NOW! This! Interview

BY JENNIFER LEFKOWITZ  |  Photos by Chris Strong

Erin Fein keyboards / vocals of the band Headlights

NOW! This! Interview is an exclusive online Q&A column by Jennifer Lefkowitz. To hear the complete live in-studio interview with Erin Fein (keyboards/vocals) of Headlights, tune in to myspace.com/nowthisinterview.

JS: Welcome to NOW! This! Interview. Our special in-studio guest today is Erin Fein of the band Headlights. She is here live via telephone. Welcome in to the show.

EF: Hi, thanks for having me.

JS: It’s great to have you back again. Tell us a bit about the new album, Wildlife.

Headlights Wildlife Album Cover

EF: Well, it just came out October 6 and we’re currently on tour supporting that record with a couple really great bands—The Shaky Hands, the Pomegranates, and very shortly Anni Rossi is going to joining us—she’s a great singer/songwriter.

JS: Explain the style of music that you guys play.

EF: We usually just call it indie pop. We have boy/girl vocals. We do a lot of harmony. You could describe what we do as being pretty.

Headlights
JS: This album has eleven tracks—a little bit more personal than the other albums. Why is that so?

EF: Well, I think just lyrically speaking, Tristan and I wrote about things that have happened over the last year. It’s a little bit more of our own experiences into the lyrical content.

JS: The album is about loss, as well as life and friends—and all that.

EF: Yeah, I definitely wanted a theme running through the record. And Tristan and I both experienced family deaths and just things we all go through at certain times, and that definitely affected the way the record feels and the lyrics.

JS: Take us through the song writing process—song: “Slow Downtown.”

EF: That is a really interesting one. We actually produced the song two different ways. We made a really fast copy version of it. After making that, it felt kind of strange; we slowed it way down and found that it felt more meaningful that way. We just wanted to try to really make some slow music on this record. It felt like it sort of embodied what we were feeling.

JS: This album is actually a lot slower than your other albums.

Headlights

EF: Yeah, I think it was just where we were at the time. We try to just allow ourselves to write based on where we are at during the time of recording a record. If you listen to all of our music and all of our records, you can definitely feel a distinct mood with each one, and they are all very different. Although, there are at least five or six songs on the record that are not slow, but um, it’s definitely a good half and half.

JS: What is your favorite song on the record?

EF: My favorite song on the record is the second song, “Secrets.” I really like it when we play it live. It’s an exciting song, a different song for me. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but it’s a kind of a conversation between me and someone I care about.

JS: How did the concept of “Wildlife” happen?

EF: Once we came up with the title it kind of gave us some imaginary. We just wanted to make something that was unique and kind of gave you something extra aside from the standard packaging.

JS: Do you have any Jewish influences on this album?

EF: That’s the culture in which I was raised, and it affects me in my life and in everything that I do.

JS: What music has influenced you on this album?

EF: I can say there are a couple records that I’ve really been enjoying. I really (x2) love the latest Beach House record called Devotion, and um, probably the record that has really struck me recently is Grizzly Bear, Veckatimest. Both records are astoundingly beautiful.

JS: We thank Erin Fein for being our special guest on NOW! This! Interview.

EF: Thank you for having me.

JS: And until next time, thanks for joining us.

EF: Bye.

Jennifer Lefkowitz is a native of Memphis and graduate of Academy of Art University, Motion Pictures and Television in San Francisco, CA. Jennifer is a nationally published media writer and member of the Writers Guild of America, West. Jennifer enjoys running, Conceptual Art, and outstanding coffee. “And a good thing,” she says.