Interview: Catching Up With Alycia Lang + Stream “Projector”

Rising up from out of the Bay Area, artist Alycia Lang brings us an artful blend of folk and pop with her new single “Projector.” Bubbling percussion and reverberating guitar strums set the scene for Lang’s vocals to paint a picture atop.

To go along with a stream of “Projector,” we sent Lang some interview questions to get to know her better. Read and listen and look for “Projector” as a part of the MakeShift EP coming soon.

Hi Alycia! Congrats on your new single. Can you tell us a little more on who you are and how you first got into making music?

Hello! I’m a singer-songwriter currently based out of the Bay Area!

I have no memory of a time when I didn’t identify as a singer, but I started writing my own music as a young teen when I picked up a guitar for the first time. There was something very liberating about being able to write on the go and create music on an instrument that has so much diversity in the sounds it can produce. That is when I’d say the shift happened for me where I was suddenly interested in folk, alt-pop, and indie rock etc.

I wrote my first proper song when I was probably 12 or 13 based on a set of chords I’d overheard my musician father and uncle jamming on one day. I taught myself the chords by ear and never really looked back from there. I recorded my first full-length record in the UK three or four years later. I also started playing in my own bands (with cameos in a few others) in my late teens and early 20s and then began playing and touring with bands (Waterstrider, Trails & Ways) out of the bay area around 2014.

What’s your songwriting process like?

I usually write on guitar, though occasionally on keyboard and I most often write music and lyrics at the same time. My songwriting process has changed a lot over the years. When I was younger I would consistently write songs in one sitting, call them done, and move on. I almost felt like a bystander in the writing process.

Where the songwriting process used to be purely about catharsis for me, now I try to be more intentional about what I want to say and how. I’ve had to learn to trust the process a bit more and write things down when they come to mind even if I have the initial thought that the lyrics are not right or it sounds too much like something else. Then it’s a process of getting to know the song as a unique entity and adjusting from there. Patience has been introduced to my process in the last half-decade…the older I get, the more my songwriting process seems to become about getting out of my own way.

What was your inspiration behind writing “Projector”?

I wrote this song in a very specific moment in my life when I was seeing some troubling times more clearly and suddenly had a bit of newfound levity and empowerment around it all. “Projector” is about being able to make the distinction between what is your baggage and what isn’t, and how that can come into focus when you remove someone from a pedestal and see their humanity more clearly.

There’s a challenge in separating truths about yourself from whatever story someone else is putting on you. For me, that ability was hard won, but when it finally showed up it was a really empowering thing and this song came out of that. It felt like shrugging off passivity and victimhood in favor of telling something like it is.

Who are some of your biggest influences/favorite artists?

I was listening to a lot of Blake Mills, Phoebe Bridgers, Laura Marling, Big Thief while I was producing this EP. I’m a child of the 90s so have recently been realizing how much the female singer-songwriters and femme-led bands of that era creep into my songwriting sensibilities. I’m also sure there’s some Fleetwood Mac sneaking its way in there influence-wise along with all the other songs I was raised on (Paul Simon, The Police/Sting, Sade, Whitney etc.)

Any new artists/venues/purveyors of the arts in the Bay Area you could turn our readers onto?

In general, I’m a huge fan of the solo projects of the people I make music with and am lucky enough to have in my live band. Lauren O’Connell isn’t necessarily a “new” presence in the bay, but her latest record was on repeat for months from the moment she sent it to me. Her intelligence, poetic sense, and ability to tell a story in her lyrics consistently blows my mind. Same goes for Madeline Kenney, another friend and bandmate who’s been killing it lately.

Where can we follow you and where can our readers catch you live next?

You can find my music anywhere music is bought or streamed online (spotify, soundcloud, apple music etc.)

The best way to follow along with me is on Instagram: @lycialang. Also Facebook. My website is alycialang.com and has upcoming shows listed.

Any parting thoughts? Open platform!

Thanks for shining a light on this track! I’m looking forward to sharing the rest of the EP later this spring!