WEEKEND VIDEO
“Ready for the Floor” |
When it came time to for Lissy Trullie to re-released her debut EP Self-Taught Learner, she could have recorded a few extra songs and turned it into a full album for her new label, Downtown Records. Instead, the New York-based singer/guitarist took the road less traveled, dusting off old songs and recording one odd cover.
“I didn’t want the re-release of the EP to just be new material because then it’s more like an album,” Trullie tells Spinner. “It’s supposed to be something fun and not so serious.” The perfect example of that vibe is her cover of Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend” that she sang with singer-songwriter and former Moldy Peaches member Adam Green.
“We had an idea for him to sing at this particular show and [Adam] said a friend suggested he cover Biz Markie. It’s kind of a ridiculous idea in the first place, which is what attracted both of us to it, and so we did it,” Trullie says. “We didn’t originally plan to do it for the re-release. The words are actually a lot different from the original song. We had a lot of fun with it. It’s already a song that’s really melodic and a little bit sweet, even though he’s talking about getting his heart broken, and we kind of kept that feeling about it.”
Thanks to the original EP release in February and tour with The Virgins and Anya Marina in the spring, Trullie has certainly seen her star rising. “A year ago, I was working a lot but I wasn’t doing what I wanted to be doing. I was doing dumb work for bad pay and trying to get by,” she says. “It’s been a lot of traveling, a lot of learning more about basically playing music and getting better as a band. We’ve been touring a lot, which is great — it’s proven to be my favorite thing to do.”
Currently, Trullie and her band are recording their full-length debut in London with former Suede member and producer Bernard Butler, who also helmed the debut albums by Duffy and Black Kids. To hear her put it, we can expect a lot from her future work. “I’ve been playing with a lot of different guitar sounds, heavier sounds,” she says, citing Lou Reed’s droning style of playing as a big influence. “I taught myself piano, so that’s going to be in my band. I’ve been geeking out a little bit harder and experimenting, and that reflects on the songwriting as well. It’s like the simple rule of practice. You learn more and more and you get better and better.”