An Interview with Nymphya

I met with Nymphya in her beautiful home and garden in Petaluma, California on a lovely, if somewhat smoky, August morning. She gave me a tour of her lovingly preserved and charmingly decorated 1920s bungalow, which includes a basement recording studio and quite an impressive library. We talked over tea and scones in her garden, a serenely magical space of willow trees, fountains, flowers and art. Our discussion roamed far and wide, from her highly eclectic early musical influences, to her career in classical music, to the pathworking and meditation inherent in her latest work, Dream Dance.

CJMT: I would love to hear about influences for your album Dream Dance, and the making of it, and after that a little bit about your plans for upcoming projects.

Nymphya: There are a zillion things that influence the album, so it’s kind of hard to distill it down into one thing, but musically speaking one of my primary influences has been Kate Bush, for many years. When I first discovered her, as with most people who discover her, your mind just explodes, because she’s so unique, and so individual, and so expressive. She has a touch of magic in her too, for sure. And so starting when I was a teenager, I knew that I wanted to make music along a similar line.

What happened was I got waylaid through taking voice lessons and music lessons and having an opera career. And I also had an a capella group called Screaming Divas that I was the arranger for. We performed for Hillary Clinton, we opened for Todd Rundgren, and Dana Carvey, so we had a good run with that. But I was still not doing what was calling me, and it was always to make music like Dream Dance is. And the way I see it now, I think it’s because in the end technology caught up with the way I like to work and want to work, which is in my own studio, producing it, and piecing it together like a collage. Twenty years ago, I could not have done that in the way I ‘m doing it now.

So that would be my primary influence, and within that there are all these little spices in this stew. Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane was huge for me. When I was sixteen years old and heard “White Rabbit” for the first time, I was like “What is that, that’s amazing!” And that’s actually why I moved to San Francisco, which sounds crazy, because it was like forty years later or whatever. But I wanted that energy, I wanted to be in the place that created that music, that sound. And I’m happy I did it, this is an extraordinary place. The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Mozart, I mean there’s this wide panoply.

Verdi, because I’ve sung in Verdi operas. The introduction to “Wasteland” on the album is called “Howl” and I wrote that based on a Verdi chorus in Rigoletto. The role I had was the Whore. Mezzos always get those parts! Witches, whores, boys and old ladies! So in the last act there’s a storm and the young soprano comes to the inn in the storm, and you hear this chorus of voices making this howling. And I remember being in the wings just listening to that, ready to go on, and it still gives me goosebumps, I love that so much! I loved how he used the voices to evoke a storm, I love using the voice to evoke all kinds of different sounds. And I love that he was a classical guy doing it long before people were doing extended vocalism and all the stuff we do now. So there’s a wide variety of musical influences.

And then, on the other level of what inspires my soul, or my spirit, and I’ve talked about this before, but when Keith Keller died, who was my fiancee, and he was a music producer in New Orleans, did a lot of roots records. When you’re faced with something like that, your whole perception of reality in life changes. And how do you manage that, how do you negotiate that? And I managed it by going inward and seeking guidance, because I started having all these experiences.

CJMT: When I heard “Beautiful Wound” I really heard that place you were coming from. It’s a beautiful song. It’s not a breakup song, but it has that quality of heartache that is so beautiful.

Nymphya: Thank you. I was really in a terrible place, I was wishing for death, literally. And I look at where I am now, and I think “I’m so glad that didn’t come true!” Because when you are in that depth of grief, I couldn’t see past it, I couldn’t see anything beyond, that I could ever be happy again, it all had no meaning for me. It’s so profound and so deep. So to go to that place, I consider that it was through grace that I was able to be lifted out of it, and I also allowed myself. I sought out help, on a spiritual level, of teachers and guidance, and understanding all the imagery I was receiving from the other side.

CJMT: I’ve been reading Martin Prechtel’s book The Smell of Rain On Dust: Of Grief and Praise (Prechtel 2015). He’s a writer and poet from New Mexico. One of the things he talks about is that grief that doesn’t transform into art, or praise, or some other heartfelt expression, when it doesn’t transform itself into whatever makes us want to keep on living, that’s what causes so much pain; unprocessed, unresolved grief. So you have done so much work with your grief!

Nymphya: Wow, I really heard that. That moved through my whole body when you said that, it’s so true.

CJMT: It seems really true, from listening to your work, and the way you talk about it. Because some people have a hard time, as artists, finding that way to transform it into something really beautiful for everyone.

Nymphya: Thank you. I’ve seen some people that I care about lose people, and they’re still struggling with how to transform their grief. Or how to assimilate it. I don’t believe when people say “Oh I’ll never get it over it” or “This is always going to be this massive loss.” I don’t think that’s true. Of course this is part of my life experience, but there is a way to move through it, and assimilate it is probably a good word, where it’s part of you in a way that serves you in a beautiful way, not in a wretched way.

