Music: Familiar Trees Interview : Earz Magazine

Music: Familiar Trees Interview

February 28, 2008 · Words: Martin S ·

Music: Familiar Trees Interview, b&w shot

Photo by Joshua Targownik

Audio: Familiar Trees - Nameless, from Familiar Trees EP

Familiar Trees is the breezy monicker for Californian duo Fabiola Sanchez and Ken Negrete, who make the kind of subtle drifting music that you would find stashed under “lullabies” and “ambient” at the back of the record store. It’s a heady concoction of keys and strings, instrumentation and ethereal vocals, that you’ll probably reserve for especially sunny midsummer days, when you decide to take a drive out to the forest and start exploring; and it’s a sound which first came to light when the pair released their self-titled debut EP on alternative label Time Release in 2005.

Last year they worked closely with RF and Lili De La Mora on their spellbinding Eleven Continents album, which featured amongst others the harp-playing of Joanna Newsom; a Familiar Trees track “Knew Peace” was featured on Schole Compilation Volume 1, a compilation of music released by Japanese ambient label Schole; and at the moment they’re working on their debut album, “Inner Course”, which will be out later this year. I caught up with Familiar Trees’ lead vocalist Fabiola Sanchez for a chat about the group’s history, recording routines, friends, and why the way ahead for America is Barack Obama…

Music: Familiar Trees Interview, colour shot Q: For those who might not know, who are Familiar Trees?

Familiar Trees is an on-going musical collaboration between Ken Negrete and myself, Fabiola Sanchez. It’s an experiment of sorts, between someone who plays the piano but is not a pianist and someone who sings but is not a singer. It’s a recording project! It usually begins with piano and vocals and then we hire musicians to add their magic to the songs. Davin Givhan is usually called to add swells and flourishes on acoustic & electric guitar, we call Devin McNulty to add bass clarinet (which i love), Joel O’Neill plays bass and helps with other Logic or Midi questions or issues that come up and sometimes he plays percussion. Our friend, Tolga Yenilmez, who now lives in Wisconsin, also played some percussion on some of our songs. When it comes time to record cello, we usually call Shaun Darius Gottlieb, who is an amazing cellist, although lately, we’ve been dabbling with string samples.

We savor the recording process and are lucky to have connected and made friends with a batch of very talented CalArts alumni who we can call on for embellishments to our songs, they tend to take our songs to a previously unimaginable place. Then once we hear them this way, we can’t imagine them any other way. Ken and I have been a love duo for nine years, married for one and are fortunate to have our recording tools and toys in our home which adds a relaxed, warm and intimate feel to our recordings.

Q: Tell us a bit about the you two’s musical roots, what led you to meet up & form Familiar Trees?

Ken’s parents owned a record store in the 70s, he was the little kid in the back room listening to music on vinyl. His grandmother bought him a piano at age 9 and he has been playing on and off since. He got really into synthesizers and drum machines in the 80s. In the 90s he really got into recording gear. He traded his car for his first tape machine and console and began recording bands like System of a Down in his parents garage. He owned and operated an analog recording studio in downtown Long Beach called “Jabbz Music Company”. This is where we met. I didn’t actually sprout a musical branch till about a year after we met when I casually asked “Can I try singing one of your songs?” and discovered I had a tolerable singing voice after hearing playback. I have no formal training, I read a book called “The Tao of Voice” and learned alot by watching people come through the studio and was inspired plenty by Lili De La Mora, who’s a sweet zinger.

She was my roommate at the time and was collaborating with Ken in a project called “Sidecar”. She invited me either to a recording session or a rehearsal and that’s how I ended up at Ken’s studio. I actually never left after that, I moved in & followed him and his recording studio from Jabbz in a loft, to a barn in Signal Hill, to the Ambassador Apartments where we recorded our EP, to another space that was both recording studio and Enview Art Gallery, and finally, to where we are now, the top of a hill in San Pedro, the place we call home. He’s been fascinating to watch all these years, he really gets into his recordings, signal flow, depth perception, sound treatment/design, acoustics, mic placement, outboard gear, tubes, tape… that sort of stuff. He even has a “sound guru” who he consults with when he comes across intermittent problems with the tube/analog gear which is not only bulky but very temperamental… they troubleshoot till it’s fixed and it generally sounds amazingly warm and clear.

Music: Familiar Trees Interview, back shot

Photo by Joshua Targownik

Q: Between you guys and folks like RF & Lili De La Mora it seems like quite a little collective, do you live nearby and hook up often?

