It's not a complicated math equation, but a new band. Bear with me folks.
In college I counted Remy Zero and Azure Ray among my favorites. Both bands cultivated a beautiful, lush sound with pretty vocals that seemed to lift us to another place. I later discovered that the members of the two bands had known each other as kids in Birmingham. Small world.
Since then, both bands have broken up. Maria Taylor and Orenda Fink of Azure Ray both pursued solo careers. The members of Remy Zero scattered across two continents, with two members moving to Cambodia to raise money on behalf of impoverished children. Remy Zero's music lived on in Hollywood long after the members departed Los Angeles. One song off the last album is the theme song to
Smallville; Zach Braff chose the song "Fair" for his film
Garden State, which introduced the band to a whole new group of fans years after the band had officially broken up.
Now, one member of Remy Zero - bassist Cedric Lemoyne - and one member of Azure Ray -singer Orenda Fink - have joined together to form a band called O+S, creating an ethereal, moody album in the vein of the Cocteau Twins and Ten-CC. You may have also heard their music on
Grey's Anatomy or the new TV series
Dollhouse. O+S eerily resurrects the spirits of Cedric and Orenda's former bands.
O+S recently released their debut album on Saddle Creek Records, and Cedric was kind enough to answer a few questions for Quarter Life Crisis:
When did you first meet Orenda?We met in 1992 I think. She and Maria were just out of high school, and starting to make themselves known in the Birmingham scene. Eventually all of us in Remy Zero befriended them, and during one of our many membership shake-ups Orenda actually joined the band for about a week! That didn't work out, but she and I remained close through the years and would talk casually about working together at some point.. Then she called one day and said she was doing an artist-in-residency project for the Bemis Center in Omaha, which involved taking sound materials she'd collected and building music from them. The results were beyond our expectations, and we decided to release them as a record. Thus O+S came to be.
Is this a one-time collaboration, or do you plan to put out more albums?
Definitely more to come! We're already trying to dream up what the next songs should sound like. I expect another album's worth by the end of the year
How did you and Orenda put together this album? Were you in the same place, or was it a Postal Service style album, mailing songs back and forth?We worked intensively together for about 2 weeks in Omaha, going through the sounds and initial song ideas. Then we spent a few months working via email.
How would you compare O+S to Remy Zero and Azure Ray? To me, it sounds almost 50/50, oddly.I think her singing style is very distinctive, and was obviously a big part of the Azure Ray sound. So comparisons to Azure Ray are inevitable. Then, in addition to my own sensibilities, I also brought in Jeffrey Cain and Gregory Slay (both of Remy Zero) to work on a lot of the music with me. So I can see why you would say that. I think O+S is similar enough to our old projects that people who liked them with like this, but different enough to be interesting in its own right. That being said, I also expect the next record to be a bigger departure from what you expect of either of us.
Can you describe your creative process? Would you say it's more of a process of inspiration, or hard work?I do a lot of compiling little ideas - beats, guitar parts, chord progressions, etc. - just trying things, looking for interesting combinations and happy accidents. Most of this ends up just being gestation work, but it's all essential because each little experiment is another step along the way to when a bigger idea comes. Something you're just goofing around with takes on a life of its own and suddenly you have a fully formed piece of music that's really cool. It's small bursts of hard work over time which lead to an inspired, eureka moment when everything seems to come together.
Describe your daily routine when you're in songwriting mode. What helps the process?When I'm in the middle a creative period I like to wake up, have my tea or coffee and go straight to work before doing anything else if I can. Long unbroken stretches of time are best because songwriting for me is making tracks in the studio, and I work slowly. I'll go from morning through the late afternoon, break for a few hours then go again from 10pm till maybe 2 or 3 in the morning. 6 days a week until the fever leaves me! Nothing really helps much except the availability of time and the absence of distractions. Well, maybe caffeine and a daily jog!
You've been part of a band that has made an impact on many fans and garnered the respect of musicians from Radiohead to many many others. What do you want from music now that you've already been in one great band and you're launching a new one Thank you for your kind opinion! Well, when we were writing and recording these songs, my only intention was to make music that I found beautiful. We weren't thinking of ourselves as a band, so we weren't worried about how it was going to be received. In the past I had goalposts in my head that I measured Remy's work against - the work of our peers or artists that we admired, commercial aspirations, etc - that were totally absent in this case. It was liberating just to try and make a record the 17 year old me would have liked. We pulled it off with this one, so now everything else that's happening with the positive reactions etc is just icing. I'd like to keep that mindset going forward, making music that satisfies whatever personal, internal parameters we have at the time and the letting the rest take care of itself.
What would you have done differently if you went back in time and started up Remy Zero again?It's hard to think like that. Obviously in hindsight there are things the more mature me just shakes his head at! But I believe things happened as they were meant to, the beautiful and the terrible.
What's the most demeaning or embarrassing job you've ever done to support yourself while making music?Probably telemarketing long distance phone service. I'd take the bus from downtown LA to Hollywood at 6am, sit in a fluorescent-lit cubicle world and roll little old ladies in middle America for World Comm. It was an ethically suspect, deliberately deceptive sales job, and I was sh*t at it! I lasted about 3 weeks, same as every other job I ever landed. Waiting tables, selling newspaper subscriptions, record store clerk, line cook, movie theater, personal assistant, pizza delivery... I tried them all for 3 weeks at some point!
Will Remy Zero ever play a show again?Anything is possible. But unless we can get it together to finish some new, worthwhile music it would be pointless. For now the door remains open...
Check out the new O+S release in stores now or buy it directly here.
To hear more songs, check out the band's website http://www.opluss.com
Just wanted to give you all a heads up that the first episode of WordGirl I wrote is going to be airing this Thursday April 30th on PBS - in most markets it airs at 3:00, but check your local listings for the episode "Teen Idol" or "Tiny Big".
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