We Say…
Inspiration, as they say, can strike anywhere, but few can have found it much higher up than Joanna Sternberg. After the success of their debut, Then I Try Some More, Joanna returned to the family apartment, forty floors into the sky of a Manhattan skyscraper. It was meant to be a brief visit, until the world turned on its head, and Joanna found themself spending far longer in the clouds than they ever expected. The result is I’ve Got Me, Joanna’s second album, a record inspired by Motown, Mozart, The Beatles and most of their creative family members, a multi-generational collection of painters, opera singers, comedians and musicians.
The record opens with the title track, I’ve Got Me setting the scene, blurring Kimya Dawson-like Anti-Folk and the Gypsy Jazz of Django Reinhardt, as Joanna tears themself down, only to later ask, “why is it so hard to be kind and gentle to myself? Take the box of self-deprecation, lock it and put it on the shelf”. From there, I Will Be With You, a tale of longing, feels like the middle-ground of Joanna Newsom and Randy Newman, before the magnificently cutting People Are Toys To You takes down controlling jerks with a bassy indie-pop-strut, “every day you’d change your mind about me, you blamed me for being unhappy. At first you liked me some when I was shiny and new, like all the other ones you’ve done this to”. Throughout the record, Joanna showcases an ability to make a song sound delightfully happy, until you listen to the lyrics. Take Drifting On A Cloud, a major-key piano-led number that wouldn’t sound out of place as a sing-along on a Kids TV show, until you realise just how terribly sad it is, “it has been so long since I smiled, for no good reason like a child, and I’m crying from the feeling, and I’m flying past the ceiling and the sky, I am drifting on cloud”. While the internal monologue quality is an ever present, more than on their debut, here Joanna’s arrangements are playful, skilfully lending their hand to a slew of both instruments and styles, from the Tracy Chapman-like shuffle of Stockholm Syndrome to the classic American-folk of The Love I Give, a song about always giving your heart fully despite past pain, “I give all my love to you, doesn’t matter who you are it’s not anything new, though I barely get none back that does not erase the fact, I will give, and I will give my love to you”. By the time the record comes to a close on The Song, Joanna has done a good job of exploring every element of their musical repertoire and falls back on the always wonderful walking bass to take the album home in somewhat downbeat fashion, “I’ve been sleeping and hiding inside, I’ve been drinking and losing my pride, if I had any left to lose, then I wouldn’t be playing the blues”. Ultimately where I’ve Got Me truly shines is in just how authentic it feels, how thoroughly themself Joanna feels throughout, they might wear different musical coats, yet they all feel distinctly and delightfully their own and there can be few better head spaces to find a songwriter than that.
They Say…
FTR: For those who don’t know, who is Joanna Sternberg?
Hi! Joanna Sternberg is me and I am Joanna Sternberg. (Typing that felt so weird for some reason! I have never felt more me than now!). I am a person who lives in New York City. I write songs and draw and play musical instruments. I also love to make people laugh and love to watch tv and read comic books and play animal crossing and the sims 4. I can’t really think of anything else that I do that I can list here….I guess I am a hoarder but that’s not exactly something I want to keep expanding upon in my soul for the rest of my life if you know what I mean. (Although I probably will….)
FTR: What can you remember about your first show?
My first show! Well I was playing double bass shows and piano shows since I was a kid, and I sang at my elementary school talent show with my Dad and my friend Inna and we played a Beatle song for a bunch of years in a row! But my first show of my songs was at a place in Harlem called “Silvana” and I made it happen on my birthday so this way if the songs upset everyone they would still have to be nice to me after without acknowledging the elephant in the room! (I first showed my songs in the car to my ex partner and ex partner’s mom, and they both proclaimed: “this is SO depressing…” But the show actually went really good even though I wore really annoying socks that I would never wear now! (I was 23 so my brain still had not “fully developed” not that it even is now or anything…)
FTR: Why do you make music? Why not another art form?
