Under the Surface interview

Last seen supporting Willard Grant Conspiracy, wooing audiences with her gentle good-humoured charms, Chicago’s Edith Frost is an unassuming and delightful character. She writes simple neat songs that worm their way into your affection without even trying. You could easily place Edith Frost into the "alternative country" pigeonhole but you’d be forgetting her individuality; her songs of naïve innocence and experience. Her songs dare to be of all things, simply human.

You just come off tour with Willard Grant Conspiracy, was it an enjoyable experience for you?

It was great, I had such an awesome time with them!!  Musically it was superb, probably the best live-music scenario I’ve ever been involved with.  I was opening the show, along with Peter Bruntnell and Joe Pernice for the Holland shows, and I got to sing backups with WGC as well.  Oh I can’t tell you what a pleasure it was to be part of that band!  There were nine of us travelling around Europe in a passenger van for a whole month, playing in a different town every night with very few days off, so as you can imagine there were a few challenging moments.  We all had our moody days when we’d snipe at each other a little bit.  But mostly we maintained a very excellent familial vibe through the whole month.  It was very difficult for me to say goodbye to them at the end.

When I saw you play, it was just you and a guitar, don’t you play with a band usually?  Which do you prefer?

I usually play live shows with at least one or two other people.  That’s what works best for me, both musically and mentally — I don’t really dig playing solo that much!  I get very self-conscious about my sloppy rudimentary-styled guitar playing, and my own personal presence as well.  Having a few other people up there with you really helps to absorb some of the negatives and enhance the positives.

You talked to the audience a lot between songs.  Do you think that is important to interact with a live audience?  Do you think some musicians forget whose come and paid to see them play and just play for themselves?

I don’t know, I guess musicians do whatever they have to, to get through the show as best they can.  For me it depends a lot on the audience, and how I’m feeling.  I tend to blab a lot when I’m nervous.  And, if the audience responds favourably to the talking, then that just makes me go on even more.  I usually say more than I really think is necessary — but some people like that, so whatever.

As well as collaborating with Willard Grant Conspiracy on their new album you’ve worked with a plethora of cool musicians like Jim O’Rourke, particularly in Chicago.  how did you manage to fit in with such a musical community?

Most all the people that I’ve worked with are friends of mine to one degree or another.  I dig their music and they like mine too, so it seems only natural to put my two cents in on their records if they ask me to, whatever the style.  I like all kinds of music, even (especially!) styles that might be very different from my own.  So it’s a great chance to veer off and do stuff I’d never be able to do on my own.

Is Chicago a good place to be as a musician at the moment?

Yeah.  I reckon it’s as good a place to be as anyplace else I’ve seen.  It’s been good for me, at any rate.  The weather isn’t the greatest but that’s not a huge hardship.

Who have you most enjoyed playing with to date?  Is it daunting being asked to play with people whose music you admire?

I loved playing with Willard Grant Conspiracy of course, and the Brother Danielson tour was a total pleasure, as was the one I did with Archer Prewitt and Sam Prekop.  I’ve done some shows with Danielle Howle, whom I’m crazy about.  It’s a little bit daunting, I guess, especially when you don’t know the people you’re going to be touring with very well.  You find out what they’re really like in a big hurry!

What is it like being signed to Drag City?

They’ve been a huge help to me, especially Rian Murphy; he’s pretty much the reason why I’ve made records at all.  They don’t coddle me, but they do things for me that no other record label would want to mess with.  I’ve always trusted them and I’ve never really wanted to work with anybody else.

Who have been your biggest influences as a songwriter?

I never know how to answer that question.  I’ve always listened to a super wide variety of music, and it doesn’t seem to affect my own style of writing or playing very much if at all.  I actually have to try to STOP thinking about other people’s music, in order to get something written of my own!  Truthfully I think my biggest influences as a songwriter are the relationships that I have with other people, combined with the way that I learned to play guitar.

My favourite song that I’ve heard to date is ‘Blame You’ from your debut EP.  Is that song about wanting to avoid taking responsibility for a problem in a relationship?

Yeah, mostly it’s about wanting to avoid confrontation.  The desire to remove oneself from a situation that’s not working.

‘Evangeline’ is another favourite, what is that about?

Oh I don’t remember, that one’s probably ten years old!  I guess I just thought the words sounded cool together.  But if I had to analyze it I might say it’s about a fear of performing in public or something like that.

The new single, ‘Love Is Real’ seems to be about struggling to convince someone that you love them…

It’s not really trying to be convincing; it’s more like I’m laying the cards on the table.  I love this person, I have real feelings for them, it’s not just a bullshit crush.  So I’m telling them, and there’s really nothing more that can be said about it by me or them.

Do you think it sometimes hard for people to believe that someone genuinely loves them and that the word ‘love’ is sometimes used so much that it loses meaning?

I don’t think most people hear "I love you" often enough, so when they finally are confronted with somebody who genuinely cares for them, it is hard to believe.  It’s hard to know what to do with that information when you’re so used to rejection.  But it’s an important thing to say, if you’re really feeling it.

Predictable question here; how much of your personality is put into your songs?

My songs are all me, but I guess a good deal of my personality is edited out for content.  You wouldn’t know it from listening to my music, but I can be a little coarse.  I cuss a lot and I do things every day which aren’t very artistic at all, but I don’t write about that stuff.  Not because I’m trying to be two-faced, but because that’s not what preoccupies my head.

How naturally does the art of songwriting come to you?

Well, I’ve made some tunes that I’m really proud of — it’s something I think I should continue doing and try to make the most of.  But the process itself is difficult and always has been for me.  Trying to come up with the words and melodies and chord changes, and making my hands work the way I want, all these things get in the way.  And there’s the even bigger problem of finding the motivation to wring this stuff out of myself, and finding the time and having the discipline to sit down a little every day and work on the shit.  I fuck around with my web-site so much, it’s a wonder I get anything else done at all!

You’ve been an internet programmer and you run your web-site for your fans.  How useful do you feel the internet has become for musicians?

Oh, it’s a revolutionary thing for musicians, for everybody.  A way for one person to be heard by countless others with no middleman… it blew my mind when I first got into it, and it still blows my mind.

What are your long-term ambitions?

God… I just want to stay creative, try to pay off my debts and continue to live a relatively happy and stable life if possible.  I’d like to quit smoking cigarettes, that would be a very worthy ambition for me.