Discovering new music is always such a joy for me. I’m a classic rock listener of a certain vintage, so hearing new artists and getting into their work is a rarity. However, on first listen to Talia Schlanger’s recently released EP Latent Lounge: Live From The Hangar, I was instantly captivated by what I was hearing. Produced by Cowboy Junkies founding member Michael Timmins at his studio, The Hangar, the album features Talia and her killer band of guitarist Kevin Breit, bassist Brian Kobayakawa, and drummer Davide di Renzo running through two songs off of her 2024 debut studio album Grace For The Going, along with covers from a pair of Canadian icons.
When I met Talia at Toronto’s Pauper’s Pub for our interview, I admitted to having some nerves. After all, Talia is a master interviewer, having previously hosted NPR’s World Cafe and now regularly serving as a fill-in host on CBC’s Q. Those nerves were gone pretty quickly, though. As we talked about her music, her creative process, and much more, the nerves abated, and instead, we were two music nerds talking, well, music.
Andy Burns: So, to my ears, there are two Talia Schlangers. There’s the one who put out their first studio album this year, Grace For The Going, and it’s a very beautifully produced album, ethereal sounding with, to my ears, these gorgeous CSN harmonies. But then there’s this other Talia Schlanger that just put out Latent Lounge and is fronting this Crazy Horse-style band that’s very raw. Are they two sides of the same coin?
Talia Schlanger: I love that. That’s such a kind comparison and a great question. For sure two sides of the same coin. It’s funny, I was thinking about this, putting out Latent Lounge. We made Grace For The Going during the pandemic and there was such a close collaboration with all the musicians that were involved. And David Travers-Smith, who produced it is a genius at so many things, including sound collage. We built it together. In some ways, Latent Lounge, we tossed it together with wild abandon in an afternoon, so they’re two completely different approaches, but it all feels very much like me,
Andy Burns: When you were in the studio producing Grace For The Going, was everything in your head or was there discovery when you’re in the studio?
Talia Schlanger: So much discovery. I heard the emotional truths of the song. That was what I felt really strongly. And it was more of a feeling like each song had its own emotional truth and then finding that recognition in sounds. So that’s very airy fairy, but a practical example is “Narrow Bridge.” It’s one of the most emotive songs to me. And I put down the strummy acoustic guitar.
And then we sent that to Davide di Renzo, who’s the drummer, and he put down his drum track, what he imagined, and he sent it back. And it was like, “Oh my god, that’s the emotional truth of what I’m trying to say, maybe even more so than what I had put down with my guitar part.” So I’m going to do my guitar part again to his drums, and then I’m going to send that back to him, and then he’s going to do his drum thing.
It was chipping away until we recognize the sounds of the songs in themselves. In some cases, like with the backing vocals that I did, those I heard in my head. [At the time] I would sit in my apartment, I was fostering kittens and when it was kitten nap time, which was from 1 pm ’til 5 pm, there’s two kittens sleeping above my head, and I’ve got my keyboard out and my laptop and my little recording interface and I’m just stacking all the notes that I hear in my head.
Andy Burns: I was listening to “Narrow Bridge” last night and I was “really” listening to it and when the harmonies kicked I felt like I was listening to David Crosby’s If I Could Only Remember My Name. It had this vibe to it, of just that record, which is like this gorgeous, amazing record. When you were working on your harmonies, and when you were working on “Narrow Bridge” what inspired that song, and what inspired the harmonies on the album? I’m a sucker for harmonies.
Talia Schlanger: Well, that’s the biggest compliment. I love David Crosby. Everything I hear in my head is filtered through everything I’ve ever listened to. And so, I think listening to lots of CSNY, David Crosby’s solo stuff, and also my theater background. I think about tension, so I think that’s where that factors in. “Narrow Bridge,” in particular, at the end, we had kind of made most of the song, and then we wanted a whole musical collage at the end. We just spent a couple of hours of playing back the end of the song…[and I went] as high as I could go and as low as I could go and [sang] whatever was on my heart.
