Q&A: Diving Into the Musical and Visuals Sides of Relationships, Cecilia James Talks EP 'Different Ground'
WITH DREAMY VOCALS, SOFT GUITAR, AND VULNERABLE LYRICS — Cecilia James showcases the complexities of love, making something truly special with her debut EP, Different Ground, released July 30. On her Spotify page, she created a playlist of musical artists that inspire her. Her atmospheric songs fit perfectly with the tones of these other musicians, such as Daughter and Haley Heynderickx. Along with her music, James creates visual art, influencing her visually unique music videos to accompany songs such as “Pretty In Your Eyes” or “My Name Is To Call.”
James grew up in Santa Barbara, California, surrounded by music. This environment helped her pursue her own musical career, and it is clear that this is the perfect path for her. Her vulnerability in each song is so powerful, with a perfectly placed spoken word segment in “Pretty In Your Eyes,” and a meaningful message about letting go in her title track “Different Ground.”
Read below to learn more about Cecilia James and the meaning behind her music.
LUNA: What is your favorite part of being a musician?
JAMES: That’s really hard; there’s a lot of different aspects to making music that are very rewarding. I would say — this sounds kind of cliche, but — being able to share [the music] with other people, sharing the songs that you make and collaborating. There’s nothing better than writing a new song and sharing it with my best friend and her saying, “Yes, that’s awesome! Here’s a cool idea,” and it spirals from there. So I would say the aspect of being able to share that with other people. It’s kind of cliche, but it’s also very true.
LUNA: What is your songwriting and/or recording process like? What are some highs and lows?
JAMES: There’s not really a specific way I approach it. I’ve taken a few songwriting classes that have helped me come up with different techniques, but usually the process starts with a melody or lyric popping into my head. I’ll voice memo it — I have thousands of voice memo recordings of me humming. They’re always funny to listen back to. It starts with a single little idea and then I’ll work it out with guitar or piano or whatever I want to write it on. I’ll usually let that idea sit for a long time. A lot of my songs have sat for a few years before I really considered it finished. Granted, I had the time to do that. So I let them sit and evolve in my brain and collect pieces of ideas that might go with that song.
Usually I know it’s done when it just feels like I don’t really have more to add. Other times, it’ll be completely different. I’ll sit down with this idea and the song will just completely write itself. That’s always like, “Yes, I did it! I wrote a whole song in one sitting.” But that’s kind of rare — you can never just sit down and plan that out. The recording process is kind of new to me still. I’ve just put out these songs today, and the recording process was over a span of a few years, so I don’t really know. I don’t have a process dialed in about that. Usually, I’ll start with a voice memo and bring it to whoever I’m working with and then we’ll start adding on layers. I think of it as a painting, so adding on layers of paint.
LUNA: Who are you inspired by?
JAMES: Oh my goodness. Every question is a hard one for me. I would say, thematically, with songwriting, a lot of my inspiration comes from relationships. Love is a complex thing. There’s a lot to be said about how weird and crazy life can get when you’re involved with another person romantically, and how that can change you. A main source of inspiration for a lot of my songs is love, heartbreak, friendships and relationships; those themes really play into my songwriting process. I’m actually trying to expand on the themes in which I’m writing about. A lot of my songs are about relationships, but I’d like to start digging into other aspects of life that are important to be talked about, like identity, self, even day-to-day tasks. There’s a lot to be said — songs don’t have to just be about love and heartbreak, even though it’s very easy to write a heartbreak song, and fun. Statistically, there’s just a lot of music coming out right now; an insane amount of insanely good music. Clairo just released an album and it’s gorgeous, it’s so impressive. She’s definitely an inspiration of mine. There’s an artist called Alexanda Savior who has been influencing me recently. I’m really drawn to female and non-binary muscians and artists; I think they’re the main source of inspiration musically for me.
LUNA: I saw that you’re from Santa Barbara, California. Are you still living in California? How does the environment impact your musical career?
JAMES: Being in Santa Barbara specifically, there’s a really great community of people young and old that have been super supportive since I was really young. I started music when I was 10 years old, so I’ve been doing it for a while, and I’ve just found it’s a very warm environment that embraces the art and music. However, it comes with limitations: it’s pretty small. It is close to LA, so it’s not too far to drive down and do a show or meet somebody. It’s kind of in the perfect location; you’re secluded but you’re also close. I’d say it’s been pretty good, but I’m ready to branch out and go somewhere else.
LUNA: How did growing up surrounded by music impact your own musical journey?
JAMES: I’ve been a performer my whole life. I was guided into that since I was literally an infant. It became ingrained in what I know, how I go through the world. My dad is a musician so that sparked the interest in pursuing music, and a lot of my family members are musicians. As I went, I was very involved locally with different programs for youth music. I started teaching a little bit as well. It’s been really rewarding because everyone embraces young musicians and wants to support them and lift them up, at least where I live. It’s been a really positive experience growing up making music and art.
LUNA: I read that in addition to music, you’re also a visual artist. What is the balance between the two in your life; do they influence each other?
JAMES: Oh, definitely. For as long as I’ve been making music, I’ve been making art. I started off with drawings and paintings, but I saw that translated really well with designing my own merch and posters. It comes in handy when you’re pursuing a career in music; you can make your own graphics. I got really involved with screenprinting when I was in college. I started doing printmaking and screenprinting and I completely fell in love with that. That’s one of the primary mediums I work in, as well as illustration and graphic design, which are self-taught. I think it really influences me, both in terms of making my own design work and merchandise which I sell at shows, and also creating visuals that accompany music. When I’m listening to other songs or my own songs, I always have a very strong sense of visuals that come to mind. That plays into the writing process, the recording process, the brainstorming for music videos.
