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PJ
Olsson: From Techno to Acoustic and
Beyond
By Gail Worley
When there is seemingly nothing new under
the sun, the creative genius turns inward
for inspiration. Singer/songwriter, PJ
Olsson is one who does not seek creative
motivation in contemporary music. "I
try to focus on writing and being
creative without too much modern day
influence," says Olsson, 29, who's
been a musician since the age of five.
With songs that integrate elements of
folk, pop and modern electronica,
suffused with evocative, disjointed
lyrics, Olsson has arrived at a
songwriting formula that produces
genuinely unforgettable music. "I
just rely on the 'closed eyes'
theory," he says of his approach to
conjuring lyrical images that tease and
play with the mind's perception of
traditional poetics. "I used to
second guess [myself]. If I had an idea,
I'd say "What are those words in my
head?' and I'd re-write them because I
thought about them too much." Now
that he's comfortable with who he is,
personally and artistically,
"Whatever line comes out," he
says,"I figure it must be the right
thing."
The result of Olsson's unique creative
process is a self-tilted, nine song
collection released in early January,
designed to give audiences a preview of
his Columbia records debut, due in late
June. What is most striking about
Olsson's compositions is the way they
tend to metamorphosize in shape as they
play out. "Visine" begins with
acoustic strumming, recalling the solo of
work Stephen Stills or Paul Simon, then
drops in subtle, electronic effects and
plants an almost hallucinatory chorus
over trip hop beats. Likewise, the killer
cut, an opiated, space-age love song
entitled "Thorazine," is a
perfect example of his eclectic lyrics.
In his malleable, seductive voice, Olsson
croons "Love is my Thorazine/Lithium
Hell and Hand Cream." Don't think
too much about any literal meaning;
there's a cohesion in the message that
transcends his stream-of-consciousness
musings. "Thorazine" will
appear in a different version on the
upcoming Columbia release.
PJ Olsson recently completed a national
tour opening for critical favorite, Rufus
Wainwright. "I've been feeling
really positive throughout the whole
tour," he says. "People are
very receptive and seem to be
tremendously supportive." Olsson
spoke to me - literally - from the road,
calling on his cellular phone on the tour
bus en route to a gig in Atlanta.
*****
What is so interesting about the
record is how it starts out seeming very
folky, like Stephen Stills, but then
drops in all these electronic bits and
trip hop stuff. That's very modern
sounding. How did these sounds work their
way in there?
Actually, first and foremost, I was into
keyboards and sequencers. My first love
was ambient music with beats. Then,
slowly, [from] doing gigs and getting in
front of people, [whom] I wanted to
touch, I guess, I started to write more
words and more songs. That [desire] came
out of switching over and going to the
guitar. I did kind of go back to that
organic, folk rock type of thing, where
you're sitting writing with an acoustic
guitar...but always knowing that, in the
end, I'd go back and put in the types of
sounds that I wanted there to be
underneath. I think that some of the
modern sounds that go along with the
stuff I do just happen to be there
because I love to record music and I've
always been about really well-recorded
music. [I'm] trying to get a cool sound
or something that's at least different
than the sameness of a lot of albums
today.
I think it's great the way you mix
styles. Do you think that takes a lot of
people by surprise? What kinds of
reactions have you gotten at your live
shows?
There were some people at our last three
gigs who were there for all three, so
that was really nice. Most of the time I
feel that for the first three or four
songs, people are like 'What is exactly
going on here?' Then by the end, after
you hear one song without the beats, and
you think 'Oh, he can sing' or 'Here's a
different kind of song' maybe by the end
of the show the audience is like 'Wow,
that band was really good!'
You seem to be winning folks over
through your live shows. I wonder why you
didn't put more tracks on the CD since
you obviously have a stable of material.
Well, because we wanted [this record] to
be more than an EP, but a little less
than an album. It just happened that
those nine tracks worked the best, better
than the thirteen song [selection] that
didn't quite work as well. I believe that
there's eleven or twelve on the album
right now.
The ninth track, which is uncredited
on the record sleeve, is very intriguing.
That's actually one of my favorites,
"Woman with the Womb." It's
like the stuff I started doing when I was
15 or 16. That's why I was trying to come
full circle and at the end of the album
have something that was more like the
music I've always done. Not quite so
song-related.
I read where you had started
experimenting with trip hop beats and
sampling middle eastern music, and some
of your vocals on that particular song
resemble this type of guttural chanting
done by Tibetan monks. Was that
intentional, and do you know what I'm
referring to?
