Music is everywhere, you can find it in every space that we fill with our body, but also in those that we have not filled yet, you can find it in every step, in every flap of wings.
For Kelsey Lu, you can find music in your everyday life infusing it with a new meaning as if it allows a new way of existing through already reproduced or potential sounds.
We interviewed Kelsey Lu for the presentation of the new Miu Miu Women’s Tales short film “House Comes With A Bird” directed by Janicza Bravo and which sees her as the lead, introducing her to the world of cinema.
Entering her room, one of the many intimate and unexpected corners of Venice, I felt welcomed by her energy, hidden behind a soft and ethereal voice, just like her sound.
I am a fan of his music and, in the song “Morning Dew” I often find a sense of peace, something that leads me towards meditation: Kelsey Lu’s is a world to get lost in and, when this happens, this is where the magic happens.
With Kelsey Lu we talked about freedom and how strengthening it is to receive it from those you work with, giving new respect to your work. The Miu Miu Women’s Tales was an opportunity for her to discuss the work she has done with other women, and how important costumes and clothes are for her, both for the creation of “House Comes With A Bird” and in her performances, such as if they were real energy catalysts, between one sound and another.

Is this your first time in Venice?

No, actually, this is the second time, I’ve been here in April for the opening of the Biennale.

And now you’re here with the Miu Miu Women’s Tales: in “House Comes With a Bird” you play a real-estate broker; what was it like to be directed by Janicza Bravo?

It was a dream! Janicza is brilliant and so any chance to collaborate with her is really welcomed. I felt respected, even when I was doing the scoring part, there was so much freedom within it; honestly, at one point I was a bit uncomfortable because sometimes in score work, I’m used to people saying to me, “I want it this way”, always with an expectation, or needing more approval. Here, instead, it was just, “I’m trusting you because I respect you, and that approval comes from yourself”.

Oftentimes, when collaborating with men, especially directors, they want to direct every aspect of everything, including score work, so this time was great.

“I felt respected, even when I was doing the scoring part, there was so much freedom within it”

When you move around the house, it seems that you’re making music even just with the pillows! Does it happen also to you to seek music in everything you come across with?

Oh yeah! [laughs] I was always recording stuff because I think music is in everything: brushing your teeth is musical, and everything moves within a rhythm, even if you can’t hear it, there’s music inside everything, there’s music even in clothing. I love collaborating with designers because I find clothing to be so musical. Even when Katherine was walking in the dress, I thought to take the sound recording of her walking in her dress because of all the crystals moving and slapping against her body, I love catching these moments.

Sometimes people don’t think of music as everyday life or everyday life as music, but if you think about it, when we’re walking, for example, half our steps are musical, and things like that.

“…even if you can’t hear it, there’s music inside everything, there’s music even in clothing”.

When you perform on stage, you wear amazing costumes: do you capture energy power from those, too?

Definitely, for sure. Depending on what I’m wearing, how it feels when I’m moving around, how it feels when I’m standing and playing the cello, and how it looks when I’m bending over to pick my cello, all of those things are energy and movement. All of them are capturing new moments and new memories, I’ll remember one performance because of something that I wore, for instance, it makes things exciting.

What’s the power of costumes when portraying a character for you?

I think that they allow you to go into another extension of yourself or someone else outside of yourself. It gets you to open up to new possibilities, and ways of expression, especially if you’re embodying a character that maybe you aren’t every day or any day, and as soon as you put on this costume, it holds its own life and its own story, so suddenly you’re embodying that physically, but energetically, too.

“…I’ll remember one performance because of something that I wore…”

When we talk about costumes or clothes in general, a lot of times we also talk about feeling comfortable in our own skin. When do you feel the most comfortable?

I feel the most comfortable when I feel like myself completely, and when I’m feeling like I can be myself and like I’m limitless. Honestly, I feel the most comfortable when I’m waking up naked, thinking about what I am feeling on that day; then, while thinking about what I feel like, even if I’m feeling really depressed and down, I’ll either reach for sweats or a ridiculous gown, that’s fuchsia colored and has all these dribbled colors because it helps maybe bring me out of feeling low.

I feel the most comfortable with my skin when I’m being honest with myself.

Miu Miu Women’s Tales is a platform for conversation: what would you like to start a conversation on?

That’s a good question!

Being a musician, I think that it would be about scoring. If we’re talking about filmmaking and that world, from a musical side, I’d like for it to be more conversation around that because, as I’ve said before, I’ve had experiences where I haven’t felt like my contribution really mattered, but we had to meet at a place of respect, and that’s why I loved this short movie so much. I think that, oftentimes, it’s common that it goes like an afterthought, and it’s just as much a part of a conversation as everything else. I think that if we brought this part of the whole into the conversation, regarding female identifying composers who do score work, then it could be something radical.

One of my favorite experiences I’ve had on the musical production side was where I collaborated with a sound designer/engineer for the film of an Opera I composed last year, who happened to be a woman. I realized it was one of the few experiences I’d had like that, and it was one of my favorite experiences.

We talked about being on the other side of the board, which is not of the performing artist, but the people that are unseen in these spaces; I’d love to bring more women into that part of the conversation.

I think that being an artist, you feel like a sort of solitude: how do you live with it, do you embrace it? I know that your songs are inspired by nature and the universe…

I love being in solitude when I’m making music but I also love collaborating with not only musicians but also directors and people from every field of work. I’ve recently collaborated with an Herbalist on a tincture, it was very fun to create sound through something that you are tasting or feeling, and the same goes for designers, like collaborating on a show, they’ve been working on a collection for a period of time and they’ve been telling you behind what they’re thinking about with the clothing, even just things like, “I was thinking about my zodiac sign”. I love getting behind the story of what was the inspiration behind the collection as much as taking the sound of a bird’s wings flapping and sampling and stretching that throughout the whole piece, moving the time of a bird’s wings flapping and turning that into a rhythm.

There is peace in solitude, but it can also be really loud. I love collaboration but I love coming back to myself and being in those moments where you’re questioning your work.

Photos by Johnny Carrano. 

Thanks to Miu Miu.