LUNA: What was it like bringing songs from when you were younger to life on your new EP?
JAMES: The songs on this EP were written from the ages of 15 through 20. I’ve had some insecurities about how old they are and how they kind of feel outdated from where I am now and putting this out. I finished these songs two years ago; I’ve grown so much since then. It's been an internal battle, but these songs mean a lot to me and were a huge part of my life throughout those years. I’m glad to be able to give them their moment and give them space to be in the world and have people listen to that. It’s like a time marker; it marks the place that I was throughout those formative years.
LUNA: What were the rewards and challenges that came from creating an EP?
JAMES: I think this could be said about both rewards and challenges. This is a lot of work that I’ve never done before, because this is my first big release. There’s a lot of things I had to learn and figure out, a lot of trial and error. I’ve gained a lot of knowledge. In the future, I know the route I want to take and what I want to have planned out. I think that’s been rewarding, finally giving this a shot and figuring it out along the way. Releasing music, I was surprised to find myself feeling really vulnerable and really insecure. There were days where I would just cry because I was like, “This is too much, I don’t know if I’m cut out for this, I don’t know if anyone cares.” But people always care, and I feel like there’s so much space for music in the world that it’s worth it. That’s definitely one of the biggest challenges I faced — dealing with my inner insecurities about releasing it. I’ve learned a lot from the last few months.
LUNA: What words would you use to describe your new EP?
JAMES: I would say this EP is about change, and learning, and growing amidst all aspects of life, navigating the world and learning how to do that.
LUNA: What is your favorite track off your EP? (This could be writing process, recording, context or just favorite song in general)
JAMES: That’s really hard. I’m a Libra, so I’m really indecisive — that’s really true about me. The title track stood out to me; it’s the reason I made it the title track. It’s one of the more profound songs that has evolved the most since writing it. I really loved the direction it went. But each song really has a special meaning to me.
LUNA: The spoken word part of “Pretty In Your Eyes” is gorgeous. What was the inspiration for having that part of the song be spoken aloud?
JAMES: Well, there’s the traditional song structure of verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus. I tend to not write in that manner, so I felt like adding in something interesting to the end that would give it that change that people look for in the traditional song structure. Otherwise I would have probably just been singing some “oooohs” or something. Spoken word was interesting; I’d heard it done in a few other songs. I had written that as a poem separately from the song, so when I wrote that I was like, “Oh wow, this really fits with the meaning of the song and the vibe.” So I tried it out, and it worked, and I was like, “This is cool.” An interesting aspect to add.
LUNA: Staying on “Pretty In Your Eyes” for a moment — the music video is so interesting visually. What was the inspiration behind it?
JAMES: I shot it with one of my best friends, Claire Rossi. She is a really awesome filmmaker; she has a really good vision. I wanted the music video to come from multiple angles. It’s written about insecurities in relationships, and finding that I’m changing myself to the point where I don’t even recognize myself. That happens a lot for me. It’s a really sad song, so I wanted to capture that. In the “Pretty In Your Eyes” video, there’s multiple scenes of the relationship I’m having, a montage of that. Then we have this stage scene, where I’m very dolled up, very dressed up and sparkly, which is the persona I’m trying to put out into the world: the person that’s changed. Towards the end, we get to where everything turns red. That was really intentional, because I wanted to signify the fact that I’ve lost myself in the relationship. Things have spiralled to the point where things are just dark, hazy, and kind of scary. I’ve been through that and it was definitely a scary point for me. It’s more of a symbolic depiction of the platos and highs and lows of relationships and losing yourself in them. Some of our really big inspirations visually were Twin Peaks; there’s literally a scene where I’m dressed like Laura Palmer with the plaid skirt, and the handheld footage that’s played on the TV was a huge nod to Twin Peaks. We also really loved the softness and simplicity that exists in The Virgin Suicides; that was another point we were trying to nod to as well. There was a lot of inspiration going into that video, and I’m really proud of it.
LUNA: In “My Name Is To Call,” “you’re my worst fear and my favorite habit” is a really powerful line. Is there any backstory behind it you want to talk about, or about the song as a whole?
JAMES: That song is based on a dream that I had. The dream is hard to explain but the gist of it is: I was befriended by this toxic group of guys who were very malicious and mischievous and scary. My dream was based on my experience with that. When I wrote the song, I translated it into more of my anxiety presenting itself in dreams and my anxiety with relationships and people I had been with who weren’t treating me well and were kind of abusive. That kind of came out through this song, and I think that line wrote itself because it was how I was feeling. This person, you love them so much but it’s also the scariest thing in the world, this other person has all this control over you. It’s almost like an addiction. That’s where that line came from. It’s weird because I wrote that quite a long time ago, and I found myself more so in a relationship later on that really was on point with how I felt in that song. I wrote it for my future self, I guess. It’s all a learning process.
LUNA: If you could tell your younger self anything about where you are now, what would it be?
JAMES: I would say put in the work. I feel like I always struggled with feeling like it was worth putting time and energy into this path of my life, and I think now it’s become a lot clearer. So I would say to her, my younger self, put in the work, allow it to be whatever it’s going to be, because it’s going to reach people no matter what, and drop all the expectations. I feel like you have to do that. You have to stop expecting things and let it come how it’s supposed to happen, whatever that may be.
LUNA: Where are you hoping to go with your music in the future?
JAMES: I recorded this EP a few years ago and since then I’ve just been writing, thinking, and taking in a lot of inspiration. So I’m hoping within this next year to start working on the next project. I have so many songs to start recording, so that’s my big plan. And then I’d love to tour and get a band together because I’ve played solo for my whole life. That’s another goal of mine, to just get a good group and go out and play the music live and meet cool people. Those are my two big goals: recording and touring.
