Brandee Younger Performs Live From 'Gadabout Season'

Harpist Brandee Younger returns to All Of It to perform live, and discuss her third album, Gadabout Season, featuring original compositions and Younger's playing with Alice Coltrane's restored harp.

Alison Stewart: This is All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. Harpist, composer, and bandleader Brandee Younger is back with new music. In June, she dropped a new album called Gadabout Season. A neat detail to this project, you'll hear Brandee perform on a harp once played and owned by Alice Coltrane. Brandee is now the harp's custodian. We'll get to that here. About that in a moment. Instead of a studio, she recorded the whole thing in her East Harlem apartment with her band. Gadabout Season is out now. Please welcome the pride of Long Island, Brandee Younger. Her band is here as well. It is really nice to see you again.

Brandee Younger: You, too. Thank you so much for having us.

Alison Stewart: We're going to hear a song right away. What are we going to hear?

Brandee Younger: Gadabout Season.

Alison Stewart: Let's hear it.

[MUSIC - Brandee Younger: Gadabout Season]

Alison Stewart: That was Brandee Younger performing the title track from her new album, Gadabout Season. She's here with her trio. You want to introduce us to everybody?

Brandee Younger: On drums, Queen's finest, Allan Mednard.

Alison Stewart: Hey, Allan.

Brandee Younger: On basses, Rashaan Carter.

Alison Stewart: Nice to meet you as well. The word gadabout season, when did you first hear the word gadabout?

Brandee Younger: It was a word-of-the-day email while we were on tour.

Alison Stewart: That's so funny.

Brandee Younger: That's really what happened.

Alison Stewart: You said gadabout? Gadabout.

Brandee Younger: I emailed to Rashaan. I said, "You're a gadabout." A few months later, it came back, and it just became this thing while we were on the road. Being on the road is hard. People only see the finished product of the stage, but we're really just trying to get from point A to point B and maybe take a shower, and it's hard. It's really just about making an intentional decision to find some joy. Is that going for a meal somewhere, going for a walk, experiencing where we are, but really putting the work in to find joy, because sometimes it takes work.

Alison Stewart: You were looking at the upside of gadabout, because gadabout could be negative, or you can decide like, "I'm gonna experience this as a positive thing."

Brandee Younger: I'm not going to lie. I wasn't sure. Because the word wasn't so common, I kept asking people while we were in Europe about it too, in the UK, and some people were like, "Oh, we don't know that word. We don't use that word." Then some people, it could mean, you little risque. I'm like, "Oh, no, no, no. We want to use this as wholesome." Alison Stewart: Yes.

Brandee Younger: [laughs] Wholesome, fun.

Alison Stewart: I always think about a butterfly as a gadabout. It goes from flower to flower. Not that kind of butterfly, but you know what I'm talking about.

[laughter]

Brandee Younger: Yes. No, no. Wholesome over here, guys.

Alison Stewart: Wholesome, we're talking about. Let's talk about the album as a whole. When you were thinking about it as an album as a whole, were you thinking about a story you wanted to tell as an album? Were you thinking about tracks as each story, or were they all different chapters in a story?

Brandee Younger: Yes, I was really thinking of it as a diary entry. When I went to write the music, I went upstate to my cousins, and they met me upstate, Rashaan and Allan. We worked the music out. Rashaan brought his recording rig and recorded everything up there, which is how we ended up recording the album at home so we could take our time with it. I essentially saw it as a diary entry, and I wanted the tracks to actually fall in chronological order-

Alison Stewart: Interesting.

Brandee Younger: -but I got voted out in terms of track order, but absolutely. Then it was intentional to not have words because I really wanted these feelings and emotions to be conveyed sonically.

Alison Stewart: What did being upstate, outside of your own element, how did that contribute to your creativity, to your songwriting?

Brandee Younger: It gave my brain a rest. There's just nothing going on up there. I had time and space, really mental space, to just-- I hate to use this word, but create, literally.

Alison Stewart: Did you have to find the time to create? Sometimes people get upstate, and they suddenly have to look for things to keep them busy. Were you that kind of person, or were you able to be like, "Oh, I'm relaxed. I understand. I don't have to do anything right now."?

Brandee Younger: Well, no, I went with the goal of I have to leave with-- I actually didn't intend to leave with as much as I left with.

Alison Stewart: Oh, interesting.

Brandee Younger: Because I wasn't being creatively productive for such a long period of time. I said, "All right, maybe if I leave with two things, I'll be satisfied." I left with a lot. Actually, most of the album, ultimately.

Alison Stewart: Wow. You had a lot built up inside of you.

Brandee Younger: I guess so

Alison Stewart: You really didn't get a chance to let out because you were busy, 'cause you were touring or?

Brandee Younger: Yes, busy. Always on the road, always touring. What I learned in this whole process, and it's funny, I was telling John before that, Rashaan recorded the album, and he produced the whole thing but his process is very different than the process that I'm used to, which is like, one and done, one and done, onto the next, onto the next. It became a really long process, which annoyed me at the time.

Alison Stewart: Oh, my gosh. I wish you could see his face. [laughs]

Brandee Younger: Ultimately, I could-- What do they say? 20/20s hindsight or whatever the saying is, I could see now that the long process of taking forever to finish the album actually helped me to process. Someone was like, "Is writing music-- Are you able to process your feelings and thoughts?" It actually was the process of recording and continuing to dig at it and dig at it and revisit it, which is what helped me process.