Yeah, I know what your talking about. I
think that [vocalization] was just
guttural from really going deep within
the throat trying to emulate a woman's
womb. Emulating the whole process...just
the canvas of sound that the girl [who] I
have in my life had to offer through
giving me children. I tried to come up
with a sound to represent that.
What's the song "Plastic
Soul" about?
I'm a skier and my ski partner had his
knee blow out on him. He had a new knee
put in and it was plastic and, after a
year, the ligaments actually grew around
the plastic.I thought it was incredible
how that, even with all these crazy toys
and all this stuff that's around that's
plastic -- and it's all bullshit -- that
there is some great thing that can come
out of that sort of man-made material. I
thought it was neat how the human body
actually wrapped itself around his new
plastic knee and made it a part of him.
Were you trying to take that idea to
the level of a person actually having -
metaphorically speaking or whatever - a
plastic soul? Or is that just the name of
a song?
No, at the same time that I was talking
about how there's such a real part to the
plastic environment that we have, [and I
was juxtaposing that] there's such the
fake part of the plastic environment.
That's kind of contradicting itself by
the end of the chorus, when I'm asking
myself if my "plastic soul is all I
have for me." By the end of the
song, I'm asking myself if even the
fakeness that I have in my life is worth
resolving to.
Yeah, your lyrics are really great
and trippy. "Thorazine" is a
good example of that: a really incredible
beautiful song, and I love how the lyrics
are so abstract. And the song
"Yesterday" really reminds me
of an "I Am The Walrus" kind of
thing. Is there any Beatles influence
going on there?
I think there's always a Beatles
influence in everything I do. I think
they're one of the influences I could
never escape because it was such a
constant thing growing up. Definitely,
there are [Beatles] influences in [that
song] although I can't say that's what I
sat down and wrote on. I really don't
write off of songs. In the end I was like
'Wow, my influences snuck up on me
again.' A lot of times you're wondering
'How did this happen that [the song] came
out like this?' Then there's also times
that you find a song could sound [a
certain way] and you maybe almost take it
there...but you don't. That's part of me,
and that's alright to go with. It's
alright to be proud of certain influences
and let them brew in you for the future.
With you coming from a musical
family, your parents both being involved
in music, and finding yourself on tour
with Rufus Wainwright, who obviously has
a very famous set of musical parents, do
you find that you and he have much in
common?
Yeah, I think that we slowly found that
we did. I mean, I have a family with
children and he doesn't. I'll tell you,
at the Bowery Ballroom show I felt strong
similarities towards the end (when
Wainwright's mother, Kate McGarrigle and
sister, Martha Wainwright, joined him
onstage). I was thinking, Wow, that's how
[my family] grew up. Definitely, I find a
little bit of classical, folky influences
that he has kind of sneak up [on me] in
that way.
This is not your first record is it?
It's my first real record. I had a record
out on Hit It recordings out of
Chicago...in 1992 or 93. I recorded an
album when I was 17, when I was in
Germany, but nothing ever happened with
that. Then right before this album that I
recorded, I recorded for two years for a
techno label in Germany. As I got done
with [the current] album I ended up
getting the Columbia deal, so I went
right back in and re-recorded everything.
You can only barely sustain your life
with advances though. You actually have
to sell albums to pay your rent. That's
why we want to be out touring and playing
as much as we can; to sell albums, so
that I can feed my kids and pay my rent
through music.
Going back to the year that you spent
in Germany, as a teenager, what was that
like? Do you think that really shaped
your musical direction?
That year was very important. I think it
definitely shaped a lot, because growing
up with my father, I'd never really been
able to show him that I was actually a
song writer as well, even though he
always believed I could be. That trip to
Germany made both of us kind of respect
each other a little bit more than just
[as] Dad and Son and opened up a lot for
me in the way of letting him help me,
letting him show me some things and
letting me show him some things. Also,
the moral respect it gave me to finally
get respected -- which is important,
especially at a young age -- made me
proud and made me say 'Hey, I can do
this,' and go forward. You do immature
things when you're 17, but I'm alive
still (laughs) and I feel pretty darn
good.
(PJ Olsson recently collaborated with the
legendary Bill Laswell on a remix of the
new single, "Visine," which was
previewed on the internet in March at www.pjolsson.com)Email Gail
Worley
The Gail
Worley Archives
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