Durham, North Carolina-based indie-folk duo Viv & Riley (Vivian Leva and Riley Calcagno) has been making themselves well-known and appreciated in and beyond music circles. They teamed with a remarkable indie-singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist, Nashville's Rachel Baiman, for a new, eight-track album, kissing other ppl (August 8 / Peacedale Records). The first single,"Where'd All The Time Go," originally recorded by Dr. Dog, drops today.
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The album showcases a thoughtfully-curated selection of covers by artists such as Joan Armatrading, Wilco, Lennon Stella, Waylon Payne, Magnolia Electric Company, and many more.
They will be touring between August 20 and October 10 with stops in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C., and New York.
The Three Musicians Had A 'Fearless Collaboration"
Something caught my attention (and my fancy) when Wide Open Country interviewed Viv and Riley recently. In our conversation, it emerged that they and Rachel let their imaginations and creativity roam with minimal constraint while doing the project. That, to me, is a very brave method. (In fact, Riley called it a "fearless collaboration." Press material referred to the spirit of the project as "uncaged.") The trio boldly allowed the music - and their passion for it - to simply flow. That relaxed approach took them wherever it took them. The results are truly sublime and unique.
Viv & Riley And Rachel Baiman Recorded In A Home With Some Very Unusual Spaces
For example. rather than record in a conventional studio, which was available to them, they opted for their home base to be their producer Greg D. Griffith's house in Connecticut. This is no ordinary abode by any means. It boasts an indoor pool and a vintage 1960s bomb shelter. (It's most likely a holdover from the Cuban Missile Crisis-era days when tensions between America and Russia flared alarmingly.) With such offbeat spaces to work in, they took full advantage - and had a ball doing it.
Viv said, "Where we recorded kind of speaks to the joyful, fun collaboration that we had musically. We tried out songs in the living room of the house where we were staying. And there was a studio in a building nearby that we would theoretically go over and make a record in but we would never actually make it to the studio. We just sat down on the carpeted floor of the living room of this house and started playing. There was a certain energy of sitting down and playing music together."
And that wasn't all. Riley noted that Griffith, the producer, set up a reverb chamber in the home's bomb shelter. He pointed out the emotional / psychological advantage of doing things in an unorthodox setting. ""Sometimes when you go into the studio, you tense up. We just stayed really relaxed."
Listen To 'Where'd All The Time Go'
What They Liked About This Song And What They Hope Listeners' Takeaway Will Be
Riley explained, "I love this recording. The song itself is extremely nostalgic. It just gets to the heart of, like, time marching on and the clock ticking and the way life moves and you can't go back. We're not trying to make some profound statement. I just hope that when people hear this song, it gets to a little piece in their heart and makes them stop for a second and contemplate the moment, feel the moment."
Viv, Riley, and Rachel Loved Working Together
When you hear the first single, the lush, seamless blending of these three voices will impress you. It's clear that Viv, Riley, and Rachel brought out the very best in each other artistically and collaborated with ease.
"Rachel brings a lot," Viv observed. "She is a wonderful musician and songwriter. This project doesn't have any of our originals but I do think that Rachel brought some really great ideas to this album and brought some really wonderful songs that I hadn't heard before."
She added, "Rachel also has such an amazing energy. She brings a lot of excitement and drive. Riley and I typically play in a duo, which is great and it can also be a little isolating. It was fun for us to team up with Rachel because she's fun to play music with, but she's also just a really good person to be around."
Rachel Shared Viv And Riley's Enthusiasm For Collaborating
Per a press release, Rachel said, "I love playing with them. Both Riley and Viv have this deeply rooted in old-time music, things fundamental to that, groove, dynamics, rhythm, acoustic instruments in conversation with each other things blending. Viv's such an amazingly nuanced singer. I became a better singer trying to match her on harmonies. It was really fun to watch what would happen.Every idea that was suggested was sort of like, yeah, let's try it, the weirder, the better."
Viv And Riley's Straightforward Overview Of This Musical Project
For Viv, "The project is about, okay, you have three people who can play acoustic instruments and they want to play music together."
For Riley, "It's supposed to feel fun. We want people to have fun interacting with it or listening to it. We're just trying to toss things out into the world and let people find them as they will. We had a good time making it."
