Take one part California and one part Scotland, sprinkle in an ample helping of melodies and heartfelt lyrics, and the result is My Name is You. The LA-based duo comprised of Anne Williamson and Brandon Walters creates orchestral indie folk pop that is both melancholically optimistic and heartbreakingly romantic. With an EP and two albums under their belt including the gorgeous Home Now released just last month, My Name is You is deservedly poised and ready to break out. Please get to know them...
DRIFTWOOD: My Name is You is from California and Scotland - two not-so similar places. Can you tell us how you met and how MNiY formed?
MY NAME IS YOU: We met at university in San Diego where we were both studying music. We played in various ensembles and bands together but didn’t start writing music as a duo till a few years after graduation.
DW: You're now based in Los Angeles. How's life in LA?
MNiY: As with every city, there are a bunch of good things and a few not so good things. I’d say that’s the same about every place I’ve lived in, and it's certainly true of life in LA. It’s all about what you make of a place, and the community you build. We’re both very happy here.
MNiY: We always have a hard time describing how a band sounds, and it’s 10 times harder when you’re describing your own band! Our songs are melodically and lyrically driven, guitar and piano heavy with electronic elements and occasional string and orchestral flourishes.
DW: Can you describe your songwriting process?
MNiY: What usually happens is that Anne writes the lyrics while Brandon is on tour doing his sideman thing. Sometimes she writes at the piano, and sometimes a whole song really does come out in one whole piece start-to-finish, but for most of “Home Now” we sat down with a piano and guitar and turned the lyrics into songs together.
DW: You also produce your own albums. How has that experience been?
MNiY: Before we started My Name is You, Brandon had done some producing, including on Greg Laswell’s album “Three Flights From Alto Nido.” Our first EP was made while Anne was in Scotland and Brandon was touring all over the place, so those six songs were essentially made without us ever being in the same room as each other! By contrast, for the making of “Home Now,” we were in Brandon’s studio together the whole time, which for us was a novel experience. We enjoyed being able to make decisions in real time -- much better than sending an email and waiting a few days for a response!
DW: It's not easy to be an emerging independent artist in today's music industry climate. Like more and more artists, you recently utilized a crowd-funding campaign on Pledgemusic to help fund your most recent album. What are the biggest challenges you face today as a young band trying to gain exposure and a foothold in the industry?
MNiY: Because we make our records ourselves, and play most of the instruments ourselves, our production costs are quite low. Our recent record “Home Now” was the first one we have made available for pre-sale on Pledge Music and were very happy with the response and with the new fans we made through the process. Being a small independent band means that fairly regularly someone tells us at a show or online that they’ve only just heard of us. Of course it’s fun to be discovered all over again on a monthly basis, but it would obviously be nice if everyone who is ever going to discover us could have an easier time doing so!
DW: What's next for My Name is You?
MNiY: We both play in other bands and go on tour with other artists (Joshua Radin, Cary Brothers, Meiko, Rosi Golan) so we schedule our My Name is You shows for when we’re both in town at the same time! We’re playing a few more shows between now and the end of the year, and then we're hoping to do a run of shows up the West Coast early in 2015.
My Name is You will be playing at the Hotel Cafe in LA this Sunday, November 2 along with Javier Dunn and Jake Newton. Tickets are available online. Their new album Home Now is available...now.
My Name is You
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