The Leah Senior Interview
Australian-based folk singer-songwriter Leah Senior has been releasing romantic, revelatory music since her debut album, “Summer's On The Ground,” in 2015. By combining the elemental efforts of Cohen with the boundaries broken by the Beatles over half a century ago, in an artistic age that seems to echo and ricochet off the walls of our culture’s haunted hallways, Senior finds sonic solace in her work and shares her most recent effort, “Pt. Roadknight,” with the very tired yet motivated people of today.
Photo: Izzie Austin
Take us all the way back to the very beginning, where you grew up in Woodford, Victoria, in Australia, with your sister Andi. When did you first start playing the guitar, piano, and all the other instruments you can play? Who particularly influenced and interested you during your formative years, and did you have a musical environment to help guide you? Hailing from Australia, where icons like Nick Cave, the late great Rowland S. Howard, INXS, Crowded House, Paul Kelly, and Howard Eynon, to name a few, were taking over the landscape. Did any of these sprawling acts particularly influence you, or were you more focused on local artists within your own community?
Photo: Kell Blackmore
Our mother is from Switzerland and is a beautiful soprano. When we were younger, she taught us folk songs. My dad had a box of poorly labelled cassettes that we would explore with delight. They featured a lot of 60s pop like Lulu and The Monkees. I was also a Beatles-obsessed child. I learnt piano from about the age of five, then picked up the guitar as a teenager. We lived in the country, and as a teenager, I sang in a 60s cover band on the weekends. I’m a little ashamed to admit that for most of my youth, I was more interested in artists who belonged to another time and place. That said, I have since discovered many heroes through engaging in our local scene. As I’m sure is always the case, my favourite Aus artists are generally the most underrated. I am thinking of artists like Lucy Roleff, Laura Jean, and Ned Collette. You mention Howard Eynon, whom I was lucky to make a wonderful connection with in 2019 when he played at our house, and who has since become a dear friend and guiding light.
Photo: Elisa Bryant
Over the last decade, you’ve released a wonderful body of work, starting with your 2015 debut "Summer’s On The Ground". Without focusing too deeply on the past, what are some of your fondest memories during that time, while working on some of your early works like “Pretty Faces”, “The Passing Scene”, and 2023’s “The Music That I Make”?
“Summer’s On The Ground” was a very positive start to my recording journey, working with Nick Huggins and Mark Lang. They were protective of my folk sensibilities and didn’t try to overproduce anything. We would climb through the window of an abandoned hall in the sleepy seaside town of Pt. Lonsdale and set up a few mics, and I would sing my songs, playing a borrowed parlor guitar. “Pretty Faces” was special, as I had just started making music with Jesse. Our musical chemistry was cosmic. From the very first note, I knew I had found the collaborator of my life. “The Passing Scene” was one of Jesse’s very early recording projects. He had to work hard to earn my trust in that realm and to get my vocals feeling right to me. It was a period of immense growth, with me expanding my musical palette and also learning to articulate how I wanted things to sound, and Jesse learning how to record. “The Music That I Make” was recorded in our Anglesea house and was a little tortured. I had put a lot of myself in those songs and felt very strongly about getting it all just right. The house was very cold; you could feel the sea breeze on your cheeks at night.
Over the years, what have you learned about yourself both as an artist and as an individual? Jumping ahead to your most recent effort, and debut on the Kentucky/North Carolina-based feminist label SPINSTER “Pt. Roadknight", tell me about the overall process, and approach of bringing the songs to life. I understand you were living in a sandstone beach shack village in Anglesea, Victoria. How much did your environment, its history, and general vibe play a role in how you wanted to capture certain emotions and energies throughout the material? Set for release in mid June, what are you most proud of about this album, and without comparing too much to past works, how does this particular material coexist with other titles in your discography? With elements such as gentrification, isolation, and the historical highs and lows of society, what are you most excited for folks to experience with this album?
Photo: Kell Blackmore
My artistic drive and my belief in the practice only get stronger as time goes by. In this way, the making of this album was surprisingly effortless. Having been through the recording process with Jesse several times, I have learnt to trust that the music is in safe hands. Most of the songs were written whilst still living in the beach shack. “Roadknight” is a stunning, protected long-boarder's haven with surreal hollowed-out limestone cliffs and houses tucked away on bushy, dirt roads. Most of the houses on our street stood empty over winter, which has led to an introspective tone in some of the album. There is a certain kind of spaciousness and clarity that comes from living next to a huge body of water, and I believe this translates into a sense of musical freedom. I can hear myself breaking from frenetic city life and finding my own sense of self, but then also longing for community, feeling like a bit of an outsider amongst the retirees and surf culture, writing songs as letters to friends. It can be difficult to see any consistency in our own work, to have a sense of the self that ties it all together. To me, it feels like I’m constantly reinventing and flip-flopping around trying to find the best mode of expression. I suppose there is an inherent “folkiness” and emphasis on lyrics that is always there. As with my last album, “The Music That I Make”, I hope that by taking a personal, plain-speaking tone, others will see themselves in the songs. I am excited by the full band sound of this album. I have been making music with the same friends for many years now, and you can sense the playfulness and ease in the live band takes.
