Image: Lisa Caruso – supplied
Author: Melody Menu
The latest release by Lisa Caruso is a playful peek-a-boo of a video. Spontaneous yet serious, the video for ‘Bright Lights’ features the moving shapes and silhouettes of a single sheet on a Hills Hoist surrounded by trees, providing both a blank canvas to Caruso’s lyrics and allusions to domestic Australiana. The song itself unspools gently and gorgeously, while Caruso’s solemn expression and the greyscale gradient of the video add an introspective yet nebulous quality that, by the film’s end, leaves you wondering if the song is hiding something quietly sinister within the calm.
For this premiere, Lisa Caruso invites us to consider the multiple meanings behind her new EP Stretching, and the inherent improvisational skills of nature in her new video.
Congratulations for releasing your EP Stretching this year! What was it like to write and record?
Thanks! I wrote a collection of songs in 2022, and these 5 rose best to the occasion. The pre-production, engineering, mixing, and mastering then all happened in 2023, along with it’s release. It was really nice to be able to get it done in a short time frame. The stars aligned and I was able to work with some magical humans that helped me bring it all to life.
What’s in a name? Could you tell us about the title for Stretching?
The name represents growth and a willingness to explore new ways of doing things. Musically, this very synth-drenched EP follows on from my guitar driven album In Feelings. And I also stretched physically as I was pregnant throughout the making, which you can see a little in this clip as well as in the clip for ‘Your Show.’
How does this EP represent you as an artist at this moment?
It’s a pretty confident collection of songs. There are themes of self love with aims to provoke thought and encourage audiences to ‘do life’ your own way. Having played guitar for so long, I’m now enjoying playing keys live. It’s brought out some different things in me artistically, so I am happy that I get to switch between the two!
What is your creative process like as a solo artist? Do you have people in your orbit who you work with or bounce ideas off, or is music-making a purely solitary experience for you?
I will always start off on my own. I really enjoy that part of the process; sitting at an instrument and just seeing what comes. At that point, I will also have some arranging ideas that I record into voice memos. Once all of that has been established, I will share some rough demos with someone to collaborate. Fresh ears and fresh talent to cap things off!
Tell us about the video for ‘Bright Lights.’ What was the concept like and how was it created?
I wanted something simple and a little avant-garde. It was a ‘roll the camera’ type of setup that I improvised on. We filmed after we shot the EP cover, so by that stage, I was pretty over it- hah. So I ended up with the second and final take and then cut into the choruses with the ‘absence of me’ which symbolically represents ‘the break up’.
I really like the line ‘So disconnected heart / A phone is not your shoulder’ – could
you talk a bit about this or the song meaning more generally?
Ah thanks. The inspiration for this song is drawn from experience of being with someone who works away a lot. That line talks to said person about feeling their absence and needing more from them. That a phone call doesn’t always suffice, and that distance doesn’t always make the heart grow fonder!
Hills Hoists will always remind me of my Grandmother, the guava tree in her
backyard, and walking on bindis in bare feet. What does the Hills Hoist (or any
symbols from the video) mean to you?
Hehe so good, do bindis still exist!? They’re very reminiscent of my childhood too. Not particularly. The backyard and sheet on the Hills Hoist seemed the perfect slate to project the lyrics onto. And I liked the idea of being outside and allowing another element (nature) to also improvise in the shot.
What does 2024 have in store for you?
More writing, recording, and shows. And more collabs too. A producer from the US called Super Tight Woody did a remix of my song ‘What If My Body Could Love Like You’ which is track one of the EP, and it’s pretty awesome. I’d love to also collab on the visual aspect of my music some more, and keep experimenting with different ways to release.
Catch Lisa Caruso playing from her new EP Stretching while supporting Jamie Hutchings at Petersham Bowling Club on Friday February 2 2024. Tickets here.
Melody Menu 