Chicago Sun-Times interview

Fast and efficient.  Those are the words singer-songwriter Edith Frost uses to describe her latest studio experience.  Sitting in her dust-covered apartment, she’s hoping the workers tearing out the walls and installing new air ducts think the same way.

"There’s fine white dust all over everything and it’s driving me nuts," laughed Frost.  "We’re going to be cleaning for days.  I guess air-conditioning will be the payoff."

Frost latched onto the "fast and efficient" mantra while working on her latest album, "Wonder Wonder" (due out Tuesday), with Steve Albini at Electrical Audio Recording.  On 12 songs, Frost crosses the border from her country-rockabilly roots into a smooth, jazz-induced hypnotic sound.  Albini, who engineered, and producer Rian Murphy were instrumental in pointing Frost in the right direction.

"Steve has this amazing organized vision" said Frost.  "He spent a whole day just setting up instruments.  There must have been 100 of them around the room ready to go; it was like a mini-rock orchestra.  He puts all his efforts into making it a cool place to record."

Frost, 36, is a native Texan who lived in New York before relocating to the Midwest in 1996.  She records for the local label Drag City, and, as far as she’s concerned, Chicago is the absolute best place to be a working musician.

"Chicago has a great music community.  Here people seem to have more time and energy to devote to friendships with other musicians.  And the labels all get along, no bad politics gets in the way.  It’s all in the family."

Frost recounts her early days in Texas, her parents’ divorce and her subsequent move with her mother to Guadalajara, Mexico, where they lived for six years.  Her Texas roots instilled in her a love of old-time country music and rockabilly, which she avidly collects. Frost’s parents also were an influence.

"Some of my first albums [by Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and the Carpenters], I stole from my mother," Frost said laughing.  Her father, a jazz fan, turned her on to Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan.

Today, traces of country and jazz permeate her moody, spare vocals, which have been compared to those of Patsy Cline, Liz Phair and Nick Drake.  A stream of broken relationships provided constant fodder for her songs.  She finds her songwriting slows down when she’s in a relationship that works.

"Broken hearts give you something to bitch and complain about," said Frost, who is currently happy in love.  "When it’s working, you just want to enjoy it.  The songs may be fewer now but I think they are better."

Making music her life’s work is Frost’s goal, but for the time being the occasional "day job" insinuates itself into her life.  While she’s "done everything," courier work was a favorite.

"It’s really great because I can just drive around all day, listen to music and not have any worries.  I love a job that requires no brainwork.  That way I can save my energies for what I really want to do, which is to continue writing good music and maintaining the good things I have going in my life."