The song itself is in 11/4 time. I was having panic attacks a lot, it’s something that I had struggled with years before. When I started doing live radio is when they started to show up. A very inconvenient time to struggle with breath. And if anybody’s ever had them before, they’re different for everyone. For me, it was this sense of impending doom and the inability to catch your breath. You’re almost caught in a loop, like caught in a brain loop of anxiety that you can’t see your way out of. And I wanted to sort of replicate that rhythmically in this song, which was sort of an offering of hope. Comfort to somebody who’s going through, walking through being a viewer and so a waltz to me is like the most relaxing rhythm there is. So I kind of constructed it as a busted up waltz.
“Narrow Bridge” is also a concept from this old Hebrew folk song. It’s the words of this rabbi called Rabbi Nachman. The Grace for the Going version is an offering of comfort to somebody who’s going through that. But live it becomes totally something else. It goes nuts. It happened the first time we played it live at the Painted Lady on Ossington [in Toronto] and it just kind of happened.
Andy Burns: There’s that adage that an artist has a lifetime to make their first album and then like a year to make your second one. But a live album, especially Latent Lounge, is very much a moment in time. Unlike other live albums that may have been recorded over some time or a tour, Latent Lounge is off the floor, recorded at The Hangar. How did you prepare to make this EP, or was it another gig? Did you approach it in that way?
Talia Schlanger: That way.
Andy Burns: Yeah?
Talia Schlanger: Yeah. I really tried not to get too much in my head about it at all. Because something shifts in your brain when you’re like, “Oh, we’re recording something that’s going to be a certain way forever.” Yeah. You know? There’s a pressure to do that, and I didn’t want to creep into this at all. Because I think one of my favourite things about doing live gigs is they’re so ephemeral. It only happens once, and it only happens there. And if you’re there, you’re there. Great. And if you’re not, we’ll catch you at the next one, and it’ll be different. So the preparation for this was really just playing live together over the course of a year or two with my band whenever we could.
Andy Burns: I want to touch on something you said because it connects to your radio career. A live gig is like one and done, and then, as you said, if you miss it, see you at the next one. It’s very much what live radio is as well. There’s no record unless you’re doing an air check with the boss; you never hear it again. Do you think there is an appeal to that?
Talia Schlanger: You’re so right, and it’s an astute observation and a cool thing to think about, and part of what I am really about, the way that radio is changing, is that every radio podcast now, so many shows that tape in advance, it’s a very different feeling from that.
Andy Burns: I used to be on a morning show, and we would record three-quarters of our bits before the show and then do the rest live, and I hated doing that. It was so fake, and if a bit didn’t work, we’d tape it over and let’s do it again. The beautiful thing about radio is that the greatest stuff isn’t what we pre-recorded. It was the stuff when we were live, when there was something at risk.
Talia Schalnger: That’s exactly it. People’s energy is different.
Andy Burns: When you’re on stage, do you feel something’s at risk?
Talia Schlanger: Do I feel something’s at risk? Sure. I think I more feel the heightened presence of I don’t know…that’s a really interesting question. I’ll think about that the next time I’m on stage.
Andy Burns: Well, don’t think about it too much on stage (laughs).
Talia Schlanger: Well, there is. There is. Anything could fall apart at any moment. And that’s the exciting thing. It’s not a nerves or a panic thing. And you’re so excited. So I guess there is a lot at risk.
Andy Burns: On the studio version of “the endLing” there’s a groove to it. I hear a groove to it, at least to my ears, but the live version is something else entirely. Does that song surprise you when you play it live?
Talia Schlanger: That song takes me to, almost like a Body Snatchers song where I’m gone. You know what I mean? I think I’m gone for a lot of them; I just sort of step out of the way as a person. But in that one in particular, weird and maybe, I don’t know if it feels cheesy to say, but it’s true.
Andy Burns: Why “Don’t Let It Bring You Down?”
Talia Schlanger: I think that’s my favourite Neil Young [song]. I don’t know how to explain it. To me, songs are all about tension and release. Music is all tension and release. The lyric of that song and its ethos are so tension and release to me. “It’s only castles burning.” What a thing to say. It’s the most comforting thing you could say, the most terrifying thing you could say, and the most honest thing you could say. Especially now. That song, to me, is so relevant right now because you see institutions crumbling. You see these castles of society that we’ve built and that we think are foolproof and are protecting us, burning, exploding, crumbling to the ground. And there’s a peacefulness to the way they keep singing about that, too. It’s like, this is the way it’s always been. So, you know, find something that’s turning. That’s a good observation. Find someone who’s turning, and you’ll come around, you know? There are people doing good things. There are helpers. It’s a bit Mr. Rogers, but it’s also super tough. You know? I don’t know. It just gets me in my guts and I think it’s one of the most perfect songs ever written.