Ryan (Francesconi a.k.a “RF”) lives in Berkeley, he came to us via the internet where he met Lili first. We keep in touch by airmail, email, instant or text messaging. We (Time Release Records/Familiar Trees) met and partnered up with him (Rowing At Sea/RF) to record and release “Eleven Continents” by RF & Lili De La Mora. He’s a beautiful person, friend and an amazing musician.

Lili De La Mora lives very close to us, just over the Vincent Thomas Bridge and just a phone call away. We don’t get together as often lately but only because were all so busy with various work/projects/collaborations and life in general. We are friends, though, so we are happy to see each other when we do. Lili has always been enthusiastic about embarking in musical journeys with multiple collaborators, she is constantly writing songs with different people. When it comes time to make a quality recording she has and will generally call Ken for some assistance in that department.

Q: Tell us a bit about the sound of Familiar Trees; it’s all very sparse, soft and drifting; who are your influences?

Treeeeees! Sometimes the weather, temperature, wind chimes, experiences, emotions and thoughts that naturally come about when you pay attention to each moment and your surroundings, nature, patterns, connections, synchronicities… self, now. Oh, amber lighting is very influencial too.

As for Who? Not influenced by their music really but inspired, yes, by familiar utterances. I’ve seen interviews of Bjork, where she says “Shhh, I’m not really a singer” and another video where she says “it seems, in these speedy times, the most courageous thing you can do is be still” or the lyric where she sings “I thrive best hermit style”… and Nina Nordestam… I saw an interview where she says she prefers to focus on writing and not playing live, the musical business is so set, she says, when you do things different, you are regarded as difficult. Ryan invited us to see Joanna Newsom live in Los Angeles and there’s a lyric of hers that stuck with me “Pray that what you lack does not distract”. I guess, I identify with these words and am inspired by them, possibly because when i hear another vocalist speak or sing them, I feel like less of a weirdo for having some of the same thoughts or feelings.

We like it sparse, but we also like to fill in the pockets, sometimes with sound, other times with silence. I think i sing softer now, than I did earlier in the EP songs. It seems, to me that if I sing too loud it sounds and feels forced and unnatural. I’d much rather sing comfortably, usually I’m pleasantly surprised with what I hear. I like intimate, quiet, soft, warm vocal expressions. Although, I’ve been told, that if i were to use my “full voice” it would have a more dramatic effect. Go figure.

Music: Familiar Trees Interview, Ken Negrete

Q: You released a self-titled EP in 2005, you both collaborated on RF & Lili De La Mora’s album, and had a track on the compilation by Japanese label Schole… is there anything else we should know about Familiar Trees?

Yes, we released the EP, which by the way is timeless and new to many plus it’s still available (hint hint). I did some backround work on “Eleven Continents” which included some administrative tasks between the labels, I sang lead on the fourth track “kings” and added harmonies and/or counter melodies on seven other songs on the record. Ken recorded, mixed and co-produced it with Ryan and also played some piano/keys.

We have “Knew Peace” on the 1st Schole Compilation and also a track called “Sunspot” on Springs, Re: Makes and Mixes of RF. That turned out to be one of my favorite songs and will reappear on our full-length record.

We are still working on “Inner Course”, which will be released this year, the exact date is yet to be determined. We had a little road block come our way when the lyricist we were originally working with decided he didn’t want to work with us afterall and retracted lyrics to songs that had been completed for this record. We had to strip the songs of lyrics/vocals, attempt to rescue some melodies and rewrite lyrics for about a dozen songs. That was fun! Actually it wasn’t, but in the end, we wrote, essentially, a new record which we are really happy with so far. We’ve written so many songs but only our favorites will be on Inner Course, in due (or overdue) time.

Music: Familiar Trees Interview, Dim light

Q: Assuming that you guys listen to other music besides yourselves and you friends, what is on your stereo just now?

Erik Satie, Rachel’s…

Ok, wrapping it up… I noticed some political messages on your Myspace profile lately– will you be voting Obama? You don’t think that the whole election thing is a charade?

Yes, the big O has struck a chord with us, we are hope-mongers at heart, we welcome and embrace change & possibility, we dare believe, hope and dream. Why? Well, because We Can. I think there’s a new generation of voters, the young ones who are keen to lies, corruption and deception, smart enough to reject fear, cynicism and negativity. I think they, like us, are looking for an authentic candidate, someone who can Unite the States of America, turn the page and redirect us towards a more positive collective future. We’ll vote for that.

Music: Familiar Trees Interview, Treeees

Familiar Trees Links:

Time Release Records - Official Website
Familiar Trees on Myspace (Latest music)
Familiar Trees on Myspace (Tracks from the EP)
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