Loss of Eden

Flamethrower Magazine got a chance to talk to Ayesha Adamo and David Deau, who form the New York City based acoustic-rock duo Loss of Eden. Ayesha and David talk about the formation of the band, their latest release (the six-song EP "Here's Your Revolution") and why they like to play their music naked. Check out the interview

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- Flamethrower Magazine

Flamethrower Magazine got a chance to talk to Ayesha Adamo and David Deau, who form the New York City based acoustic-rock duo Loss of Eden. Ayesha and David talk about the formation of the band, their latest release (the six-song EP “Here’s Your Revolution”) and why they like to play their music naked. Check out the interview (along with some videos and pics) after the jump.

INTERVIEW

FTM: Ayesha, it seems that you came into rock music with a fairly unusual background, you have previously worked as a professional ballerina, and as a club DJ. What led you to decide to become a rock vocalist?

Ayesha: It’s funny, you know, I love dance and I love DJing, but there’s just something important to me about being able to write the words, and then perform the words I write. I take the message very seriously, so doing rock music allows me a different kind of opportunity for expression: one that I feel can hit people with ideas, and that seems more elusive when dancing other people’s choreography or playing other people’s records. I still love those things, but it’s a different appeal.

FTM: Are there any elements from your previous creative efforts that have had a lasting effect on your current sound or approach to music?

Ayesha: Absolutely. As I became more involved in DJing, I also had to learn music production, and even though I don’t consider myself a producer, that process has served me in the way that I write songs, or the way that I like to stack many vocal harmonies. Also, during my time in Asia in a pop girl group, I got really into the idea of lots of harmonies, and Asian pop has definitely had an influence on how I think about melody.

FTM: How did Loss of Eden get started? Did the band have a specific plan in mind from the very beginning about what your music would sound like, or did it just sort of evolve naturally? What is the songwriting process like for the band? Does one of you primarily write the songs ahead of time, or does most of the creative process come from just playing together in the moment?

Ayesha: It all evolved very naturally. Seemed pretty much fated from the start. David had posted an audition notice on this one casting website that I would check from time to time – that was actually the only posting on that website I ever responded to! So, that’s how we met and got started. In terms of planning the sound, I’ll always remember the mantra that David had going when we first started working – or whenever we encountered someone new who might work with us: “If it sounds good, it is good.” That’s pretty much how we do it. And we both brought to the table different song ideas that we had been working on. “21st Century Junkie” and “Some People” were both songs I wrote during my college years for one of my final projects, but doing them with David brought them to a whole new place. They were all electronic then, if you can believe that!

David: Before we met, I started writing some songs while I lived on the beach in Jacksonville Florida with my acoustic and a hand held PS-04 recorder – this was before we met in New York. I became disillusioned with the mainstream public and kept to myself on the beach writing and playing when I wasn’t in the surf. Some of those songs were presented to Ayesha after we met in Bryant Park in Manhattan. She would listen to them and come up with melody lines and lyrics. We would then discuss arrangement and I would refine the instrumental songs in Pro tools with additional overdubs. Once I had the whole song structure together, she would go into Pro Tools and record her vocal magick. We wrote and recorded demos of all the songs in about 6 months.

FTM: Tell me a little bit about the recording process for “Here’s Your Revolution”. Why did you decide to bring in a full band for the studio version of the songs, and how did that creatively affect the music? Do you guys plan to eventually bring any other permanent musicians into the band, or would you prefer to remain an acoustic duo?

David: We needed other musicians since I am a guitarist not a bassist or drummer. We tried several musicians but we couldn’t seem to find enough common ground to make it happen. We also had a limited budget so we didn’t want to pay for expensive studio musicians.

Then one evening I got a call from my stepbrother John, whom I haven’t heard from in aeons! He somehow tracked down my number and next thing I knew he said if I needed help he was still jamming back in Wisconsin with his good friend Rob, and my other step brother Tony had picked up the bass guitar.

Cool, so, we decided to use Producers out of Chicago and they lived 2 hours from there! I sent my stepbrothers the demos and they wanted in just like that. Their presence gave it more of an earthy vibe but they relied on our direction for tempo, tone, and structure.

Ayesha: Of course, then there’s the part of the recording process that has nothing to do with recording itself. I’m not going to go into details, but I’ll tell you we definitely had some tough times – really tough, life tough – which is why it took us so long to get the album out there. As far as being a duo or a band, I think that we could go either way.

David: I am going to let the universe decide on the evolution of Loss of Eden.