Alison Stewart: This is kind of a dumb question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. How does one travel upstate with the harp?

Brandee Younger: That is not a dumb question. You need a cork. You need a big one. I have an SUV, so you lay the seats down flat in the back and put the harp in. I also brought the smaller harp, just in case.

Alison Stewart: Do you compose on the harp, or do you use a piano or a keyboard or--

Brandee Younger: I do compose on the harp. I know you're supposed to compose on piano, but I'm most comfortable here.

Alison Stewart: Why is that?

Brandee Younger: Because I can't really play piano. Not very well.

Alison Stewart: As you're composing on the harp, are you thinking about the drums? Are you thinking about the bass lines that are coming in?

Brandee Younger: Absolutely. There was actually a lot of push and pull between the three of us in certain songs where I wanted this, and then, could you play it like this? Then, "No, the bass is going to play like that." I'm like, "But I want it like this because I wrote it that way." It's a lot of push and pull.

Alison Stewart: That's interesting. How do you know when it's time to give up? Other times you're like, "No, we're going to do it this way."

Brandee Younger: Oh, no one's ever asked me that before. On one hand, I was just like, "I don't have any patience, whatever." Then I would maybe think about it later and go, "Well, no." For example, one of the tracks is Breaking Point. I wanted it to be anxiety full. I wanted the bass line. I played it a certain way. I wanted it to be staccato. Short notes. Then Rashaan was playing it like long notes. I'm like, "No, we got to meet in the middle somewhere here." Or at least I explained what I wanted to achieve, and working together to find that thing.

Alison Stewart: My guest is Brandee Younger. Her new album is called Gadabout Season. We're going to hear another song. What are we going to hear this time?

Brandee Younger: We are going to hear New Pinnacle.

Alison Stewart: This is Brandee Younger.

[MUSIC - Brandee Younger: New Pinnacle]

Alison Stewart: That's Brandee Younger. The new album is called Gadabout Season. You are the custodian of Alice Coltrane's harp. What does that mean?

Brandee Younger: It means I have that harp. [laughs]

Alison Stewart: Used the harp on the album.

Brandee Younger: Yes. I feel very lucky not just to have such a wonderful relationship with the family and the estate, I'm also on the board of the John and Alice Coltrane home, but yes, the harp.

Alison Stewart: Without sounding too woo woo, does it speak to you? Do you hear her on it?

Brandee Younger: We'll allow the woo woo in this instance. This wasn't my first time playing the harp. I'd played it before for a tribute in LA. However, this time is different. The harp was restored in Chicago at Lyon & Healy. Then, after it was restored, it was shipped for me to play in Detroit. It was the premiere of the harp. It was a whole year of Alice. Actually, two years of all of these wonderful Alice Coltrane events and talks, and everything. This time was different because I had my surreal moment with it pre-restoration. Note, I say pre-restoration because restoration, things change.

The sound change is a little bit different. We have the original soundboard. I really had ample time in this album-making process because we did it at home instead of doing a one-and-done in the studio. I had ample time to play the harp. Just literally scales warm up and to really now to sound woo woo, become one with the instrument, and to find my own voice on it, so that it got to a point where it's like, okay, no, I'm playing Alice Coltrane's harp. I'm playing this incredible instrument, but now I'm sounding like myself, and just to extend the woo woo, feels like an extension of me. I know, cheesy, but it's true.

Alison Stewart: It's true, though. Doesn't make it cheesy. It's true.

Brandee Younger: It's real. I'm being honest here.

Alison Stewart: You recorded in your apartment.

Brandee Younger: Yes

Alison Stewart: Your apartment, is it made to be recorded in, or was that just something you decided you were going to do?

Brandee Younger: It's something that I just decided to do. I told you how we were upstate, and Rashaan recorded what we did upstate. Listening back to the quality of that, he said, "You know what? We could do this back at your place," because I already do my overdubs at home anyway. This was the first time, basically having a full band with the drums. It was a bit of an undertaking. Rashaan did it all by himself. I'm not even going to lie. Literally, all of it. Because we did it at home, we had the time. We weren't restricted to three days in the studio, so we really had ample time to really lay into the music.

Alison Stewart: What was it like to have the whole trio in your apartment recording?

Brandee Younger: It was hot. It was hot. I ordered food that they didn't eat. It's actually great because there were no outside influences.

Alison Stewart: Interesting.

Brandee Younger: There were no engineers around. There were no label people around. I think that really added to the authenticity of the music. I could completely be myself. I'm by myself with these dudes. We're on the road all the time in too close quarters anyway, so--

Alison Stewart: That's big that there was nobody else around.

Brandee Younger: Nobody.

Alison Stewart: The last song you're going to play for us is BBL. What does that stand for?

Brandee Younger: It's just the file name that we never changed. You're not buying that?

Alison Stewart: Not really, but I'll go with you on it. That's okay. [laughs]

Brandee Younger: I like to think of this song as--

Alison Stewart: Be Back Later. That's what we'll call it.

[laughter]

Brandee Younger: Oh. Oh, I didn't think about that.

Alison Stewart: All right.

Brandee Younger: Be Back Later. I like to think of this one as a confrontational conversation. You ever have a convo with someone and only one person is getting any words in?

Alison Stewart: Okay.

Brandee Younger: That's what this one is.

Alison Stewart: This is Brandee Younger.