Audrey Kang of Lightning Bug Performs (Get Lit)

Audrey Kang is the bandleader of Lightning Bug, performs live at All Of It's Get Lit.
( Courtesy of New York Public Library )

Summary Transcript

[music]

Kousha Navidar: You're listening to All Of It on WNYC. I'm Kousha Navidar in for Alison Stewart. We've been speaking about our May, Get Lit selection, the novel Memory Piece by Lisa Ko. The story follows three friends trying to follow their dreams in New York City. It was very fitting that our musical guest for the evening comes from a band of three friends chasing their music dreams in New York. Audrey Kang is the lead singer and songwriter of the indie rock band Lightning Bug. Earlier this month, the band released their fourth studio album called No Paradise. In just a bit, you'll hear Get Lit Producer Simon Close interview Audrey about the band and the new album. First, here's Audrey Kang with a special live performance of Lightning Bug's song the yellow warmth in my side.

[MUSIC - Lightning Bug: the yellow warmth in my side]

[applause]

[MUSIC - Lightning Bug: I Lie Awake]

[applause]

Simon Close: I just want to mention Audrey took a red eye to get here today. Just another round of applause for Audrey Kang, please.

[applause]

Thank you very much for being here.

Audrey Kang: Thank you for having me.

Simon Close: I wanted to start, you took a red eye from the West Coast.

Audrey Kang: I did.

Simon Close: The band is originally from New York.

Audrey Kang: Yes.

Simon Close: You're from New York. You were three friends who came together to play music. I wanted to start with the origins of the group. In the description of the band that you sent over that we had on our website, you mentioned that you were three friends who made music together to bring each other light. The music you make still continues to hold that purpose at its heart. I wanted to know what the light is that the music brings you together.

Audrey Kang: The light is very fleeting, I would say, but [chuckles] life is very confusing. If you disagree [laughs] then I would love to know your secret. I find life very confusing and difficult to navigate especially alone. I think the sense of bringing each other light is helping each other get through and understand make some meaning out of things. I think the process too of making music is very fulfilling. Even if you feel like you're failing in every other part of life, you come away when you make music together with something. When it's the product of a friendship too, it's like the proof of your friendship too and your connection.

Simon Close: You formed in New York City where the book also takes place. I'm curious how New York is part of the DNA of Lightning Bug.

Audrey Kang: New York is a source of constant stimulation and challenges and growth, and you meet all these different kinds of people and you go through a lot of unexpected experiences that will-- I think it's hard to not want to be open to the world in New York. I think in terms of our music and how that weaves in is I think we try to put that in the feeling of all these different influences and the feeling of different stories behind the music, and hopefully, it comes through.

Simon Close: Your latest album is No Paradise. It came out at the beginning of the month. It's been about almost a decade since you put out your debut album as Lightning Bug, I think. I was wondering what about the music has changed in the last nine years of this band or about the group, about your approach to songwriting?

Audrey Kang: Because you're following yourself along, it's hard to know exactly how much you've changed. It's almost like you need to listen to that music again and get that snapshot, but thinking about it now, I would say I'm much more confident. I think back then, I felt maybe like an imposter and I wasn't really a musician, or I needed to prove that I was worthy enough to be making art. These days really question. I don't even care. It's not a question of whether or not you're worthy of it, it's just whether you want to or not, and you just do it. I say that the music now probably feels more confident. If you go back in time, it's a little bit more like testing or trying to find your voice.

Simon Close: One of the other changes that has happened in the group is that your latest album was released independently, right?

Audrey Kang: Yes.

Simon Close: You were on Fat Possum Records and indie label, but this one is released separate from them. I guess continuing that theme of finding confidence in yourself, Jordan and I were talking about how there's the idea of being an artist and making art for yourself versus having to conform to the industry and the system is one that comes up in memory piece. I guess I was curious with you guys now being fully independent, what that allowed you to do on this new album and what obstacles you had to navigate to get the album out?

Audrey Kang: Let's see. I think it gave us total freedom and a sense of safety. I think when you're releasing, even on an indie label, you're part of the machine, and ultimately, any label, sorry to say, this is trying to make money. It's a business. I think when your art is attached so closely to a business and business stakeholders, [chuckles] it taints it a bit. You can't really help, but when money gets involved, it affects it, of course. I think removing ourselves from Fat Possum and from the industry a bit, we were able to just do it the way we wanted to and not have to answer to anything much less money-making. [chuckles]

That goes along perfectly with the challenges I'm sure are very much so financial. When you're releasing by yourself, you have to fund everything. I just saved up. I worked a lot, a lot over the course of the last two years, maybe a year and a half with the preparation to do so, and then I spent everything I saved.

[laughter]

Simon Close: Well, it was worth it. It's a great album. You mentioned making it the way you wanted to, and I'm wondering if you would expand on that. For me, listening to this album compared to the others, it's got a lot of variety of sounds in it and it gets loud at times. There are some really rocking songs on it. I'm curious what specifically you were able to do.

Audrey Kang: Well, let's see. Well, first of all, when we started working on the album, we were still on the label. It was across the process of working the album that I started to feel it wasn't right. First of all, when you're working with people, they have expectations for what your music is going to sound or should sound like, or what they want it to sound like based on what they've loved in the past.

I think there was some doubt maybe about this direction because our last record was more ambient, maybe more soothing or more atmospheric, dreamy, whatever those the music journalists say.

Simon Close: Shoegaze.

Audrey Kang: Shoegaze. This one, I was tired of doing-- I didn't want to do the same thing over again, of course. Some of those conversations, Fat Possum, I don't want to give the wrong impression. They were great to work with and very lucky to have worked with them, but there were definitely some opinions like what if this or what if this were a little bit more-- or is this twofold? Just some opinions were thrown around and I was like, "I don't even want to deal with this." [laughs] That's an example of the independence or just having no one in your ear. No voices in your ear, but your own, and, of course, your bandmates.

Simon Close: Maybe this is the answer to that question, but for any other artist, a musician or any artist making any kind of art who's trying to do it their own way and trying to fund themselves, all of that, what advice was helpful to you or what advice might you give someone else in that position?

Audrey Kang: I don't know if anyone gave me advice. I would love to give this advice. If someone wants to do it their own way, they have to first, have a sense of who they are, because if you haven't defined that within yourself, you'll never have something to return to, to hold onto. I would say work on your own sense of identity and making sure you're strong in that by yourself. If anything ever, and things will come to make you doubt yourself, you're able to pull back to that center and be like, "Okay, no, but this is who I am. This is who I want to be," and find guidance there.

Simon Close: That feels like a good note to let you play some more music. Audrey Kang. Thank you very much.

[applause]

Audrey Kang: I'm going to play actually the first song I ever wrote as Lightning Bug. I used to struggle with depression a lot. You'll notice that theme in the song. I was just a teenager figuring it out. It's called Lullaby No. 2.

[MUSIC: Lightning Bug: Lullaby No. 2] [applause]

Kousha Navidar: That was Audrey Kang, lead singer of the indie rock band Lightning Bug with a special performance of Lullaby No. 2 from our May, Get Lit With All Of It Bookclub event. She was interviewed by Get Lit Music Producer, Simon Close. That's all of it for today. I'm Kousha Navidar. Thanks for listening and I hope you have a great weekend.

[00:22:11] [END OF AUDIO]

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