artist feature: Teen Idle
With the upcoming release of our “Winter Rental” Compilation Album, Sara, the fire behind Teen Idle, took her song Saccharine and stripped it down to its rawest form. we had a chat about some of favorite things and what inspires her to create.
Images taken by: James Waltsak @jwalttzco
Sara’s Favorite Things
Favorite food: for me nothing beats a really good taco. The best tacos I ever had were probably in LA! But the Brooklyn taco trucks in Bushwick are a close second.
Favorite beverage: Mint hot chocolate
Favorite color: Red!
Favorite season: Fall
Favorite movie: Train to Busan
Favorite TV Show: Last of Us/The Sopranos
Favorite memory: How do I choose! Thank goodness my long term memory is better than my short-term. I’ll probably say my study abroad experience in Copenhagen takes the cake
Favorite concert: Wolf Alice at the Bowery Ballroom or finally seeing Paramore live for the first time at Adjacent Fest in Atlantic City!
Q + A with Sara
Q: As someone who spent and spends a lot of time in bands, what made you want to go solo when writing and recording Teen Idle songs?
A: I’m a big lover of collaborating but I also know that if I didn’t have a solo project as an outlet for my ideas and feelings that I would be very frustrated. It takes me like 10 revisions to be happy with a mix, even if it’s for a song I produced for someone else, so I can’t imagine my main band being one where I had to run all my ideas past someone else first. I look at it like being an author. Every author has an editor but it’s still your voice. That’s why Teen Idle is most successful as a solo endeavor. Luckily I have other outlets like playing in Lightheaded and a bunch of other bands where I can really collaborate with friends. I do want to eventually start a band where I force myself to write with other people as a fun little challenge. I ended up recording everything by myself because I honestly just couldn’t afford a studio, but I also wanted to do a little trial by fire and come out of it all as a really good producer.
Q: What made you want to do a stripped down version of “Saccharine”?
A: “Saccharine” is probably the most intricate song on the record when it comes to the sheer amount of tracks on there and the amount of time I thought about the arrangement. So I thought — what would it sound like with all of that taken away? To test if something is a really good song I think you have to play it stripped-back, acoustic. I feel like “Saccharine" passed that test.
Q: What are some artists/bands that have inspired you to write music?
A: Teen Idle started off heavily influenced by shoegaze, because I started the project back in college when I was listening to a lot of Beach House and Slowdive. But as both the project and I mature, I find that I’m more interested in lyrics and telling a story, and not hiding behind a wall of reverb. My record Nonfiction is a good example of that. When writing it I was really influenced by artists like SASAMI, Angel Olsen, Japanese Breakfast, just really great storytellers.
Q: When did you first start writing your own music?
A: I can’t remember whether I was 15 or 16 when I finished my first song, but all I know is it was when I was still a student at Lakehouse. It’s called “What Remains” and I legitimately think it’s one of the best songs I’ve ever written which is pretty funny. I need to make plans to actually record it for real one day.
Q: What does the future for Teen Idle look like?
A: The future is full of possibility! I’ve already achieved a lot of the goals I had for myself when starting this project. But I really just want to go bigger and bolder. I want to record new music, really challenge myself in arranging those songs, hopefully go on a tour soon (it’s a secret but there might be plans for some West Coast dates this summer!), and really just broaden my audience. The long term goal is to keep getting better at my craft, to keep having fun doing it and continuing to be part of a creative community that is supportive and well-intended.
Be sure to check out “Winter Rental” coming out on Friday, February 2nd! Preorders for CD’s starting soon!
Support Sara by heading over to https://linktr.ee/teenidle !