“Hateful” is the second single of her upcoming EP, “Sick Eros.” A chronology, an almanac, a system of reckoning with an era in her life. Mixed and mastered and partly co produced with Chris Ostler from Black Honey. Check out the exclusive interview below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?
MIMI PRETEND: I grew up in the very strange, but special, mountains of Colorado. My parents are from Israel and they moved in the US in the 80s. Having grown up mostly in southwest America, to immigrant parents, I was always fascinated with the Wild West and what is considered “American.” Sometimes I’m with my friends and I’m just like, “wow so American.” Haha. That’s kind of tangental but it really expresses itself in the music I write. Especially my two previous bands. They were very heavily influenced by western films, surf rock and rockabilly, etc. My dad also had a similar obsession with Clint Eastwood Westerns and Bob Dylan’s travels across the states as troubadour, so that’s probably where I get it from. He absolutely gave me my foundation of music. I’ve always been surrounded by the arts and especially music from a very young age.
2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
MIMI PRETEND: I didn’t have any formal training until about two/three years ago. I was very much self taught. My mom taught me House of the Rising Sun on guitar and that got me most of the way for a while haha Then I started working with, a now dear friend, Chris Ostler, from the UK band Black Honey (excellent band), on mixing and producing music. We would meet over Skype and he would go in depth and teach me mixing and production on logic. After that, I applied to grad school at CalArts and am now studying music! I really think without Chris I wouldn’t have gotten into CalArts and that school changed my life.
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘MIMI PRETEND’?
MIMI PRETEND: The music that made me want to make my own music was definitely punk and post punk. But I don’t think I make that type of music at all. I honestly only listen to goth and country music haha but those genres encapsulate many others like rockabilly and shoe gaze, etc. but I also love experimental and ambient music. Anything moody and dark has always been inspiring to me. The name Mimi Pretend came from my really horrible imposter syndrome haha it’s not after the Ulrika Spacek song, but that’s a good song!
4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
MIMI PRETEND: The key element in my music is definitely moodiness and darkness. I really like music that feels cinematic and just, well moody. I hope that resonates with listeners and the feelings behind the lyrics. If I can write songs that someone can say “oh, I’ve felt that. I feel understood,” then I can die happy. Describing my sound is really difficult for me. I’m so immersed and attached to the ideations behind it that I feel like I have no idea what it sounds like anymore. The best, and broadest, I can say is if Mazzy Star and David Lynch had a baby, that would be me.
5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as INDIE?
MIMI PRETEND:
Oddly, I think I started the opposite way. I had always written lyrics and poetry but not music until I started making ambient music in high school. Then in my first two bands, when I was like 19, I was just making up chords. I just stuck with what “sounded good.” I kind of learned how to play on stage, I really had no idea what I was doing. But that really only got me so far and that’s partly why I decided to go to school for music. My first year of school I definitely went through a heavy imitation phase. I would be like I want to write a song like “xyz.” It never ended up sounding like that song which was cool. But it definitely didn’t feel quite me. Actually some of the songs on the upcoming EP are those songs. But half of them are the ones I just sat down and said to myself I’m just going to write what’s me and now I always trust that. I try not to listen to music anymore because I don’t want to be influenced at all haha I know it’s so silly.
6. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?
MIMI PRETEND:
My creative process almost always starts with me sitting at a guitar or keyboard and then just coming up with a chord progression I like. I record that into Logic and loop it into a song structure. Then I’ll add synth, sound effects, ambient noise, more guitar parts, and then start taking away the loop and other instruments that don’t work. A lot of the time the verse and chorus have the same chords but all the instruments surrounding it change so that ends up being what delineates a verse and a chorus. So I start super minimal with the loop, then make it super maximal by adding a lot of layers, and then back to minimal by kind of carving things away. It’s like sculpting. Then I’ll go through my notes in my iPhone because thats where most of my writing ends up these days. A lot of one liners or words that I get obsessed with and then create a whole song out of. Sometimes I will have all the song lyrics written out before the music but I get so devastated when I can’t fit it over a song. So now I just let the song control the lyrics. My songwriting is somewhat collaborative. On the upcoming EP Sick Eros, Chris Ostler is a co-producer so it was very collaborative with him. But I write and record everything and he really helps out with the structure and production side and makes all that a lot better than I could at the moment. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to completely write music with someone else, I’m too controlling (eeeeek).
7. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
MIMI PRETEND:
The most difficult thing I’ve had to endure is my own self doubt and insecurity. There are times when I second guess myself and really beat myself up, to the point where I feel like I don’t deserve to make music. And when sound guys don’t take you seriously because you’re a girl ;P
8. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?
MIMI PRETEND: I think that music has an important place in all those aspects. I really believe they all collide and mix together. It’s such an individual experience. You might listen to a love song and it has a political effect on you, you might listen to a protest song and it has a spiritual impact on you, etc. Michel Foucault writes that once your work is put into the world, whether it is a painting, book, or a song, it’s not yours anymore. People are going to superimpose their own ideas and feelings onto it. The music I have out now, I wouldn’t say I intentionally try to affront any of these themes in my music but if it someone takes a social, cultural, spiritual, etc., theme from it that’s great. I write music every single day so it’s changing and growing all the time. Currently, I definitely have more intentional subject matter. I feel like my education put me in a very privileged place and so I’d like to write about more things other than heartbreak hahaha.
9. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
MIMI PRETEND: Yes but at times, no. I have devoted my life to music, and within the last few years even more so. I’ve been seriously writing and playing music since for almost ten years. I used to be frustrated with where I was at musically. I felt that I would take two steps forward and three steps back but now I just realize it’s because I was learning and becoming the artist I was truly meant to be.
10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
MIMI PRETEND: I really pride myself on the fact that I don’t have to rely on other people to make music. I went from wanting to make music in elementary school (yeah that young), to talking about wanting to make music in high school, to freaking doing it when I was 18/19. Some people never get there. I’m really lucky that I persevered and have gotten to learn and grow as a musician – and will continue to!
11. Creative work in a studio or home environment, or interaction with a live audience? Which of these two options excites you most, and why?
MIMI PRETEND: I really really love playing music live and that used to be my bread and butter for a while. But now I think I enjoy recording even more. I love the challenge and journey of sitting down and creating an album. Thinking about the concepts, the approach, the ability to do things you might not be able to live, is the best. Working on albums that become their own worlds and universes is the most exciting to me – like a book or film series.
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