A quiet process: The Rumpus interviews Jolie Holland

Singer-songwriter and writer-writer Jolie Holland talks about her writing life, her love for Chinese music, and her new album, Pint of Blood, over at The Rumpus. In a piece written for Poetry back in January, Holland said, "To be very clear, the sensation [of poetry] is like having an acupuncture needle placed at one’s crown point, at the top of one’s head. That same sort of physical cue is exactly the kind of meter I check when I’m deciding about music." What's newly revealed in her interview with Tom Andes: "I love songwriting and poetry that’s totally, embarrassingly personal." She continues:

Holland: ...When I started writing songs, it didn’t occur to me to not write that way because that’s what I like. That’s what I like about any art form, awareness of the human mechanism; that’s where the good stuff is. I never feel like any of it is too personal. If I think I may have gotten to that line in some songs, I don’t release those songs. Sometimes you know more in the act of doing the work than you do with your regular conscious mind. That’s true for a lot of songwriters and writers in general and other types of artists. I’ve had songs out me about stuff I was unaware of, and I decided not to release those songs, even though I thought it was good work in there.

Rumpus: Do you work to a schedule? Do you have particular habits or disciplines?

Holland: I’m a writer, and I think a good rule for me as a writer is to wake up, make coffee, and write, either hang out at the piano with the coffee, or hang out with the computer and work on the book. But that’s not how I write songs. The way I write songs is, I make them force me to write them. I was going through some super rough personal life shit a while ago, and these songs would come to me and try to get written. I would tell them to fuck off because I didn’t want to write them. I didn’t want any person outside myself to be attached to those songs and want to hear them. I don’t normally push songs away that hard. But it was amazing because the songs would come back in complete form. They would come harass me, and I’d be like, I know that fucking melody, you can fuck right off. Eventually, I think they moved on. They’re going to go pick on somebody else. I hope so. Actually, I don’t hope so. It’s some sad shit.

Rumpus: Do you take notes and write things down while you’re walking around out in the world?

Holland: I send myself text messages. I call myself, and I have a little book I write things in. I use a Moleskin for a wallet. It’s got a little pack in the back where I stick money or a Metro card, and then, in the rest of it, I can scribble things to myself. I’m not very disciplined. I don’t really try to write songs. I haven’t tried to write songs since I was 14, and I thought the songs I tried to write sucked, so I got into this different method, which is kind of like fishing. . . .

Read the entire interview here.