when he would go and visit India or Africa and would be playing some wild instruments that I had never seen before. I always thought that I would love to work with him at some level, whether that would be him playing percussion or whatever. Before I made this comeback to music, I had been painting people's houses for a number of years and didn't know where to start getting back into artist mode, I was so out of that world. I was initially going to go to England to record because I had nothing against Nashville, but I had recorded a number of albums there, been there and done that. I wanted to do something completely different; for me, it was 'What do I have to lose? I've already lost my voice and my career.' I decided to pick Mike's brain and messaged him, telling him I was thinking of going to England and would ne be able to send me remotely recorded percussion if he were to be on the record. He responded, saying that he could but that he had a home studio and why not come there to record. He also mentioned that it was warm in Texas in December, and with that and the understanding that he had a home studio, it made sense. It was a risk because I wasn't familiar with much of his recorded work, but I liked him as a person and player and decided to go for it.
The end product sounds like that risk was well worth taking.
Yes. Our working relationship, understanding of each other, and rapport worked so well; we always seemed to be on the same page and making suggestions that one of us had already thought of. Our common remark was, 'Yes, we are on the same pages again.' Mike was a magician and had spent time touring the country, which was also interesting. The whole recording process was magical and fun; I felt like a kid in a candy store, except that I was making a record.
The interludes, titled Dial No.1 to Dial No.6, which lead to several songs, giving them a séance like feel.
I wanted it to feel like when people go ghost hunting and record voices, turning a dial and trying to tune into the paranormal.
The videos for some of the songs, particularly The Ghost In You, add to the atmosphere and are positively frightening at times.
That is exactly as it is meant to be (laughs).
The song, The Spiritual Advisor, written about your dad, is particularly moving. Its presentation is almost childlike.
I have such great memories as a kid when I was with my dad, and those are the memories that come through the clearest when I recall him. I have his ashes in my house, and I had a listening party for the record at my house. I brought his ashes out and put them on the table as part of the listening party. The song just came out, wishing he could come and hang out with me again.
The Ghost is hugely passionate and another stand-out song for me. At what stage of your marriage breakup is it written?
It was written at Mike Meadow's house sometime after the breakup. He was away touring and playing shows with Hayes Carll, and Mike has his childhood piano, which he played when he was young. I love pianos and am always drawn to them. I went downstairs in the dark one night, sat down and started to play the piano, and that song literally just came out without even really thinking about it. I recorded it on my iPhone and sent it to Mike, and he said that we should put it on the record.
Another highlight is The Ancestors. I get a strong PJ Harvey vibe on that song and its presentation.
That is the most amazing compliment you could give me because I love PJ Harvey, and I can see how that influence could pop out on that song. I went to see her play in Toronto at The Pheonix Concert Theatre many moons ago, and I thought and still think that she is the coolest person. I love her and also Tori Amos. I loved those 90s feminist icons and musicians.
It's hardly a coincidence that the album was released approaching Halloween.
No. That made sense since it is a ghost album. I am a huge Halloween fan. I dressed up in three different costumes this year, and I host a witch walk in the town I live in, so I'm all about Halloween.
Is it a pointer towards the new Lindi Ortega or a one-off venture?
I don't want to put myself in one box; I want to have the freedom to do all sorts of things, and I'm just going to continue to explore music and my influences. Every record I have made has been different; there may have been country leanings in some of the records as a common thread, but I've made records that have been more soulful, bluesy, and maybe a little jazzy. However, my content does veer slightly on the dark side, even if it is 'tongue-in-cheek and will never change.
You have also recently recorded two Tom Waits covers with the young roots artist Jack Barksdale. How did that come about?
Jack is amazing; he is young, but he has an old soul with a wealth of knowledge of music history. He's a very talented friend of Mike Meadows, who produced a few of his records. Jack and his family were rolling through Austin when I was there, and we happened to meet. This young guy was sixteen then, and I was astounded that he was into Leonard Cohen and knew obscure Leonard Cohen songs that I didn't even know. I found out he was also into Tom Waits, which I am also into, and, like me, had a penchant for the macabre. He picked Yesterday Is Here, the shortest Tom Waits song, and I picked How’s It Gonna End, the longest Tom Waits song, and we recorded them.
Interview by Declan Culliton