Andy Burns: You don’t play guitar on the YouTube version of “Don’t Let It Bring You Down” that’s out there. Did you record it the same way for the EP?
Talia Schlanger: Yeah. I love playing guitar and I love singing at the same time. And it does something good to your body to sing and play because you’re not too focused on, you know, you’re just one thing. But for that one, I like just to be a singer. I like just to say the words. And I also like to follow the guys, where they’re going. That’s the song that changes the most when we do it live. There’s reggae in the version you hear on the EP. And there’s all sorts of different things constantly happening. ’cause it’s such a great blank slate of a song if you see it that way. And it’s really fun for me not to be bound by a guitar. Also physically. I like to just kick.
Andy Burns: I saw that.
Talia Schlanger: I need to get some of my leg energy out somewhere, so that’s the easiest one. Also my songs, a lot of the guitar parts for my songs are quirky in a way that I feel like I want to or have to play them to complete the song for myself. But that one is sort of like, let me just have loose arms and kicky legs.
Andy Burns: Okay, we’ve got to talk about “Chelsea Hotel.” And we have to talk about that song because I’m a big Leonard Cohen fan. I’ve loved him since I was 15. But you play “Chelsea Hotel,” and I want to know why “that” song, because it’s a bit of a mean song.
Tali Schlanger: Is it?
Andy Burns: To me, it’s mean. I think you do a beautiful version of it, and I love the song, but it’s such a kiss-off at the end, right? “I remember you well at the Chelsea Hotel/That’s it, I don’t think of you that often.”
Talia Schlanger: So I feel totally differently about the end. I think the end is the saddest thing you could sing. If you don’t think of somebody that often, you don’t need to say it. Like, the person who’s singing, in this, when I sing it at least, is like, you’ve literally just sung an entire song about how you remember all of these details, and you’ve crafted this song.
And you’ve spent however many hours it takes writing the perfect account of what’s happened, and then you get to the end of it, and you say, “I remember you there, that’s all. I don’t think of you that often.” Really? To me, it’s such a heartbreak. “I can’t keep track of each fallen robin.” It’s a person trying to say, “Well, I’ve had all of these people, and I can’t keep track of all of them, can I?” But, here you have just spent all of this time and emotional energy canonizing, memorializing, etching somebody’s essence and your time together in song, and then you have the audacity to say, “That’s all you know,” so I find it very poignant and almost funny.
Addy Burns: I think he would be very pleased that we have different views on the song.
Talia Schlanger: Absolutely. And I love everything that you said about it. I love how you hear it, too.
Andy Burns: You’ve got gigs coming up in the U.S. Are you solo for those?
Talia Schlanger: I’m solo for most of them. I’m doing a duo thing in Brooklyn with this drummer there that I love called Nicole Patrick. They’re so vibey and groovy. A couple of other ones are solo.
Andy Burns: Then you have your release party here in Toronto at Baby G on December 5. Have you already thought of a setlist?
Talia Schlanger: I’m more loose about the solo ones, for sure. The band ones, I haven’t thought so much about setlist, but I have thought about there’s a couple new things that I want to finish before then. Because I’d love to be able to play a new song or two, and it’s always so fun to discover what a song is in front of an audience.
Thanks so much to Talia Schlanger for her time. You can learn more about her and her music at Talia’s official website. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Tour Dates:
Nov. 30, 2024
Irwin, PA
The Lamp Theatre
Dec. 1, 2024
Philadelphia, PA
City Winery with Rhett Miller
Dec. 5, 2024
Toronto, ON
Live EP Release Party!
Dec. 8, 2024
Brooklyn, NY
Talia Schlanger at The Owl
Dec. 9, 2024
Cambridge, MA
Club Passim Debut!