I make music because it helps me do what I love best which is making people feel better. (That could mean making people laugh or making people feel less alone or …any emotion that is positive…). Music allows me to be myself and show my feelings and soul (cheesy sounding!) but it mainly lets me communicate how I feel. Doing that in every day life is extremely difficult for me in terms of talking or even emailing/texting. I think 90% of the time I can really only be myself through my songs and my drawings. That is probably because I am autistic and have ADHD. (So I have AUT-HD or AUTHD)
FTR: What can people expect from the Joanna Sternberg live show?
I definitely will be cracking jokes. And when someone describes themselves as “cracking jokes” in a predictive “I’m gonna be doing that” fortune-telling-manner, I think it really usually means that person (me in this case) does not find their own jokes funny and is embarrassed that they rely on jokes as a coping mechanism but also has just given in to it because enough people seem to laugh so if nobody is annoyed or bored or offended or angry because of a particular coping mechanism t I do, I usually tend to rely on that specific action as a way to cope socially. (Luckily to function socially I have a bunch of other coping mechanisms besides “cracking jokes”)
FTR: What’s next for Joanna Sternberg?
I am so excited that my upcoming record “I’ve Got Me” comes out on June 30, 2023 on the label of my dreams Fat Possum Records! It really was a dream come true to make this album with the producer of my dreams Matt Sweeney! I am playing all the instruments and singing all the songs and I wrote all the songs and also illustrated all the art for it including music videos. (So yes, it is very much “ME-ME-ME-ME” further proving how it’s a symbol of how I use music and drawing to be able to show who I really am since I am too socially awkward to do it with words and socializing and etc). The record release show is on June 30th at Public Records in Brooklyn and I will be joined by my amazing friends Michael Leviton and Timeless Clock! Also my stuff is here if you want any info: http://www.joannasternberg.com THANK YOU FOR THE RABBITS!
They Listen To…
I feel like this is something that is so obvious in my heart that I shouldn’t have to declare it but: I LOVE BEETHOVEN! (And I don’t care who knows it!) (just kidding…of course I don’t care who knows it so that “joke” made no sense!). One of my most beloved pastimes is researching all the favorite music of the people who wrote my favorite music. And I use the word “favorite” the same way as millennials use the word “love.” One of those favorite music of mine people is Johannes Brahms. Brahms was obsessed with Beethoven. (Understatement of the year!). I really do believe that this symphony reminds me of Brahms the most by far out of all of Beethoven’s orchestral work. How can two composers who were not even alive at the same time have such an intense connection that is actually impossible for me to put into words. One element about Brahms that I especially adore is how much you can hear his love of Beethoven in all of his work, and how he managed to channel that love into something entirely new and of his own. Something completely original. It was as if Beethoven gave birth to Brahms. Music is so emotionally weird for so many reasons. To me one of those reasons is the whole idea of copyright and intellectual/creative property. How can being influenced by music you love have so many potential outcomes all of which are the listener coming to the conclusion that you were influenced by that music. (Except for when I first started singing and did this horrific weird wanna-be Nina Simone type impression? Whatever it was was terrible and trust me, nobody heard it and thought: “I bet that person is trying to sing just like Nina Simone!). Another similarly amazing instance of a musician being influenced by another in a way that is apparent and also entirely unique and created a whole new sound: Ray Charles’ influence on Randy Newman! (I won’t start to ramble about that but if anybody is reading this and wants to investigate a deeply inspiring music creativity thing, you have the whole internet at your hands as your library!)
BEETHOVEN SYMPHONY NUMBER 6 PASTORALE
Herbert von Karajan
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
February 13 – 15, 1962
Berlin Jesus Christ Church
1. First movement: “Awakening of a fine and sunny mood that takes place in the countryside” Allegro ma non troppo
2. Second movement: “A scene on the banks of the stream” Andante molto mosso
3. Third movement: “A fun group of farmers” Allegro
4. Fourth movement: “Thunderstorm, Storm” Allegro
5. Fifth movement: “The pastor’s song, the feelings filled with a delightful appreciation after the storm” Allegretto
I’ve Got Me is out June 30th via Fat Possum. For more information on Joanna Sternberg visit https://www.joannasternberg.com/.
For The Rabbits 