Rachel Taylor Brown is not a superhero, nor is she a saint. But growing up with brothers who were comic collectors made her an enthusiast. And her fascination with the strange and twisted tales of the devout, fuels the fascination. It’s like in her song “Zoe of Rome,” on her latest release Susan Storm’s Ugly Sister and Other Saints and Superheroes (Cutthroat Pop Records), where she recalls the story of the saint who was hung on a tree by her hair while burnt to death for her beliefs.

So she spends a lot of time reading. Her art goes beyond simple recollection and dives into the art of speculation, where she plucks out or fictitiously creates the antihero and contemplates how these people, gods, superheroes, whatever cope in society. Susan Storm must have a sister, right?

More information and a link to her album can be found here: http://www.racheltaylorbrown.com/

Andrew Duncan: What made you want to write about the content that is on Susan Storm’s Ugly Sister And Other Saints And Superheroes? And within that content, how did you choose the scenarios of the characters and how that evolved in the song? Why the focus on the antihero?

Rachel Taylor Brown: I think the first song I wrote for the album was “Susan Storm’s Ugly Sister,” and I can’t remember exactly what prompted that song.  I remember sitting at the piano.  I sometimes sit at the piano and half-consciously dink around and then follow whatever pops up in my head. Sometimes a dummy lyric spawns a real idea, and I think that may have
been the case with “Ugly Sister.”  But once I wrote that, the desire to do an album about similar disgruntled, non-super relatives was undeniable!  Then that morphed even further to include Galactus and Ambush Bug’s brother.

The saints were a separate idea but I began to see them together with the superheroes.  Their stories were equally epic and fantastic in nature.  It seemed right to put them all together, finally.

The half-conscious piano-sitting thing, while it may sound random, is really a great way for me to get at what’s really going on in my head. I’m surprised at the direction many songs go, but it all makes sense when I sit and really think about what’s been bouncing around in there. It’s weird. I can say succinctly in a song what may take me a year to get out in some clumsy essay. And I think the song is far more effective in getting an idea or feeling across. Some part of my brain knows how to cut to the chase when it comes to writing songs.  But it takes that letting go and lack of consciousness.

Why antiheroes? Because they’re more human than heroes.

Duncan: You have dabbled with the ideology of religion on Half Hours With the Lower Creatures. Why the pairing of saints and superheroes together and how do they compare and contrast with each other on this album?

Brown: (see above) I didn’t really think that hard about it–to me, they go together.  I know plenty would disagree with me, but I think the songs compliment each other, both in sound and subject matter.  I go with what suits me and sounds good to me.

Religion’s an endless source of inspiration, and a popular one. It really gets down to the nitty gritty: life, death, are you in or are you out?  I’m especially interested in the “are you in or are you out?” aspect, and all the effort, lore, law-making and enforcement that goes into establishing exactly who’s in and who’s out.  It’s been the foundation for holocaust upon holocaust–religion provides the reasons, the fuel, the endorsement.  Horrors have been committed and continue to be committed because god says so, and we have such and such a book that says he says so… It’s a real force, a scary force, and says so
much to me about people and who we are–that we want it.  My interest in it and what motivates people to do what they do is infinite.

Duncan: How do these stories within the songs compare to us as humans?

Brown: Oh, in every way, I think! That’s what inspires me to write — who are we and how are we the same, especially when we fancy we’re different. I think there’s something to identify with even in the most fantastic characters.  Katherine Dunn proves that abundantly in Geek Love. It’s filled with freaks but what you come away with is how alike we all are.

In the same way, I can identify with “Galactus, Giant World Eater” and imagine for him a midlife crisis, or with a nun who was formerly a Jew and who died at Auschwitz, her adopted faith worth nothing to her in the end. It’s easy for me to imagine the frustrated hidden rage “Susan Storm’s Ugly Sister” feels, or “Bruce Wayne’s Bastard Son.”  Or the crowd gathered
around the object of their bloodlust, or Zoe herself.  Or Frances, in all his kindness.  There’s nothing in these songs that doesn’t reflect us.  That’s what I think, anyway!

