Doki-doki Todoroki part 3: a Tsuchako side story is up!
Excerpt:
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Tsuyu tilts her head in confusion. Cute.
“I... Because I was afraid,” Ochako looks down, studying the pattern of her comforter for a moment. “I thought that, if I told you, you might be weirded out or something. I thought you only saw me as a friend, and every time I got my hopes up that maybe you felt the same way, I got scared and talked myself out of it. But...” she meets Tsuyu’s eyes once more, “you really like me?”
Read Feels Like Floating // Read Doki-doki Todoroki
interview w/ claire rousay for her winter residency ‘23
In February, we caught up with claire rousay on her last night of tour for an interview about her winter residency with Floating. We explored her thoughts and intentions in her general practice, as well as with Floating specifically: being a normal person in the music industry, the meaning of dialogue in her residency, and her relationship to sound and the outdoors.
Interview conducted & edited by Light Liu, Community Platforms Manager at Floating
L: What drives your music practice? How does it intersect with what you're trying to do with your Floating residency?
c: Basically the reason I do music or any kind of making is to connect with other people. And Floating has always been one of those things that feels more in line with that, actually connecting with other people and having real relationships and human connection. It seems like a really good fit. I'm just trying to continue that thing that Floating is doing and be part of it.
L: What kind of connection do you mean?
c: I mean shared human experience or universal like experiences and feelings as far as everyday life goes. What I want to do is connect with people about normal stuff, not necessarily about music, but use music or performance as a vehicle to transport these experiences and feelings related to everyday life. Normal things like being tired or feeling lonely or feeling misunderstood or happy, whatever. I feel like Floating does a really good job at taking people and putting them in the event or performance space and then people go to those performances rather than [depending on] all these weird abstract terms like “booker” and “promoter” you know what I mean? Like the people that go to these things are just normal, the person that shows up regardless of their role is a normal person. The person showing up is a human rather than this role that fits within a structure.
L: Right. A lot of music industry stuff feels like it's trying to be abstract or grand or profound, but a lot of the actual connection happens on a smaller plane.
c: Yeah, exactly. Being normal is really sick. These massive artists are like “It's this massive [abstract] thing, but at the same time I want you to take all of this in while you're in transit” or something like that. It's kind of weird. Then [at Floating you’re] taking all of those things out of it and just being like, yeah, we're gonna be outside. There's not really a bar or a restaurant or any business attached to this and everybody here is just coming because they want to.
L: I read a bit about how your residency is about dialogue with the audience, do you want to talk a bit more about that?
c: Definitely. The idea for the first show is to start the residency off with this open dialogue and conversation with the audience, on whatever the “stage” would be, talking about everybody's experiences [with] consuming music and what it means to consume music. That felt like a really good way to start it off.
But that's been kind of transformed into this new idea of a conversation but less with the audience and as an FM broadcast. So me and a couple other people will have a Zoom call, it'll be recorded and then everybody will drive-in movie-style to listen to this one-off broadcast. I think it'll be interesting because in order to listen, you need a car or some sort of shared device and I think it'll bring out some [community mindfulness]. Instead of being like, ”What if we brought five cars to this event?” Somebody's just gonna be like, “Oh no, we can just all ride and all listen in my car.” We're creating these micro social circles within this parking lot of cars.
[I think] starting off like that and then bringing out of town people and curating the residency for people outside of myself would be a smarter move [to] bring people from my community into the Floating world.
L: What’s your approach to the curation of a residency instead of playing three shows?
c: I travel a lot, and if I was playing three times [I don’t think] I would bring my best self to it. I know that if I use the resources to bring somebody else, they will, [and] it'll be a really specific and intentional event. Or logistics get in the way, like I'm in a different country and I can't physically be present, but I still want people that would want to come to an event like this to have that experience. [It’s] more in line with what I want to do: connecting people.
I also think I don't need to be there. Like I've played every role in the fake music industry. I've run the door, I've run the bar, I've booked the show, I've been the person putting up posters, I've played the show, like I've done all those things hundreds of times over the last however many years. It's nice to just do those roles but not have my name attached to it in any way, like not necessarily being the person that people clap at, [just doing] the backend work so you can set somebody else up to succeed. They can connect to other people in a space or a time that I wouldn't have the energy or the ability to.
L: What kind of relationship do you have with nature and music?
c: Personally I hate playing outside. (laugh) In terms of the sonic aspect, [doing] what I do outside is a little difficult. It's actually funny, I always complain about playing at bars and things like that, (laugh), but these generic spaces lend themselves better [to what I do]. Maybe part of the reason why I don't perform at these is [that] my music utilizes so much field recording, and sound association is a huge thing that I'm into. Playing the recording of a washing machine in a garden just doesn't feel right. I also am not somebody who puts nature sounds in my music. So as far as music goes, I don't really have a huge relationship with nature. I love going to see people who are good at that, but I'm not. So I [prefer] connecting people like Devin [Shaffer] or Macie [Stewart] and Lia [Kohl] who are good at improvising and listening to their environment and reacting to it. As far as my experiences go, visually and sonically, I'm not the person to add to this situation, but there are other people who can.
claire’s last winter residency with us will be on Sunday, March 12th @ 5:30pm at a historic arts ranch in Pasadena. Join us up top for a specially curated evening exploring the interconnectedness of all things 🌿 RSVP here 🌿
