Q : The biggest change for you on this album was shifting to a piano-centric sound. What spurred that change?
I've always written songs on guitar for 20 years, that’s my primary instrument, and I just totally hit a dead end with it, and I put it down. I wasn't excited about it at all anymore. Around that time, my husband and I had gotten this house and we decided we really wanted to have a piano, so we did some piano shopping, and I found this gorgeous 1920s Whitney piano, and the minute I sat down at that piano at the shop, I had a really cool connection with it and I was like, “This is the piano, this is the one." We took it home and I sat down at that piano and couldn't stop writing on the thing, I just wrote and wrote hundreds and hundreds of songs. It totally drew something new out of my creative soul, and it caught me by surprise, it wasn't part of my plan, like, “I’m going to make a piano record!” It’s been a wonderful surprise.
Q : That has to be pretty daunting, getting out of your comfort zone like that.
That was really fun, I loved the challenge of learning a new instrument, and it pushed me to work harder. With guitar it felt like I’d plateaued a little bit, so this was intimidating and frustrating, because there were things I was hearing in my head that I wanted to play that I couldn't play, so it forced me to really put in a lot more hours into it. It’s been really cool, now I feel really confident playing it. I still can’t play Bach or anything.
Q : The album sounds like it needs to be listened to in one sitting, you can't just dip your toe in. If you are in the mood for one of these songs, you're probably interested in 10 of these songs.
This album chronicles the last six years of my life and what I've experienced, what people around me have experienced. So it’s telling a story, very much so, and looking back on my previous records, I’d say this is the first one that has that thematic feeling, that storytelling structure to it.
Q : Who are some other artists you enjoy who make music that's more thematically linked like that?
Right now I’m obsessed with Jenn Ghetto’s record, Cool Choices, I’m really digging on that [Ghetto also plays guitar in Wood's touring band]. Elliott Smith, I’m a huge fan of his, I love how his albums have a story and a feeling to them, you want to listen to the whole thing, one song after the next, you don’t skip around. Aimee Mann has that vibe, the way she writes songs, and also the new Beck album.
To order 'Wilderness,' visit Jen Wood's Bandcamp page
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