STARCHARM!!!!!
Photo by Orion
Starcharm has exploded onto the Chicago music scene recently with their avant-garde-indie-2010s-pop sound. They have a wide range of influences, they love movies and fashion, and love to dance.
L: Lanie
A: Amaya
J: Jasmin
interview by reid isbell
How did Starcharm start? L: Starcharm is essentially the result of the dissolution of Soft & Dumb. I was playing a lot of solo shows as Soft & Dumb and I was like well I kinda need a new band, and then met Amaya and we immediately clicked and went out drinking one night and, without ever hearing Amaya play drums before, I was like do you want to play drums with me? They said yes and Jasmin just naturally came along, she was at my house one time and we were like you should play bass. So Starcharm came out of a lot of change and, like, loss in a way, but also it was also sort of a rebirth.
What was the first song you played together? L: I think it was "Immaculate." A: Yeah, it was "Immaculate," which is the song we always play first. L: It just felt like a good opener for us. I wrote that in my bedroom and presented it to Amaya and Jasmin, and then it sort of took on a way different form, like we added a whole new part and composed it together as a full band which was really fun.
How does writing go about? L: I think we're kinda figuring out how our writing process looks like right now, because as it stands, a lot of the time I would bring songs to them, but - my demos are pretty loose, and I want them to fuck them up positively and take them in a different direction - but also we've been trying to write more collaboratively recently through jams. A: And we have one song that we play live that we wrote in a jam completely. And I feel like that song started with a bass part that you wrote, Jasmin. J: I think were definitely amidst an experimental phase of trying out every process and seeing which works for us. I think it's a combination of having a structured, written part that we kinda jam out, and then slowly come to a more solidified song. L: Yeah, because never saw Starcharm as like a oh, this is my solo project now that Soft & Dumb is gone, I always wanted it to be a super collaborative thing where like Amaya and Jasmin both feel comfortable bringing things to the writing process.
Do you all share the same music taste? All: No. A: We were just talking about this. I feel like there's definitely overlaps, but for the most part, I feel like we all kinda come from different roots.
What are these roots? L: So, I grew up listening to a lot of Mitski, like 14 years old bumping Mitski hard as hell. So her album "Bury Me at Makeout Creek" was everything to me. And I really like Pretty Sick, which I'm so happy I had the chance to open for them, they're my favorite band. We all love Palm. A: Yeah, we all love weird time signatures. J: Just very feel oriented music. A: In my youth beginnings of music taste I listened to Crass and Dystopia and the Raincoats and Suburban Lawns. I listened to more of that kinda stuff, and the Slits, but then also some folky stuff. But I feel my drive towards drumming comes from all the more punky stuff that I love. J: I started very young. All I listened to was classical music because that's all my parents put on for me. But then hitting kinda elementary school, obsessed with 2010s pop and I'm still just equally obsessed and enthralled with that sound. Melody writing from that specific era is something I think about a lot. And then it went to, like, the classic 21 Pilots, Panic! at the Disco, emo rock route. And then from there, that turned into more math rocky stuff. And then, the age-old rock to eletcronic pipeline. And that's where I sit now, but I don't declare one genre, I love listening to everything. It all intermingles, I think it just pans out as just different phases during specific parts of my life, but I equally listen to everything. L: I'm also super inspired by pop music. I feel like I try to write hooks. Especially melodically with vocals, I'm very much like I need a catchy pop song.
Crass & Mitski
Who are your favorites? J: I love Beach House, I looove Beach House. I love Beach House, I love Sophie, I love Autechre, I love Hella. A: I love Hella, too. J: Blonde Redhead. A: I love Blonde Redhead. L: I feel like rarely we go to a practice being like we want to sound like this specific artist. A: I feel like we go so feelings-based. J: We have started to write with the intention to evoke a certain feeling. L: It's like more so we want to write a song that will get people to dance, or we want to write a song that people will mosh to, or we want to make a song that's really slow. It's more abstract than like oh, we want to make a song that sounds like this specific artist. A: Because also when I'm drumming, I feel like my aim is to just to just go for whatever physically feels good. L: We're very like feelings first. J: Fuck theory. It doesn't work for us, but it's comforting to have found people who work in the way that I think about music too. L: I feel like we get sucked into jams, which is always fun.
Who would be your dream musician or band to play with? L: I've been asked this question before, and my answer has always been Mitski because she's been like my number one inspiration since I was just a wee teen. So, even though her music right now is super country and folky, I would still want to play with her. A: If I could bring the Raincoats back as a band in their youth, I would want to open for them. J: I would say Phoenix because I think they definitely channel that very dancy, visceral body movement that we all really love. A: That's so true, dancy, dancy, dancy, dancy. L: That's such a smart answer.
