Lisa Crawley has been an artist we’ve loved getting to know more about this year. Releasing her new EP, Up in the Air, at the tailend of November, Crawley showcased a refined sense of songwriting, blending some great melodic pop sounds that evoke a classic retro vibe without planting herself solely in one era of music. A breath of fresh air, it’s no wonder Crawley has become one of the country’s most respected ladies in the game.
Lisa takes us through the Up in the Air EP (a fair whack of which was written overseas), giving us an insight into her process and collaborations with some talented folk on the record.
“Up In The Air”
“Up In The Air” is the title track from the EP. Unlike most songs, I started writing this one on my laptop, beginning with a beat followed by chords etc. I took a trip to LA earlier this year so used that as inspiration for a story. After doing a demo at home I took the track to my producer Ryan Ritchie’s studio and we developed the song, added real strings and got live drums and bass in. I’m currently in the processing of arranging the track for an upcoming show with an orchestra.
“Is There Something Wrong”
“Is There Something Wrong” is a track that evolved from a mixture of lyrics and chord progressions I’d had for awhile. It’s loosely inspired by years of working as a pianist/vocalist in hotels all over the world, focussing on the strange people watching aspect of the job.
“Mayday”
“Mayday” is an older song, written back while I was living in London eight years ago. The song originated from working with my guitarist at the time, Matthew Mitchinson. He wrote the song and thought it would suit me. I really dug it and we performed it live a bunch over in the UK. We lost touch a bit since I left London, but always liked the song and so decided to rework some of it and record it for this EP.
“Showgirl”
“Showgirl” was written inspired by the contrast of my musical worlds when I was younger. I played at church a lot growing up and also played in original cover bands in very seedy pubs from when I was around fifteen. I’d get pretty exhausted going from playing at a pub till 3am, being told my skirt was’ t short enough and having to be at church band practise at 7:30am having the opposite ‘advice’. I felt like I could never please either world, and at the time disliked conflict severely. “Showgirl” for me is me saying I don’t give as much of a shit these days about what others think.
“Safe and Sound”
“Safe and Sound” started with my current bassist, Dale McMahon, and I sitting in my flat trying to write something together for the first time. We wrote it much quicker than we recorded it. It was demoed numerous times before I brought it to Ryan. We struggled a bit production wise, but ended up going for a slightly electronic style, which worked well and is a lot of fun to play with the band.
—
Up in the Air is out now! Catch Lisa performing at the Petersham Bowling Club in Sydney tonight. For more information, head to www.lisacrawley.com.
———-
