00:10Hey, I'm John Norris. It is Refinery29 and a lot of records that people are excited about this summer, but
00:15at long last a new album from Jenny Lewis and she joins us today. It's good to see you.
00:20Nice to see you.
00:21It took three years to put this record together, but that wasn't three straight. I mean, there were stops and
00:26starts in there, right?
00:27There were. There was a Postal Service tour in there, right?
00:29There was a Postal Service tour. I scored two films, wrote a song for girls, took a vacation.
00:38Which is great.
00:38I was going in the studio the entire time. I'd get back from a Jenny and Johnny tour and we'd
00:44book a couple days in the studio.
00:46The people who have really been following you and know the previous records and know Acid Tongue, Next Messiah,
00:54know that that was a song that at least partially referenced your dad and you lost your dad and I
00:58think it was 2010, was it?
00:59Is that part of the reason it's been so long for a new record?
01:03The loss of a parent is a really, it's something you don't fully understand until you're in the middle of
01:09it.
01:09And I really thought I would be able to just keep touring and playing, but it kind of stopped me.
01:15Just stopped me for a moment. And I had to kind of reassess. We actually were estranged for many, many
01:23years.
01:24And when he got sick, that's when we kind of got to know each other. And it was really amazing
01:30to be able to spend that time with him.
01:32I think this record is more, I mean, at least from what I can tell lyrically, more about you and
01:39other things, things other than your family and your relationship with your parents.
01:44My big sister, she, when I gave her this record, she called me, she's like, Jenny, it just, I love
01:52this record. It's not about mom.
01:53I was like, well, you're right, it's not.
01:56The title, The Voyager, it's a last track on the record as well. I would think that there's a reason
02:01that that title was the one you went for to sort of summarize this album.
02:05I think I chose The Voyager, one, because it was the last song that I recorded. And I wrote it
02:12as an exercise.
02:14Ryan told me to write a song after we had recorded the bulk of the record. And he said, you
02:20know, I think there's something missing from this record.
02:22So what I want you to do is I want you to go home and write Wonderwall. And The Voyager
02:29was born and I brought it back to Pax Am.
02:33And he's like, oh man, I don't think, I don't think this is it. What? You told me to write
02:40this song.
02:40I know I didn't write Wonderwall, but please, can we just record it? Just let me record it. He's like,
02:46I, you know, I gotta go.
02:47So I recorded that without him. And it became the title track almost in a way as a little, you
02:54know, like, all right, you're not into this song.
02:56You're gonna call the record The Voyager.
02:59It's upbeat music. I mean, lyrically there's some dark places, but I don't think there's what would be considered a
03:06ballad on the album.
03:07I think The Voyager is the closest thing. And I think that's why Ryan instructed me to write it, because
03:13that was the one missing element, because I think we made a rock record, which was cool to do, especially
03:21in the wake of my band Breaking Up, which on Rabbit for Code and Acid Tongue, I felt like I
03:26kind of didn't want to really tread into that territory.
03:31Because you weren't certain that Riley was sort of done? Yeah, well, and that's what I did with my rock
03:36band. And so my solo music had to be different than that.
03:39Sure. But with this record, there, there were no rules. It was just about the songs and kind of serving
03:46the songs in whatever form.
03:48I just want to mention that August, I think 18th, is 10 years to the day from the release of
03:54an album called More Adventurous.
03:55Really? Yes. And so I'm just wondering if since last year you did a 10th anniversary tour with a certain
04:02band. How about, I mean, is that something you guys would consider doing an anniversary?
04:08Wait, it's this year? Yeah, it's this August. Oh, wow. Who knows what will happen? I think we needed a
04:13break. And we're still friendly, most of us.
04:19So it's all fine. We're family at this point. And I can't imagine that we'll never at least play a
04:26show together again.
04:27Thank you so much. Thanks. Best of luck with the album. It's great. Thank you.
04:30No matter how hard I try to have an open mind, there's a little voice inside that prevents me.