FTM: Ayesha, regarding your latest release, the six song EP “Here’s Your Revolution”, you mentioned to me that the “idea” of the album “expands beyond the six songs”. How exactly would you describe the concept behind this album?

Ayesha: Well, I wouldn’t call it a concept album or anything, but the lyrics on songs like “Here’s Your Revolution” and “21st Century Junkie” definitely have an embedded social statement. In a way, it even extends to the poppiest song of the six, “Last Man on Earth,” when you think about how that song is saying “Even if you were a millionaire…I wouldn’t want you.” There’s something else, something more important than that.

So, overall, I think David and I try to stay as true as possible to our life ideals, and express this in the songs. Even if the song happens to sound like the poppiest song on earth, there’s a truth still in there somewhere. And I guess it comes from our belief that this is what a real recording artist ought to do.

FTM: You also mentioned that there were 5 other songs that were intended for the album as well. Are those songs available anywhere, and do you guys intend to eventually record the other songs in studio or release a full-length version of the album?

Ayesha: Money willing, absolutely. The other five are partly recorded already, we just didn’t have the money to finish them all. We definitely plan to release a complete version of this album, though. We did one of the 5 songs, “My Revenge,” as an Uncovered live acoustic; you can hear it on Youtube.

David: Yeah, I believe the studio recordings of the other 5 songs are about 75 percent complete. We just need to find the time and money to finish them up.

FTM: In the videos that you’ve released on Youtube to accompany the songs off of “Here’s Your Revolution”, you made the decision to perform naked. How did that artistic choice come about, and what was the creative rationale behind that (besides the obvious fact that you guys look good naked)?

David: One night while I was on ayahuasca sitting in front of my marble fireplace it kinda came to me in a vision. So then I texted Ayesha about the idea.

Ayesha: You never told me there was ayahuasca involved! That explains so much, David. But anyhow, after he hit me with the idea, I ran with it, thinking how instead of just covering songs, we’d be “uncovered”! And that’s where the cheeky slogan writing, like “more music, less clothing” began. Hey – thanks for thinking that we look good naked, by the way.

I really wanted to get across something light and fun with the nudity, nothing too sultry or high-pressure on the viewer. People have compared the vibe to a kind of Monty Python thing, or the effect of having the outtakes at the end to the humanizing feel of the outtakes in a Jackie Chan movie. Most people find it fun and don’t take it too seriously, though occasionally we get a few who think it’s either too much information or not nearly enough information, if you know what I mean.


FTM: I noticed that on the band’s website, you have a blog that talks about a lot of different topics beyond music like politics, commercialism, etc, and some of those thoughts seem to be expressed through your music as well. Are those thoughts that you consciously try to incorporate into your music, and if so how? And if so, do you feel that your platform as a musical artist gives you a responsibility to comment on society?
Ayesha: It’s really great that you picked up on that, and yes, I think it’s a very important part of being a music artist. Initially, it wasn’t a conscious decision at all. The lyrics for the song “Here’s Your Revolution” were something that I sort of just channeled out of the clear blue sky, and I wasn’t trying to write about overmedicated America in “21st Century Junkie” either. It’s just the song that showed up in my head.

I think it has become part of the destiny of what Loss of Eden is meant to be, though, and we’re not shying away from that. Even in the face of being a small voice, as less known artists, I feel that we have an obligation to give whatever voice we can to ideas, observations and truths that aren’t celebrated in the mainstream media. In a world that endlessly attempts to brainwash us all into believing that the only rewards in life are material ones, you can bet that there is no monetary incentive in pointing out the sadness of seeing your favorite neighborhood gentrified, or in pointing out the product placement machine operating behind every major label artist.

But it must be done because the other voice is so powerful that it would be easy for it to have its way, to both overcome us and protect us from what we don’t want to hear or see or know about. Injustice is rampant, and if it can’t be changed by the few, it should at least be exposed or remembered. And I don’t think it matters how small the voice. To get a little philosophical, the tree falling in the forest makes a sound –a vibration – that reaches all the other matter around it, and that exists.

You really have to wonder about the philosopher who first asked whether a tree is heard if no one turns up to receive the sound. I mean of course the voice of that falling tree was received: it’s a forest full of other living trees! So I guess the point is that the forest isn’t just there; the forest is everywhere.

We do what we do, at Loss of Eden, and try to live in a voice of truth. Something will happen, however small, and that is worthwhile. Why else be a music artist? Just to try and become famous? Please. The only reason for someone to want that is so that they can have a larger platform from which to say the same things that need to be said.

