Lia Mead is a contemporary composer and songwriter based in New York City who focuses on optimism and inspiring hope in the people who listen to their music.
I caught up with Lia to talk about their early musical experiences, how they started making music and the new album “If Even One” which is out today.
CMM-What was the first music that really made an impact on you as a kid and what artists or bands did you enjoy the most?
Lia-Nine Inch Nails’s “With Teeth”. Listening to that album made me feel seen in a way I wasn’t sure was possible from anyone much less a stranger. I was always a huge fan of classic rock or “Dad rock” as it were. My dad introduced me to his favorites, and among them was Nine Inch Nails. When I got around to listening to an album by them, it made a massive impact on me. With Teeth made the world feel smaller. And made me feel like I was a part of it.
CMM-When did you first start playing music and writing your own songs?
Lia-My parents love to detail the story of the Alligator Piano. A small, green, twenty-something key digital piano for kids. I’d push the song button and dance around it like nobody was watching. But when my Grandma Jenny, AKA “B ma”, taught me Frosty the Snowman on our family upright, I became obsessed with the concept of creating something out of nothing that the piano allowed to exist. When I was 9 I learned the Portal ending theme song – “Still Alive” – by myself on a small electric keyboard. Since then, I took up piano as a main instrument and taught myself how to play it. Writing my own music came naturally after that. In my period of struggling through mental health, I chose to cope by expressing myself. To create something out of the nothingness I was experiencing.
CMM-Your new album “If Even One” is a fantastic collection of 19 amazing tracks. What was the composing and recording process like? Any particular gear or instruments you used during the recording sessions that helped inspire you?
Lia-The recording of “If Even One” took place in my New York apartment on my first and only computer I’ve ever had. From writing my own songs when I was in high school, I’d learned to produce in Ableton and scored a simple modular synth. Along with the plugins featured in Ableton, the music to If Even One was made. The stories featured on the record, however, come with a different tale. In a time of crisis, I called my friend Nanni Narayanan – the co writer of the record – and we tried to logically deduce a cure for the existentialism I was going through at the time. I’d been suffering with my mental health for years now. Struggling to understand why “tomorrow” would ever live up to counteract the pain I felt. My friend talked with me for hours in that same New York apartment I recorded in. And we came up with the conclusion that, if a single day of my future life was worth it then the entirety of my life would be as well. With this nugget, the idea of the record was born. “If even one percent of your life will be worth it, give it a shot.” My friend said. Hence, the final quote on the album. The first main story of the record, “Journal on the Prime Sun” was written by me. The second story was based off an interview I did with a street performer whom I admired. The last two main stories are written by my friend Nanni. We talked about them in Central Park for months. And I read both of them for the first time on a walk with my friend. We released the record to an audience of nearly 150 people. Every second of working on the record was worth it. Which quelled the anxiety I had about whether any of it would be. Because, after all, if a single person enjoys this record then my job is done. And I think, at least, me and my friends do.
CMM-If you could compose the score for a film by any director, who would you most want to work with and what do you think the film would be about?
Lia-I think my music is most similar to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s work in cinema. But it’s hard to say a specific director. I’ve always wanted to score films and have done some short film work. I quite enjoy films about hope. Films that allow you to leave feeling better than when you came in. My hope is that the audience puts down “If Even One” feeling better. Calmer. Like the world isn’t too big to handle. Someday, if the opportunity arises, I’d love to write the soundtrack to a film. That’s actually how If Even One started, as a “fake film” in an album. It was called “Prime Sun” and was a journey through space told purely sonically. The celestial themes were kept, Prime Sun became less a space opera and more the story “Journal on the Prime Sun” is today, and the spoken word story format of the record was born of the film format. The music that follows kept the “film score” idea and If Even One was born.
CMM-What do you have coming up next?
Lia-Well, I’ve been away from New York for a while. But in planning my return, I also plan to see my friends. And the best way to connect with them is to see what they have to say on their instruments to me. I’ll say, I have quite a lot to say to them. We’ll be performing an equally emotional homecoming record around the city within the year. And we hope to be recording it soon. In my songwriting for this new album, I’ve likened the return back to NYC to growing grass on the moon. Which doesn’t feel so impossible the closer I get. I look forward to sharing “Grass on the Moon” with audiences live around the city in due time.
