An audience with The Weather Station: “I need that deep silence”

“That’s crazy!” says Tamara Lindeman, when informed that Ignorance has just been voted Uncut’s best album of 2021. “I’m really shocked. Thank you.” Only in the last couple of months, with her band playing their first shows since the record’s release back in early February, has its success begun to sink in. Lindeman discusses talks snowy forests, mirrored suits and getting mistaken for Weather Report.

• ORDER NOW: Read the full interview with The Weather Station in the latest issue of Uncut

Did you find there was something freeing about unstrapping your guitar?

Anna-Lee Carter,
Leamington Spa

Absolutely, yeah. I didn’t realise how held down I felt by that instrument. In part because I am not at the same level on the guitar as I am as a singer. And physically too, it’s heavy. There’s a painfulness to playing it, and a tension in the body. On stage it’s been very freeing because I can express myself physically in this way that I couldn’t when I had to lead the band with this instrument I was holding. What I’ve created now is a situation where the music exists and I can do anything I want within the song. I have a keyboard that I can play if I feel like it; I play a couple of songs on guitar but I also have some mallets and some percussion that I have the option of playing. I’m totally free, basically. I love it. I no longer feel the performance is about me or even really dependent on me – it’s more trying to channel something and trying to embody something.

What has happened to that mirrored suit you wore for the LP cover and “Robber” video?

Chris Ball, via Twitter

I’m looking at the pants right now, they’re draped on a chair in my room. It’s not comfortable to wear and the pants in particular have been very fragile – any time I’ve worn them, a lot of pieces have fallen off, so I literally have to have glue with me. It was my first attempt [at making an outfit] – it was a little crazy but it worked. I can’t bring it with me on tour because you can’t fold it! But I’m making some other outfits with collaborators that will hopefully be striking.

Did you ever worry about the strong climate change message in Ignorance being rejected by fans for being too serious an issue?

Jason Kennedy, Ottawa

It’s really interesting, I did not think anyone would care or think about it. I thought I would be spending the album cycle talking about the change in the sound, and what I found was the opposite – people really wanted to talk about it. And I realised it’s actually a moment in time where people are ready to start talking about this, and I found myself in the middle of that in a way I never would have expected. It’s interesting to notice the difference in the way we talk about [climate change] between now and three years ago, it’s shocking. The pre-Thunberg world was one of just absolute… You know, US presidents were not mentioning it in speeches, let alone making speeches about it. I’m so grateful there’s finally a little bit of a shift in public conversations.

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Link to the source article – https://www.uncut.co.uk/features/interviews/an-audience-with-the-weather-station-i-need-that-deep-silence-135435/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=an-audience-with-the-weather-station-i-need-that-deep-silence

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