INTERVIEW: Reb Fountain releases new single 'Samson': "It’s conscious growth, but not strategic."
Image: Kalvin Fountain
US born, New Zealand raised singer-songwriter Reb Fountain has been performing and recording for many years, including working with Kiwi icons such as Neil Finn and Marlon Williams, earning her a reputation of being the ‘musicians’ secret’. After a hiatus of nearly 10 years, she released a live EP in 2017 Hopeful & Hopeless, for which she won the Recorded Music NZ Best Country Music Artist Tui plus the 2018 APRA NZ Best Country Music Song award for the title track. Another EP, Little Arrows quickly followed, and today she returns with the new single and music video, ‘Samson’ from her self-titled new album due in May. A beguiling, left-of-centre track it sees Fountain embrace an alt-folk-pop vibe with moody, spoken verses transforming into a hypnotic chorus driven by a restrained but insistent synth beat. It is a brilliantly constructed song that is testament to Fountain’s remarkable musicality. We recently spoke to Reb to learn more about this new phase in her musical career.
Hi Reb! First up, how is life treating you at the moment?
I am very lucky to have just come back from having some much needed rest and respite in beautiful Abel Tasman, Aotearoa and my single ‘Samson’ is about to be shared with the world – I’m feeling great thanks ... and excited.
You were born in San Francisco and immigrated to New Zealand as a child. Where do your first memories of music come from?
As a migrant family one of the primary ways we connected with other families in New Zealand was through music. My Dad made up a hand-written song book and we’d have sing along gatherings with other, often immigrant, families. We’d all sit around in a circle in our living room reading the photocopied pages of his chord and lyric charts – a few guitars, a tambourine and everyone singing along. A lot of folk and old cowboy tunes, some kid’s folk songs, Beatles and such classics were sung. And harmonies, always harmony.
You attended jazz school in Seattle, was it always a given for you that music would become your career?
Music was and still is the way I make sense of being alive, of the challenges of the human experience. It was always a natural expression yes, but it took me a long time to accept that who I was and the music that I created could align with a ‘career’. It’s taken a lot of work – commitment and conviction along with a fuckload of learnings – for me to call myself a musician. I’ve always played music but for a whole lot of reasons it was hard to step up to the plate. The great thing about a long journey is that you have the time to absorb, grow and become whilst you’re travelling. I’m grateful to be where I am today, to make music and a record I am really proud of to share.
Your new single ‘Samson’ is out today and it is such a beautiful song. Can you tell us a little about the inspiration behind the track?
I never can tell whether it’s a good thing to try and explain lyrics or song meaning. I like finding out I’ve been singing the wrong words to someone’s song. I love that a song is as much a memory of time and place as it is a specific message and that the story is relative to each and every one of us. Even more though, I am not sure I write one singular story, at least not often. I suspect generally my lyrics are entangled moments, feelings and experiences. However in lieu of that sounding very unhelpful I will say that ‘Samson’ is both about wanting to be loved in return for who you are and loving oneself enough to speak your desires out loud. It’s also about the particles between, where you test the waters, explore grandeur and insignificance, collide with love and loss – you know, the muck and the mire. If ‘Samson’ was a landscape it would be a desert of mountainous dunes and ruins where we would awaken each day ready to rebuild and our cities only to dismantle them all over again, maybe there’s cats too and Aladdin’s cave but it’s a karaoke bar and everyone performs like they mean it.
There is a really interesting vibe to the track which we haven’t heard a lot of from you before, with spoken verses, a darker vibe, along with sections with a more traditional pop music sound. Why did you choose to go down this creative path?
I wrote ‘Samson’ while recording my new record. We’d been in the studio all day and I got home late and sat down at the piano instead of going to bed. I just needed to say all the things that I hadn’t said, and they came out spoken, not sung. The chorus had been floating around in my ether and somehow it made its way into the song at that very moment and it all felt like home. In saying that I was up much of the night piecing it altogether and came into the studio a sleep deprived wreck the next day. I was so keen to share ‘Samson’, but it spoke of things I was sure would make me transparent. I played it for the guys and basically whispered it I was so nervous. I never considered Samson or any of the songs on the album as a different path although I acknowledge the songs feel and say different things. They’re just the stories I needed to tell now with the tools I currently have to tell them rather than a decision to change who I am or pair genres. It’s conscious growth but not strategic. And ‘Samson’ – like the album as a whole - has been guided and shaped by my good friend, bandmate and producer Dave Khan with the help of Simon Gooding who engineered and co-produced the record. They helped me to hold onto the simplicity and space of the song whilst harnessing the pop for good. I love it.