CJMT: Or in a self-harming way, or harming-of-others way. That definitely comes through in all your pieces. In some of them, like “Lift Off” and “Over The Hedge,” they have this wonderful meditative quality, and I wonder if that was done purposefully, or did it just come through that way when you were doing the work?

Nymphya: That’s something I hadn’t really considered. However, I would say that this album, as I was putting it together, it was like a big puzzle. “Wasteland” was the first song I wrote, which ends up being the centerpiece of the album. And I wanted that to be a through-line, like a pathworking or a guided meditation, because I realized that this album is a journey of exuberance, “You’re alive!” Over the hedge, you’re taking off…

CJMT: You can’t listen to this album on shuffle! It doesn’t work that way!

Nymphya: Yes, you’re right! As I was completing it I realized this is like a hero’s journey, which is also like a meditation or a pathworking. Because you start out “Over The Hedge,” you’re flying exuberantly, “I’m alive, I’m incarnate!” And then “Dream Dance” happens, which is when you get your assignment for this life, what is your dream dance of this life going to be, what are you going to create in this life? And then “Broken,” something happens, and then “Beautiful Wound” is the pain of that.

CJMT: The challenge in the hero’s journey.

Nymphya: Yes, and then “Wasteland” is the underworld.

CJMT: It’s really evocative of that whole landscape, internally, of that feeling of being in a wasteland.

Nymphya: Yes, exactly. That was one of the images I had after I lost Keith. I went to a therapist for six months, as well as doing spiritual training, and she was so great, her whole guidance was “Embrace it, don’t back away, there is something here for you, even though this is not necessarily what you want.”

One of the images I had during that time (and this was the beginning of the turnaround, when I knew I would be okay), was that I was standing in this almost Armageddon, post-apocalyptic, red skies and black, smoldering ruins sort of landscape, everywhere around me, and not a soul was anywhere, except for me. And I was standing in the center of it, huddled and shivering, but I realized “I’m alive, I’m standing.” And that is when I knew I was going to be okay. And that was the genesis of “Wasteland.” And that leads into “We Carry On,” where you realize that you pick yourself up and put one foot in front of the other, and keep going, that’s what we human beings do.

CJMT: It’s a very uplifting song.

Nymphya: That’s what I wanted it to be, you’re coming out of the underworld now, at that point.

CJMT: And especially for me, it really dovetailed into the Northern California fires that have been so devastating to us here.

Nymphya: I actually did make that a fundraising song. In the meditative part, the whole album is like a pathworking or a meditation. I’ve never personally sat down to meditate with it, I should try that and see what happens.

CJMT: I have myself done it as a walking meditation a few times, and it’s great.

Nymphya: How does it impact you, as a listener, in a walking meditation? I’m curious.

CJMT: It is a hero’s journey thing, so the first time I did it, I just went into it, and went with what I was listening to, and in the space I was walking in, which was just my neighborhood. But it’s also really great to walk with a specific thing to work on in mind, I recently spent some time listening to it while hiking. So it’s really a very useful piece of music.

Nymphya: Nothing would make me happier! To use it for healing, that’s the best possible outcome.

CJMT: Well, that’s what you used it for, so it’s sort of like a gift for everybody. Isn’t that funny when you work on something so hard for a really long time, and it does that for you, and then other people tell you it does that for them, too?

Nymphya: Well that’s art. That’s why I love what art does, it’s a connection to another person’s being to help you understand yourself and others, whatever you can get from that.

CJMT: So what are you working on now, where are you going artistically?

Nymphya: Just last week I was starting to collate some instruments and sounds, because I use loops, I use MIDI, and then I use live instruments that I play too.

CJMT: How many instruments do you play?

Nymphya: I play guitar, keyboards and some percussion. When I’m out of my depth, because I’m not a maestro with any of those, I’ll bring someone in as a guest, to do something. I already have the title and the working idea for the next album, I’m doing the theme thing again, it will be called Through the Looking Glass and of course there is the Alice in Wonderland reference, which was a huge book for me, and going back to Grace Slick, and “White Rabbit,” another huge influence.

One thing that has really struck me about our current society is the whole mobile phone revolution, and narcissism, and social narcissism. So it’s about that part, but the album also becomes about what happens when you go through the looking glass, and so looking at parts of yourself from another angle, and what’s beneath the surface. Animism, the power of nature, the power of the spirit of place. I have a song called “Standing Stones” I’ve already written the lyrics for, and it’s about the wisdom of those stones that have been standing there for thousands of years, and how it is to connect with that wisdom.

CJMT: Oh that gives me chills! I can’t wait!

