Lovers in Arms
LIA is a Chicago based jazz and funk quintet. Their second album Strength for the Weary was release in September, just after their return from west coast tour. The Always Urban crew went out to see LIA perform at SubTs last month. It was an electrifying show, packed with percussion heavy funk and sweet soul singin'.
Miraculously, Caroline and Armando had the free time to answer a few questions about the formation of the band, how their sound came to be what it is, and the age old question "Which is better, bread bowl soup, or the mad hatter?"
The formation of Lovers in Arms in 2006 seems to coincide with a larger movement among members of the hip hop generation -- going back to the forms of music that birthed hip hop -- r & b, jazz etc... I'm wondering how the Lovers in Arms sound arose, and how - if at all - it related to your feelings about the music world at the time.
Caroline : We were definitely looking to make music we wanted to listen to, and at that time we were into a lot of trip-hop. Portishead, Morcheeba, Tricky, Martina Toppley-Bird, Radiohead, Bjork is who we were listening to. At the time we needed a departure from the live-band sound into something more experimental and immediate. We recorded our first LIA album using a very stream-of-consciousness approach.
Armando : Hip-hop has always been a strong influence on me. At the time, I just really wanted to make down-tempo music that was a bit loungey and cool to chill to. Using keyboards and beat machines is different from recording a live band. Making beats and rhymes allowed me to make something new with Caroline.
What were some of the musical ventures you were involved in before Lovers in Arms came to be?
A : I was in a hip hop live band called Freeform Sessions, a latin rock band with Juan called Los Mineros and our last band Frequency Below. I'd played in Serengeti's band for awhile and that was a great time. I'm self-taught by ear and books. I've had great musical friends along the way too. Playing along with your favorite music is always your best teacher.
C : Before Lovers In Arms I was in Frequency Below with Armando and Ryan. I was brought up in a musical house. My family taught me to harmonize and I sang in school choirs and musicals. I began writing songs on a four-track recorder with my guitar in high school and was doing open-mics in college.
How did you meet the other members of the band?
A : Caroline and I met at a jam session at my house through a mutual friend. Ryan and I had been playing together already and I met Juan and Dan in my high school years. The band was formed behind Caroline and myself when we decided to perform "Belmont Electric" songs live.
What's changed between Belmont Electric and Strength for the Weary?
C : "Belmont Electric" is an electronic trip-hop album and "Strength for the Weary" is a live-band folk rock album. Strength for the Weary is more mature as far as song-writing goes. Armando and I challenged each other to make each song better lyrically and compositionally. It was more thought out than the free-spirited and improv nature of Belmont Electric.
A : Belmont Electric was a creative time between Caroline and I. Strength was more a live band effort. We wanted to be able to perform these songs and recreate them live the way they sound on the album. With Belmont Electric songs, we had to, in essence, rework the songs with live instruments in order to perform them in concert. In terms of style, I liken albums to books. Each song on each album is a chapter of a book, and each book is different. I would never want to write the same book twice.
Ranks these five things from best (1) to worst (5)
- Big brimmed witch hats
- Bread bowl soup
- Duck pin bowling
- Bowler hats
- The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland
1 The Mad Hatter
2 Bread bowl soup
3 Bowler hats
4 Duck pin bowling
5 Big brimmed witch hats
Shout out, plugs?
Martyrs November 15th 9pm. LIA with Terrible Spaceship, Vertikal, and Blah, Blah, Blah.
Shout out to Jammin4Justice, EmmaYo! artwork, and Mark Yoshizumi. Peace to everyone who has supported us from the get-go. Y'all the best! Thanks Doug!