Can you tell us about the creation of the music video, also out today which features the drag queen Medulla?
The band and I had been talking about a music video that felt like it was a homemade clip and were particularly inspired by Tonetta777’s ‘Pressure Zone’ - not an all ages clip by the way. I loved the idea of a lip-synch and my bassist Karin knew Medulla and suggested they could be great for the video. I brought the basic idea to my director Lola Fountain-Best and she developed it into a concept that was in keeping with ‘Samson’ the song. Lola wanted the video to express the essence of the song - being and becoming all of oneself - the moment where you express your full desires, those you might never have shared before. We created a set for Medulla and Lola to play in and they both completely connected right away. Medulla was beautiful, intimate and performative with Lola guiding all the way. Lola’s incredible editing magic invites you to both view and partake with Medulla, in their room, performing to camera - cutting, pasting and ‘sharing’ their performance with the internet.
Your next album will be released on May 1, what can we expect from this new collection of tracks?
I think it’s strong, feminine – always feminist – a little punk and pop, spacious and rich. It’s unique yet feels like you’ve known it in a past life and want go out dancing to celebrate your reunion. It’s music worth listening to and I hope it inspires you enough to come see us live because then we can weave it all together.
For such a small country, there have been so many incredible artists coming out of New Zealand in the past few years, particularly female artists. What is it that is so special about the NZ music scene?
New Zealand’s voice is loud and perhaps at the moment the world’s window is open. And we might just be small enough that it’s easier to catch a glimpse of those swimming at the surface. There are talented, heartfelt, kick ass, subversive, inspiring female identifying creatives all over the world - NZ is no exception. But we do see the world in our own mixed up way and we are lucky enough to have a creative community that supports one another to shine. And those women you are referring to – Hannah, Nadia, Tami, Holly – and the teams that support them, they work fucking hard to bring their light.
There has been a lot of discussion around gender equality in the entertainment industry since the rise of the #metoo movement. What are your thoughts on sexism in the music industry, and do you see a difference in New Zealand compared to other countries?
We live in a patriarchal culture where misogyny has benefits and sexism - and racism and xenophobia and prejudice - festers in the foundations. We have to acknowledge and address who we are at the core to make sense of the surface. In many ways New Zealand is progressive, democratic and touts gender equality – and when compared with other nations in some areas, sure, we come out on top. But 1 in 3 women in New Zealand have experienced sexual violation in their lifetime and over half have experienced psychological abuse. That’s fucked. And yet we still find it hard, or refuse, to call it what it is - male violence against women. When you live in a culture where such overt power imbalances exist within in a democratic society, as a woman not only do you wonder whether your interests are being intentionally undermined, you come to expect that it is not safe - anywhere. So of course that infects your psyche, your confidence, your ability to engage with the world and with yourself, and by extension this fracture impacts women participating in the creative arts here, like it does all over the world. It can be the driver for your creativity, it can hamper your expression, it can interrupt your goals, it can create a platform for certain types of women/femininity to flourish, it can cloud your dreams – there’s a constant battle of acceptance and rejection – within and without of oneself. The intersection of women’s tapestry of identities, creates both challenges and opportunities. I don’t know how women in the music industry’s experience here compares to that of women in other countries around the world but I do know that women in NZ are and feel underrepresented, unheard, at times invisible and overshadowed and overlooked, particularly indigenous women and women of colour. And I don’t just mean musicians – all aspects of the industry are underpinned by cultural values that stem from an historical gender and racial imbalance that, that like a rudder on a boat, steers our trajectory and makes it challenging to change direction. But I truly believe that Kiwi women are incredibly strong, resilient, progressive, articulate, smart, compassionate creatures who, every day, are choosing to have their own back and stand tall in their call for equality, fairness and justice. Sometimes you just have to jump ship if you want to change course, or mutiny. Abortion is health care. Health not Handcuffs. Kia māia.
New single out now, new album in May, what else is on the cards for Reb Fountain in 2020?
My band and I will be working hard, which we all love to do and, with luck we’ll be heading your way.
‘Samson’ is out now on through Flying Nun Records. Listen now here. Reb Fountain’s new self-titled album will be released in May and can be pre-ordered here now.
Reb will perform at SXSW (March 13-22) following WOMAD New Zealand (March 13-15).
To keep up with all things Reb Fountain you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