The Raincoats
What if you could play for anyone, who would that be? All: Oooo. L: I want to play bass for Amaya Peña. A: Someone who could give me a lot of money to fund my art. J: That's smart, I was gonna say Customwoodburning. L: I don't even know who I was gonna say... George Washington. A vampire. A: A ghost. L: I would play for Imogen Heap. I'd want her in the crowd. I think she'd just provide an ethereal ambiance, and I think she'd just be really thoughtful while listening. I think she's really thoughtful as an artist and person. J: Mine is the complete opposite, Customwoodburning is just a hater. But she'd make me chuckle.
If you could have one of your songs in any movie, what movie would you pick? L: I just watched an interview with the Vampire, and I was like woah, this is a crazy movie. J: I'd say Possession. A: Maybe a Western movie, but like a really early one. L: Or Practical Magic, I just watched that recently and it's such a spooky romcom, I feel like we could write for that. A: Batman. L: Actually, it would be the Craft because I've written multiple songs that reference the Craft. A: Yeah I definitely feel like a Halloween movie. J: Mean Girls. Paul Blart Mall Cop.
Do you get any influence from things outside of music? J: A thousand percent. There's so many avenues of inspiration it's crazy. Recently I was tapping back into fashion, and watching a lot of these shows in the way that the runways intermingle with the soundtrack, it's so good. A: I feel like our music's low-key inspired by fashion. Like by outfits within movies. I feel like to me the visual look and our musical sound is definitely tied hand in hand. L: As a visual artist, I'm like always writing music about what I'm also making art about visually. So they all influence eachother. A: The Matrix inspires me musically. I feel like it has cool little noises in it.
Who has the best style? J: Okay, so the thing is I feel like we're all dressed to the nines, but we all specialize in our own avenue of fashion. A: I think Jasmin and Lanie are tied for me. I feel like I watch them glamazon. L: But I feel like you have your own version of glamazon. J: I feel like we all equally glamazonion. A: We all have distinct styles, we all have our color pallettes. L: But Jasmin would be a fashion designer, so I think she wins.
Would you do that, Jasmin? J: Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes. I can't wait for the day when I wake up and that's what I think about. Because I go through phases in media, and right now it's music, but one day for a month or so it's gonna be fashion.
What are you gonna be for Halloween? J: Your mom. L: We all have several costumes, so one day I'm gonna be Winona Ryder in Heathers and it's gonna be post-explosion when her boyfriend explodes and then she uses the explosion to light her cigarette and her hair's all fucked up and she's got blood on her face. I have that, and I'm also gonna be someone from D.E.B.S., and then also a devil, and our last costume is a secret. A: There's this movie, Daisies, and there's this scene from it where this girl's covered in newspaper and twine, and I'm gonna be her covered in newspaper and twine. And then also I'm gonna be a costume with these two, which is a secret. J: I'm also gonna be a person from Daisies, but in a different scene where she's in a black dress and has very iconic eye makeup. And then the secret one, that I can't tell you hehe.
Daisies, newspaper and twine
Is the secret one for the Halloween show tomorrow? All: Yeah....
If you could play anywhere, where would you play? J: Berghain. A: On top of a mountain. J: Underwater. L: Stonehenge. A: I would play underwater and people would have to watch from submarines. L: A really tall ladder.
Would you be able to get into Berghain? J: Duh.
How? J: I'm doing Duolingo on my phone.
What's next for Starcharm? A: We're releasing an EP.
Do you know when? A: I think we're gonna release a single first within the next two to three months, and then the EP in the spring. And then were gonna make really weird videos that weird everyone out and make them question us. L: Yes, were gonna make everyone judge us. A: We're going for uncanny, we want to make everyone uncomfortable, but in a good way.
What should everyone be listening to right now? J: This is a good question. I never really listened to Xiu Xiu, but I think everyone should go onto Youtube and listen to this one live performance of "Crank Heart." But only that. A: I think everyone should listen to this band, Drinks. Because I've been listening to them a lot this week and I think they're very good. L: I've been listening to Starla Online, they have this one EP, "Spiral Season," that I've been listening to a lot. It's electronic kinda, but in a very twee way. J: I also say Rob Powers, this one Australian guy who just posts stuff on Youtube. Very good outsider-lofi-rock, it's really weird and very edgelordian.
Do you have a message to whoever's gonna read this, which is expected to be millions of people? L: You should make music, you should go to shows, you should start a band with your friends, and you should come to our show on November 2. A: You should eat as many tubs of ice cream as your heart can handle. J: I tell the people to trust themselves. L: Chicago's awesome, you should listen to every Chicago band ever.
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