LA-based musician Kelsey Lu says that when tried to reproduce the raw feeling of performance while recording her debut EP Church in the studio, it just didn't work. So she recorded it live, from inside of Brooklyn’s Holy Roman Catholic Church.
Lu's a vocalist and classically-trained cellist. She works on film soundtracks, and hosts a monthly show on NTS Radio called Pteropods.
Her live performances are stripped down - just Lu and her cello and a loop pedal. She recently played the Marfa Myths music festival, where we caught up with her. In this interview Lu tells us what's running through her mind when she performs live, and how music has sustained her through periods of depression.
She also talks about the process of creating mixes for NTS Radio. She digs for unexpected sounds by musicians of color to feature on her show.
"Society being like, I know exactly what these people do and what kind of music they make...and this music is for these people, and everything is separated and in its own category - I just don't believe that," says Lu.
She says history has proven otherwise, and that people need to put in their own hours digging that up. But if she gets to do the work through music, "that's winning, for sure."
Tune in to the interview hear Lu's new song, Shades of Blue.
