Photo by Magda Wosinska

Northern Transmissions chats with Katy Goodman of Le Sera about her new album “See The Light”, her love of XBOX and The Shirelles and making her parents proud by being on the pages of The New York Times.

NT: ‘Sees The Light’ has gone in a bit more of a edgier or punkier direction than your previous self titled album, what brought on the change?

KG: The first record was alot more atmospheric, reverb, and vocals . I think on this one we wanted to approach it from a different angle, I didn’t want to make the same record twice. We were really trying  to  make it a bit more direct sounding.

NT: The songs on the album touch on some pretty emotional things, was difficult writing it?

KG: It all came pretty naturally, it really wasn’t a struggle at all. The people that I worked with, recording it, were really amazing. They had really great ideas, so our collaborations came together really nicely. Rob Barbato who also Plays with Cass McCombs and Darker My Love, is such a good producer. He was really easy to work with.

NT: Do you feel you have grown as a songwriter?

KG: I’m not sure, I think I’m kind of the same. I have only really been writing for the last couple of years. I really write in the same style most of the time. I think though I push my self much harder than I used to.

NT: With La Sera you are only doing your songs, where in Vivian Girls you are performing someone else’s. Are you happier on your own being able to do your own material?

KG: I wouldn’t say I’m happier, I mean I really enjoy working with Kathy on her songs in The Vivian Girls. But I also enjoy writing and performing my own stuff as well. So ya, I think they are both pretty cool when I think about it. I really enjoy being in both bands.

NT: Tell me about your love of video games. You have written blogs for Xbox, you must really make alot of nerds happy.

KG: I don’t know about the nerd thing, I like video games, like first person shooters and real time strategy games. I like shooting up people on Xbox. I’ve written a couple of video game reviews for Fader in the last couple of years.

NT: Are you feeling optimistic these days? You’ve received favourable coverage in mature magazines like Time and The New Yorker.

KG: Yeah, it’s really cool. It feels really great to see articles about me and my band. I don’t think my parents understood what I was doing until the Vivian Girls were in the New York Times for the first time. Then they were totally supportive of me after that, my parents love The New York Times. It was pretty cool being in The New Yorker as well.

NT: Where does your love of the Shirelles come from?

KG: It really comes from my mom and having to listen to many lite FM stations when I was a teenager. The first concert I ever went to was The Drifters and The Shirelles. I used to sing in choirs, my mom and I would sing along with the radio.

NT: Which albums have inspired or are inspiring you now?

KG:Wire – Pink Flag

Wipers – Over The Edge

Father John Misty – Fear Fun

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