Saira Raza hones the power of 'Inertia'

Saira Raza’s first proper album, Inertia, is finally here. The singer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist last checked in with her First Flight EP in November 2014. Over time, the breadth and depth of her music has grown quite vast. From the staccato ambiance of “Gilgamesh,” to the spacious boom of “Mercurial Mirror” and closing number "Breadcrumbs,” Raza raises the bar high with an album of cavernous beauty that settles in on the outskirts of jazz, ambient, and experimental music. Raza produced and performed all of the music contained within. Jeremi Johnson (10th Letter) co-produced mixed and mastered the recordings, and added additional synth and percussion. Cello on "Sources of Heat" was arranged by Dylan Banks (Skybison), and drums for the album's title track were laid down by Eric Grantham (deadCAT, Skull Buddha). On the day of the album's arrival, Raza took a few minutes to talk more about how the songs came together.

<a href="http://sairaraza.bandcamp.com/album/inertia">INERTIA by Saira Raza</a>

What did you have in mind when called the album Inertia.
I think inertia is a bit misunderstood in general. The classic example is you're moving along in a car, the driver hits the breaks, and you feel yourself continuing to move forward although the car has stopped. I think inertia is misunderstood as that one moment where you notice the change, but it's actually the tendency to stay in the same state of motion. It's a subtle difference, but it struck me. We only really notice how much we've stayed the same when something comes along and changes it - we can fight it, resist, roll with it, whatever. But no matter what, those external conditions still change you in some way, even if it is only in the awareness of how long you have stayed the same without even noticing it before. Change is always a big theme in my work, mostly because I've been through so much of it. I'm talking drastic, mind bending, how did I get through that alive type change. In contrast, I see people from my past stay in exactly the same place - and there's nothing wrong with that - but it just makes me realize how transformative life can be. I'd say that's the core inspiration for my work.

You've been working on some of these songs for more than three years, correct?
About four or five of the songs were in gestation in 2013 and early 2014. I've been getting up on my production game over that time, so I was able to get them to a good finishing point on my own before Jeremi Johnson stepped in to put a nice polish on them.

Do you think of this as experimental music?
Well, most of the writing starts out with some kind of improvisation. It's really different from song to song. It would be way easier if I could just show you! But essentially, I'll start out on one instrument — sometimes cello, sometimes vibes, guitar, or banjo. Something will stand out, and I'll keep playing with that theme. Then I'll start layering. And then I start playing with effects. Then sometimes I break the whole thing apart and re-do the whole thing or strip things down. There are like five prior versions of "Gilgamesh," for example. But most everything starts out as an improvisation. Now that they are recorded and I've listened to everything a million times, it feels as though the melodies have their own life. But they didn't necessarily come into my mind as concrete compositions that I just needed to commit to record. When Dylan Banks and I worked on the cello part for "Sources of Heat," we actually had some really heavy effects and I just improvised for about an hour maybe? Then a week or two later, he sends me the track, sans effects and he had arranged all that improvisation into what sounds like a cello duet. Similarly, with "Mercurial Mirror," Jeremi and I were just playing around with running my cello and the vibes through an SP404, me just improvising and he was doing all these crazy effects. Then we took that raw material and sequenced it. So I would still call it experimental, but maybe improvisational and exploratory are also good qualifiers here. Or maybe even accidental? Happy accidents! 

Do you have a favorite song on the record, or is there one that stands out as the album's thesis?
Hmmm. ... I wouldn't say I have a favorite. But "Breadcrumbs" makes me tear up. It was a challenge for me to get the courage to use my own voice. At first, I was planning to tap some other singers for the songs with vocals. But the message was my own, so I had to get over my issues and just do it. I told myself, "Fuck what people say or if they think it's bad. At least I did it!" I'm sort of a risk taker, so I'll make what seems like crazy decisions to try something and that's when you find out who the people in your life really are. There are those that project their own insecurities and fears onto you, and then you have to make the really difficult decision to just not fuck with them anymore. And then there are your ride or dies who will be there for you no matter what, even at your worst. I'm so lucky to have those kind of people in my life. All the little experiences and decisions in life are little breadcrumbs along a very uncertain path, and developing a sense of trust in your own gut and identifying your real allies is essential.