Music World: Hot Press meets Lissie

At the end of a recent promotional day, Lissie counted up every interview she’d had to contend with since her early morning rise, reaching a number that called for the employment of the overwhelming majority of her fingers and toes.

“NINETEEN! And only a few of them in person,” she informs me with wide eyes. We’re in a Dublin hotel and the California resident is tucking into some grub and chatting freely. Golden all over, in the way only fair blondes who live in constant sunshine can be, Elisabeth Corrin Maurus beams throughout and is only too happy to roll out entertaining, no-nonsense stories in that famous husky voice of hers.
“It’s good though,” she reflects. “If things don’t go well, I don’t want to trace it back to the fact that I wasn’t trying everything that I could to get exposure.”
In reality, her music can stand on its own two feet. Nearly every scrap of press regarding her 2010 debut, Catching A Tiger, gushed about her unique voice, admired her ambitious creative endeavour. This year’s Back To Forever feels like a sturdier effort and hits higher peaks. And yet, the songwriter likes to engage. Fine, when you’re sat a foot away from your interviewer.
Problematic, when you're bored and distracted in front of a laptop screen, pouring over email Q&As. Questions like ‘what was the worst worst piece of advice you were ever given?’. She answered that one by recalling the time she accidentally smoked crystal meth. Feels like we have to expand on that...
“I forgot that I even said that!” she laughs before delving in. “I think I was delirious and thought it was funny. Anyway... when I was between 15 and 25 – not even 25 – I smoked weed.
Not all the time but, y’know, I maybe would now, if it was around. It’s not my thing. Red wine and tequila is my thing now. I moved to LA and didn’t know anyone there. I was just trying to make friends and these people I made friends with? I didn’t realise, but they were all meth heads! And I’m from Illinois. The middle of the country and sheltered. I wasn’t exposed to anything like that.”
Not many people would know the five tell-tale signs that your new amigo is an icehead. Lissie nods. “So I didn’t know that it was smoked out of a glass pipe. I didn’t know anything about it, I thought it was weed. I went to have some and right as I was doing it I realised that there was no weed in it. I was like, ‘what is this?’. Then I was like, ‘okay I’ll try it’. I hated it. It was really unpleasant.”
At this point, you’d likely be thinking, "It’s time to ditch this group."
“I was going back to the house that we were renting and they were like... there. I was like ‘Oh my God, I don’t want these people here!’
Everything was so sped up – ‘When is this going to end?’ It wasn’t a good experience but it taught me that I needed to be more careful about the people that I hang out with.”
Back To Forever has a strong vein of nostalgia running through it, but we can now assume that she isn’t pining for that particular posthigh school period. The title-track aches for a more innocent time. The whole LP feels like a ‘taking stock’ exercise.
“That’s totally true. People are saying to me, ’What’s it about?’, and I’m just like, ‘Read the lyrics.’ It’s really direct. The best way I’ll ever say that idea is in the song. So when I go back and talk about it, I’m pretty good at it, but...”
Is this whole promotional rigmarole slightly redundant, then?
“It’s important to talk about. I was reflecting on all the relationships I’ve had, the patterns, being flirty, and looking back. The concept of what ‘forever’ is. Like, shit, am I going to have to start having babies soon?! Am I where I thought I’d be? And the world is so much scarier now. Everyone in my family was healthy and I had this really nice childhood. Since my aunt passed away a few years ago, I was inspired to write from looking at a photo album in my grandparents’ closet. It brought up this flood of aching and longing. For that summer’s day when the family is together and you can smell the grass and you’re sitting at the swimming pool and riding your bike down the street, you know? I don’t have a care in the world and I’ve all this hope and all these things that I’m definitely going to do when I grow up. That’s
why I’m inspired to write music. Anytime I feel heavy hearted I just write a song. That said, I'm a good place right now. I wouldn’t want to have to go through high school again.”