Flower of Life
Only Lovers Left Alive
Photographs By Rick Perez
Los Angeles musician Taleen Kali opens up about trusting her own musical language, the first national tour, and finding connections against all odds.
Los Angeles, USA
How did you begin your journey as a musician?
I started out playing piano when I was 6 years old and learned guitar at 15. I'd write songs when I was very little, but it wasn't until college when I started writing my first punk songs and recording and playing live.
What have you learned along the way?
Learn all the rules and then break them. Write from your subconscious and edit in a lucid state. Play through the pain.
You grew up in Los Angeles and come from an Armenian heritage, with your parents being born in Lebanon and Ethiopia. How does this perspective influence you as an artist? Why is it important?
I grew up hearing my mom's Elvis and Beatles records at home and my Uncle Diko's favorite classic rock albums, and I loved Ace of Base and Madonna and Michael Jackson on the radio. Socially there was a lot of Ethiopian and Armenian and Arabic music at home, at school, in dance classes, and family functions. And I was playing classical romantic and baroque music on the piano before I got my guitar. I didn't realize til I got older what a diverse set of musical exposure that is. Subconsciously I had a deep understanding of SWANA and Eastern music but with solely Western music theory and practice. I think it's made me more curious about experimentation, and also a bit subversive about Western rules in an effort to decolonize my formal training and embody an understanding of music that feels true to my experience. A lot of unlearning and integration has occurred over the years that led me to trusting my own musical language. And I think that's important because diversity in artistic and musical language is important and beautiful and transcendent and no one has to have training to relate to it, understand it, commune with it.
You lived in New York City for a few years before returning back to Los Angeles. What was your experience like? How would you compare the two music scenes?
It was unforgettable. I lived in a punk house. Learned how to book shows. Met a million lifelong friends. When I moved back to L.A. it saddened me how disjointed the music scene can feel sometimes, namely because of geography...everything is more spread out here, ya know? Everything felt so communal in NY, and in L.A. I feel we have to work hard to feel that sense of community. I'll never stop trying though haha, DIY til I die!
You are currently on a United States tour. How has it been so far? What have been some highs and lows?
Tour has been amazing. It's different now since the pandemic, and we honestly didn't know what to expect. The highs: people are still coming out to support indie music more than ever. Being a band 24/7 and getting to play music every night. The 2004 edition of Playboy I found in a thrift store in Portland feat Charisma Carpenter. The lows? Oh man, the covid cobwebs for sure. Shake em off!
Before you left for tour, you released your single, “Flower of Life”. What is the story behind this song?
'Flower Of Life' is about coming back to life after the collective horrors of the past decade. I wrote this song for us to rage to, dance to, scream to. Now that it’s safer to be together again, we can let it all out. This song has about 10 guitars packed into 2 minutes, which is twice the amount of guitars we’ve ever put on a recording. It’s our battle-cry of making it through to the other side.
You now released your latest single, “Only Lovers Left Alive”. What is the story behind this single?
“Only Lovers Left Alive” is about finding connection despite all odds. I wrote this song while walking through the deserted streets of L.A. during the early pandemic. There was nobody in sight, I hadn't seen another human being for days, and I imagined what would happen if there was only one other person left alive in the world.
It was amazing working on this song with our producer Jeff Schroeder of Smashing Pumpkins. We joked in the studio about how this song has 2 moods: leather jacket punk and jangle cardigan vibes rolled into one. I love all the instruments in the track that embody this tension; we have Jeff’s 12-string guitar vs. his solo guitar, Miles Marsico’s synths doubled up with the same guitar line, and Royce Hsu’s surfy bass with Rhys Hastings holding it down on the drums.
“Only Lovers Left Alive” is one of my favorite vampire movies of all time, so for the visual we wanted to create something special for spooky season that also pays homage to vampire tropes, plus a bloody twist at the end just in time for Halloween!
How does your new music show your evolution as a musician?
Hmm good question! I think I've had a lot more trust with this record. We got more maximal...2x more guitars. Many more layers and harmonies. I also tried stuff I've never had the time to try before because of studio time constraints. We recorded the first EP "Soul Songs" in 5 days or so, and I wrote most of the record including all the overdubs ahead of time and had literally everything plotted out. For this "Flower of Life" LP we had weeks. I had a lot of the music written out but we also had the time to wander and experiment with new lines. We had 2 whole guitar days, so we were able to accomplish all the written parts and also do a lot of beautiful improvisational and session work. It was also a different monster because I wrote half the record before the pandemic and we played a lot of the songs together live, but the 2nd half of the record was written in my apartment and demo'd with my bandmates remotely and a handful of demo sessions and rehearsals. That's 2 very different ways of cutting a record and I think that helped me trust the studio process, myself, and our band more.
What’s next for you?
Tour continues with our big spooky show on Saturday October 8th at The Moroccan Lounge to celebrate "Only Lovers Left Alive" and then we tour until Halloween! Our full-length album "Flower of Life" comes out March of 2023. Stay tuned for more surprises!
