kd lang
THE THIN ICE THAT WE TREAD
by Scott McLennan
In the 1980s she irritated Nashville’s conservative majority by tempering her love of country with a love of women. In the early 1990s she navigated her unintentional role as a lesbian figurehead with considerable aplomb as she earned global attention for her soulful record Ingenue. In the past decade, Kathryn Dawn Lang’s own music has taken a backseat as she’s concentrated on recording the works of fellow Canadian songwriters, yet the Grammy Award winning artist is back in 2008 with Watershed.
Discounting any accusations of feeling tentative about releasing her first record of self-penned tracks since 2000’s Invincible Summer, kd suggests that her 2004 covers album Hymns Of The 49th Parallel actually assisted in clarifying for her the qualities of a good song.
“The covers really added to my understanding of what a good song was,” kd states from her Hollywood home while her chocolate Labrador Taylor barks upstairs. “Throughout my whole career I’ve always balanced it with my songwriting and I find it really healthy for me as a singer. I was writing Watershed intermittently throughout all the records I’ve put out in the last eight years. It’s been six years in the writing process, so they sort of co-existed at the same time, but I always really like the balance of interpreting and writing.”
Providing her with a career high thanks to it hitting number one on the ARIA Album Chart, 10th studio album Watershed finds kd producing her own material for the first time. Despite the length of Watershed’s gestation, kd says many of the tracks remain close to their original demo format.
“A lot of them are very old and were written and recorded early in the songwriting process. It was very important for me to maintain the integrity of the first performances and that was one of the reasons why I ended up producing Watershed myself.”
Do the songs still feel fresh when performing them onstage?
“They do, because I’ve made and performed lots of music in between. I played I Dream Of Spring in the States over summer but other than that I’ve never performed these songs live. This coming tour is the first time I’ll break them out of the box, so they seem very fresh to me.”
First single I Dream Of Spring particularly resonates with Australian audiences thanks to Melbourne being namechecked in its lyrics. Unlike many North American visitors, kd correctly pronounces the Victorian capital as Mel-bun rather than Mel-born.
“Well I’ve had the good fortune of spending a lot of time out there,” kd laughs. “It was just one of those things. It’s one of my favourite cities in the world and Australia and I have a love affair, so it just happened. It was written while I was just reminiscing.”
Despite having performed on stage with music legends such as Tony Bennett, Elton John and Roy Orbison, kd lang’s smooth vocals and effortlessly cool persona appears unwavering. The Canadian singer confides that she still has nerves prior to live shows.
“I still get excited, nervous and sweaty. You wonder how it’s going to come across, how the album’s going to do and how the show’s going to be. You just hope for the best.
“When I’m actually on stage singing with people I’m in my element, but the nerves are actually before I get up there. The concept of thinking about being up there is when I’m nervous, but being up there is the easy part.”
Although having already gained both infamy and acclaim on the back of the rockabilly sounds of 1987’s Angel With A Lariat album, kd’s commercial break occurred when she recorded Roy Orbison’s Crying with the singer prior to his 1988 death.
“With Roy we were in the studio together and it was extraordinary. You can only imagine what it’s like to share a microphone with Roy Orbison and to have that voice blast next to you – it’s unearthly. That truly was one of the most riveting experiences of my life for sure.”
Roy died at 53 during a career revival that saw rock stars such as Bruce Springsteen and U2 paying tribute to his legacy. kd admits to thinking about her own mortality on a regular basis.
“I think of my own mortality probably every day, but I don’t think about my own legacy. As a human being I think about my mortality and it’s inseparable from my spiritual beliefs. My approach to music is very spiritual definitely, as I’m a Buddhist.”
Hymns Of The 49th Parallel found kd performing tributes to Canadian artists such as Neil Young, Ron Sexsmith and Leonard Cohen, but the singer also has her eye on newer Canuck acts such as Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Stars and Rufus Wainwright.
“All of those people are amazing and I’m very proud to be a part of the Canadian music scene. I was at a Feist gig recently and it was great. She was awesome. The crowd are a lot younger than me and they don’t know who I am, but I was speaking to Ron Sexsmith there - our friendship stemmed from Hymns...”
Despite inadvertently courting media attention around the time of Ingenue thanks to celebrity friends Madonna and Cindy Crawford, kd generally shuns the celebrity spotlight. The singer has still managed to make some unexpected Hollywood soundtrack appearances, including box office disasters Coneheads and Dick Tracy.
“Believe me, I’ve had my share of flops, so that’s just part of the business,” kd laughs. “I have absolutely no regrets though. I don’t go to a lot of films and I prefer art-house to Hollywood, but it’s one of the great side benefits of living here. You get to be involved in the movie business and being on Warner Bros records also brings a good relationship with the movie business, so I’ve been very lucky.”
kd lang plays Adelaide Entertainment Centre on Sat Apr 26. Watershed is out now on Warner.