FTM: Tell me a little bit about how you originally got into music. What were some artists or records that first influenced you at a young age? What are some other artists or albums (old or new) that have had a significant influence on your sound?

David: I grew up in an environment of music. My mother always played albums in the house. Everything from Elvis to Willie Nelson to John Philip Sousa. My stepdad and his brother had a huge 45 collection of records that was eventually sold to a museum. As kids we would spin the records at their parties on weekends. Everything influenced us including the biker gangs at their Milwaukee parties. Then when I was 17 I was given a guitar for my birthday and decided to teach myself so I could play the music in my head.

Ayesha: For me it was endless Simon and Garfunkel, The Doors, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, and later Pat Benatar, Blondie, Madonna. Also the ballet school classics: Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky… But I had no idea that I would become a musician of any sort until I started to get into the DJ scene in the New York of the late 90’s – probably the last time there was any real music scene of consequence in New York. But anyhow, all the DJ music was instrumental stuff.

In terms of lyrics writing, which is huge for me, Simon and Garfunkel are it. Bookends is a favorite, and I love the idea of a beginning-to-end semi-concept album like Graceland. Somehow they seemed to have license to make folkier music that was never formulaic. Many times when I hear folk artists today, it just sounds like the same song with the same lyrics and nothing is really hitting me.

And the labels and fans seem content with that. I like Sufjan Stevens, though. Really impressive stuff. And lately I’m obsessed with Linda Perhacs and Sibylle Baier. I get a twinge of sorrow there, though – just thinking of what kind of amazing music someone like Linda Perhacs would have been making all these years if she had been better subsidized or recognized and didn’t go become a dentist. Sigh.

FTM: What music and bands have you been listening to lately, and have any of them had a direct influence on your music or songwriting approach? The covers that you have performed for the songs available on YouTube are pretty diverse, from Lady Gaga to Portishead. Is this a conscious effort to perform different genres of music, or just comes from having eclectic tastes?

Ayesha: Like I was saying, Perhacs and Baier are on my dream team, as far as recent influences go. Portishead was David’s suggestion, and I think we chose it because we’ve always thought they were pretty cool, and that song, “Roads,” well, it just seems to fit what’s going on right now in the world. And the Lady Gaga song, well, we could just hear that it was worth rescuing. It’s fun to do covers of songs that are not in your genre because it can get really creative. It’s great to be able to take something familiar and do something unique and personal with it. But I think our influences come from pretty much anything we hear. We do a lot of listening to what shows up around us.

David: I listen to a lot of the singer/songwriter music on NPR. I love World Café and hearing artists from around the globe. It all blends into your psyche eventually if you let it.

FTM: Do you play a lot of shows live? And if so, do you try to work any specific visual elements into your live performances, or is it more of a raw musical performance?


Ayesha: At the moment, David and I live in different cities, which makes playing regular live gigs difficult. That’s part of the reason we really embraced the idea of doing live videos for Youtube: we could let people see the bare truth of us performing (in so many ways) and we could overcome our distant living situation by recording a bunch of videos in one visit. It’s our hope to do more live performing in the traditional sense, though.

FTM: Do you have any other projects or collaborations in the works that we should look forward to? What other things can we expect to hear from you in the future?

Ayesha: Well, I have a little pet album that I’ve been nursing for a while now that will be partly a Loss of Eden project – and it looks like I’ll actually begin some recording on it soon (though I expect it will be a long process). It has to do with New York City and the way that it’s changed from what it used to be. You can be sure that it will bring attention to those same social issues that we were talking about earlier. It includes the folk side of Loss of Eden, but I’ll be recording with my DJ partner, Cecil Grey, who builds analog synths. So, it will have an electronic aspect as well.

David: I am looking forward to an awakening on this planet where people can actually pursue real art and not commercialism. Then we will hear incredible collaborations.

Ayesha: I like to think we’re paving the way.

FTM: Are there any other up-and-coming local bands from your area that you would recommend people check out?

David: I really like a band out of Milwaukee called Beatallica. They combine songs from the Beatles and Metallica. I know the singer and guitar player in the band. They are really gaining popularity and have been playing all over the globe. Originality at its best!

Ayesha: There’s a band in New York that I perform with on the side called Whore’s Mascara. I only sing occasionally – it’s more like an acting or performance art thing that I do in their shows – and the show part is really essential to what they do. Their lyrics and banter between characters is hilariously witty and sexy with a farcical current of social commentary running through it all. Very electro pop with over the top antics to match. It’s good fun.
- Flamethrower Magazine