physical realities and glittering ephemera — somegirlnamedanna on her newest release
interview by Sofia Andrade || graphic by Aneta Urbonaite
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This era of social distancing and social change, for many, has served to amplify the spaces in which we feel most at home, the seemingly everlasting hubs of our daily lives. For somegirlnamedanna, that space is at the center of her physical home: the kitchen table. “When Covid-19 hit, I knew that the place I felt the most safe was at home,” somegirlnamedanna says in an interview with Pure Nowhere, describing the motivations behind her newest release, “Kitchen Table,” a glimmering celebration of the beauties and intricacies of the quotidien, aspects of a rose-colored suburbia that are overlooked. “Times have changed for all of us… but one thing that has not altered is that we come together at the kitchen table each day and share stories, express ourselves (sometimes loudly) and spread love.”
In this current moment — where we find ourselves both pushed to the outside world, taking to the streets in mass protest for Black lives, and fettered to our bedrooms by the continuing pandemic — the kitchen table serves as the perfect blend between the public and private venues in which we constantly find ourselves. It is as much a space for introspection and reflection as it is for creativity and shared experiences. “Sitting at this kitchen table / Money's tight but here, we're stable / Only place I've never told a lie / Falling in and out of love / When I watched mom and dad break up, yeah / But here, we get along just fine,” somegirlnamedanna sings, recounting memories both sweet and bitter from around the kitchen table.
“…the kitchen table serves as the perfect blend between the public and private venues in which we constantly find ourselves. It is as much a space for introspection and reflection as it is for creativity and shared experiences.”
“The song was born from a time that I was homesick, missing my family, and able to look back at the really simple — yet powerful moments that we shared as a family,” somegirlnamedanna says. Indeed, her lyrics are crushing in their sincerity. Singing of her experience around the kitchen table, somegirlnamedanna expertly captures the juxtaposition of youth and eternity. Throughout the song, listeners get the sense of sitting passively at the kitchen table as life changing events unfold in a whirlwind around it; The kitchen table, to somegirlnamedanna, is the unmoveable testament to life’s ephemera.
The music video for “Kitchen Table” plays into this same perspective, cementing the kitchen table right at the center of it. “I wanted to get a shot of the table outdoors to represent the place of isolation and loneliness the song came from, the piece of home that stayed with me even though I was far away from it. We are all lost when trying to find ourselves, but it’s about having that thing inside of us that can bring us back down to earth. For me, it was every memory at my kitchen table,” somegirlnamedanna says of her decision to revolve the video around an elegantly dressed table in the middle of a field in bloom, in transition. After the coronavirus pandemic uprooted the original plans for the music video, somegirlnamedanna decided to shoot it at home on an old VHS camcorder with her brother, appropriately making the video a family affair. “Shooting the video at home on the original family VHS recorder allowed it all to feel like a really honest commemoration to my childhood and the innocence and simplicity of those times. You can’t retouch or really fix anything from a VHS tape; what you have is an unfiltered and raw memory,” somegirlnamedanna says. Shots of her singing in a field intermingle with home videos from her childhood, blending the two eras of her life into a touching collage.
“Kitchen Table” hypnotizes listeners with its shimmering blend of acoustic and electric guitars, bubbling up from under somegirlnamedanna’s crystalline vocals, at times piercing in their intensity. As the song progresses, somegirlnamedanna is joined by ethereal harmonies and a syncopated drum beat, adding a welcome freshness to the unapologetically indie pop track.
As with much of her work, somegirlnamedanna’s inspirations come from the female musicians her mother introduced her to: Tracy Chapman, Tori Amos, and Joni Mitchell, to name a few. “I not only grew up listening to powerful women on the radio, I was surrounded by them. I grew up being told that I could do anything, but whatever I chose - be prepared to work hard for it,” she says of the women in her life and their effect on her. “The music industry is full of amazing women working their asses off. Women are inherently strong — I think we have to be. I don’t think that I was born with any fascinating musical gifts, but I was taught a good work ethic. I hope that my place in the music scene can be to remind young women that anything is possible if you believe in yourself and you work hard.”
“Women are inherently strong — I think we have to be… I hope that my place in the music scene can be to remind young women that anything is possible if you believe in yourself and you work hard.”
Working during a summer of necessitated virtual realities, one in which most social interactions have been relegated to our screens, somegirlnamedanna preaches the values of physical spaces as venues for creative and emotional catharsis. “Not having these distractions [social media] growing up gave me more freedom to entertain myself and more time to quietly think. Without the noise of distractions, I think our imaginations can soar. When we can step away from our screens, we can have the deepest conversations, create the best work, and can truly connect with ourselves and others the most,” she says of the limitations inherent to the digital sphere. “I think a physical space can feel “safer” than the all-seeing, critical, forever world of digital and social media.”
Whether somegirlnamedanna was painting rainbows or listening to female powerhouse musicians with her mother, the physical kitchen table was an irreplaceable home base. Her newest release is its anthem.