Nymphya: I’m going to Scotland soon, I’m going to Skye and Mull, I love the ancient sites. I’ll spend some time there to let some of that percolate up through the music, and do some writing while I’m there. I’m a big believer in the power and magic of place.

CJMT: There is certainly a lot of that there!

Nymphya: The album Dream Dance I released last December, and it was such a massive effort, January I was literally flat on my back for three weeks, I was completely exhausted. And I looked out over the whole year and I thought “It’s going to be a year before I can start working on my next album.” I needed a fallow period, and had to do all the promotional activities that are required, and I was almost a little sad, because I’d have to wait a whole year to work on the next project. Because my favorite part is the creative part. So here we are in August and it’s looking like really rolling up my sleeves and digging in will be next year.

CJMT: So, can you talk a little bit more about how your classical background has influenced your music, particularly your harmonies?

Nymphya: I love harmonies, I wish more people would sing in harmonies. When I was 15 years old, I played in a guitar duo, and we did a lot of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and wove our guitar parts and voices together.

Then I sang in a rock band in college, not much harmony there, I was the front singer. Then I started my a capella group, The Screaming Divas, which was five women. And it was all about how to weave the voices together, and I learned a lot, because I became the arranger for that group. And the Bee Gees! When I was 13 I was obsessed with that group! So I think all of those influences have led me. Especially on “Beautiful Wound.” I noticed when I was doing the arrangements and then listening back, I was thinking this is very early Bee Gees-like. And I didn’t mean it! That’s what I love about this whole influences thing. You do these things as a kid, you gravitate toward something, and if you’re doing something later, it just comes out, and you can’t even control it, in some ways. Which is why what you do as a kid is so important.

Screaming Divas was extraordinary. We were doing some really cutting edge vocal stuff. We did Pink Floyd’s “Money” a capella, and “Rock Lobster” by the B52s. We did Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along The Watchtower” a capella. We did my arrangements of the “Nutcracker Suite” and Benny Goodman’s “Sing Sing Sing!” As an a capella group, we were extending the use of our voices, and trying to get horn sounds and percussion sounds, so that is woven in there too. And of course Kate Bush, especially on The Dreaming. The way she used her voice too really inspired me very much. It’s more than just you’re singing a song, you can use your voice in so many different ways, and I wanted to weave that in there too. And opera for sure. I love being an opera singer for the strength and the technique that it gives me, but it’s also very important to not sound like an opera singer all the time. It’s a technical challenge, but I’m a little bit of a geek, and really enjoy that part.

I do think there is a huge aspect of ritual in music making, and especially in performance. I was recently at a Robert Plant concert, and I was just so aware of how when you are a performer on stage, and you have a large audience of people amassed, and it’s like a group mind, it’s almost like you are the high priest or priestess, and you’re running a ceremony for them, to take them somewhere. I was so ecstatic, I was crying the whole time at that show. I’m very inspired by Led Zeppelin. Probably Robert Plant’s own metaphysics and spirituality seep through his music as well, you can’t help but do that.

I’ve thought about how all the inner work that I have done in my life, before I even started the idea of having this album, there’s no way that it couldn’t come through the music. That’s why when you say you can sense it, and I’ve heard it from other people, it just makes me glow inside to know that that comes through. I also feel that there are people that respond to Dream Dance on that level because it lights them up. And then other people don’t because it’s not inside of them on some level, and there’s nothing I can do about that.

CJMT: Right, that’s the story of putting your art out there. Some people are going to say that’s for me, and some people are going to say that’s not for me, and there is nothing you can do about that.

Nymphya: Exactly. It was so scary to put it out there, but I’ve learned from years of auditioning to accept rejection, because most auditions you’re not going to get. But it’s still a difficult journey as an artist, when you show the world your precious baby! So I was up at night, November last year, I would wake up at night terrified, thinking “What am I doing?” And I had to really work through that, and I knew I had to put this out. So nothing means more to me than when people say to me “I love this!” Because the terror is the flipside of that.

CJMT: You have to have the courage to go ahead and do that thing.

Nymphya: And that’s also part of the hero’s journey. And that’s why it’s so important for people to make art, because it builds something in you as a being. It builds your strength. We’re here to express ourselves. That’s the whole point of being alive. So if you shy away from that, you’re missing the point!

You can find Nympha’s album Dream Dance on Spotify, CDBaby, Amazon, Apple music and Bandcamp.com, and of course on her website, Nymphya.com.

The shop URL for purchase is here: https://shop.nymphya.com/

References
Prechtel, M. (2015). The smell of rain on dust: Grief and praise. North Atlantic Books.

Rose Shannon is an editor on Coreopsis Journal’s staff. She is also a teacher, director and researcher with an MA in Early Childhood Education from SFSU. She has a lifelong interest in music, theater, art and magic. She lives in San Francisco CA with her family.