Duncan: You grew up around comic books. How involved are you today with comic book culture? Was it used as an influence or do you still currently keep up with it? How do you feel about the medium growing up as it is today?

Brown: To a true comic book geek/graphic novel geek, I’m sure I wouldn’t qualify! I love the Drawn & Quarterly anthologies and those keep me up on some of the lesser-known artists (though I’m ashamed to say I can’t name one right now).  Lynda Barry is a genius and I own everything she’s ever written, and also a couple of prized drawings and watercolors by her.  I love Shaun Tan (esp. The Arrival). Matt Groening.  Art Spiegelman.  The Persepolis books were beautiful.  In addition to the
Marvel comics I read growing up, I read Archie and Little Lulu.  Dark Horse recently made these beautiful anthologies of all the Little Lulu stuff, for which I bless them!

Duncan: Tell me about the music aspect of the album, and how it was structured and recorded? You did much of the instrumentation with Jeff Stuart Saltzman, and then your band came in to help record. How did you like this method of recording instead of other way around?

Brown: I’m happy recording any old way — I really like recording.  Structure?  Uh..  I’m a little go with the flow, which surprisingly doesn’t drive Jeff nuts (or at least he isn’t saying so!).  I mainly like leaving some room for playing around after tracking, and spontaneous ideas.  These songs were never done live with the band before recording, so there were no band arrangements.  I’d done some of them with a trio, but people really just needed to come in and do one part here and there as they came to my mind. I think we’ll be recording live with full band from the get go next time, though.

Duncan: When writing the songs, how closely did you keep the music related to the writing that’s going on? At times, the album seems like a nice collection of avant pop songs; others, it’s like a musical or soundtrack. How do you view this?

Brown: I pretty much let songs go where they’re going. It depends on what comes first, I guess.  Though….if I write a lyric first, I guess I do sort of tailor the music to the lyric and try to capture it musically.  If I write a musical idea first, I’ll probably come up with a lyric that sounds like that music to me.  If I write both at the same time, they’re probably informing each other throughout the process.  This thinking is hurting my head. I really don’t think about it.  I just do it.

Duncan: Do you plan to tour this album? If so, how?

Brown: Yes. How is the question…  It’s getting comical, the ways musicians are supposed to make money. CDs are not supposed to be money-makers, but promotional tools to be given away.  You’re told to sell t-shirts and tour, but–come on!  Tour for someone like me is only going to cost me money, and–t-shirts? I’m not exactly Radiohead.  I’m thinking of holding a bake sale.

Duncan: As a whole, Susan Storm’s Ugly Sister… is a rather short album. Was that intended or did it just come out that way?

Brown: It’s just how it came out. I write a lot so there’s no dearth of material…  I dunno…I cut a couple of songs I’d intended to be on the album because they just didn’t fit with the 8.  Those songs and that order just appealed to me and made (to me) a story.  I didn’t give any thought to the minutes.

Duncan: Do you plan to continue this route of lyrical writing? Why not just write songs about personal situations? Why incorporate human nature in a fictional 3rd person narrative?

Brown: Interesting question.  I never think about what voice I’m using to write a lyric, to be honest.  But I am writing about personal situations. Again, and I’m sure you’re sick of hearing this! — there’s no rhyme or reason behind it; I just go with how I feel. And apparently, I occasionally felt this album in fictional 3rd person narrative, as you noted.

Duncan: After everything came about and assembled together, what do you feel was the most intriguing aspects of this album in relation to yourself as a singer-songwriter?

Brown: I’m always intrigued about why I’m writing what I do at any given time. I like to think I’m self-aware enough to know what’s going on inside my head, but I can be surprised at some of the things that are obviously preoccupying me and that come out in a song.  I’m realizing that recurring issues for me are empathy, injustice, religion, power, love, kindness, cruelty. Just the same old stuff people have been obsessed with forever. I wonder what motivates us to do what we do. Commonalities. I tend to be a bit cynical and to see absurdity everywhere, but I also have a sappy, sentimental streak. The world really is so beautiful and so awful, and that’s a whole lot to write about.

Rachel Taylor Brown