One of the drawbacks of releasing music so frequently is the seemingly endless list of tasks that come with it, Krieger adds. Like most independent artists navigating today’s music industry, the weight of promoting a record, marketing it, and organising tours has fallen largely on her shoulders. Now, for the first time, she is working with NYC label Double Whammy to alleviate some of the pressure.
“Those are the parts I really don’t like, and I’m not very good at,” she half laughs, half sighs. “There are some artists that have such vision for their record and the body of work they are putting out, and I really respect that in musicians. I envy that mentality, but I don’t feel the same way. For me they are just songs that I’ve written that hopefully people connect with. And releasing music allows people to connect with your live performance and that’s my favourite part of making music.
“This is my first album release cycle with a manager and a booking agent, and it’s totally different. That’s why I feel like there are more things happening. I have a day job, I’m disorganised. Maybe I’m just not good at it, but it’s been really helpful to have other people who care about your livelihood and your music and want people to hear it. I’m so grateful for that. I still don’t love the energy around pre-release. I’d like to just record and put it straight out there. By the time you release it you’re over it, or at least I am sometimes. But there is a process for a reason, so I’m along for the ride.
“The main thing is having somebody help organise tours. I used to book all my own tours, and they were very DIY. A successful show would be 10 or 15 people there, and I was like, 'Yes'! And then I would camp outside. You don’t make money but it’s fun.”
The focus of our conversation shifts at this point back to her earliest memories of music, from the artists that both ignited her passion for it and inspired her to begin writing her own material.
“Music was always part of my life,” she says, the sound of traffic and passers-by occasionally punctuating our dialogue as she continues her walk through the city. “I loved listening to music on my Walkman; I could pass a whole day just daydreaming listening to music. I played piano as a kid, too, and I danced. But the light switch moment was when I discovered Fiona Apple. My aunt lived in New York, and she lived across the street from a dance school where I took a class. They taught a dance for Sleep To Dream by Fiona Apple and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. And it was around the same time I discovered Jeff Buckley who was also huge for me. That was around middle school time. I always loved music, but the songwriting came later.”
So when did the urge to start writing occur?
“In high school I had just moved to Pennsylvania, and I found this Elliott Smith record, she says. “I wasn’t sure lyrically if I understood what was happening, but I loved the sound of it, the cadence, and there were little lines that really stood out to me. And the emotional side of it was really cathartic for me at the time. So, I started writing songs around that point but they were very poppy and very melodramatic, like ‘my husband cheated on me’ [laughs]. That kind of thing – things that I’d read in books or saw in movies.
“I tried going to music school, but it didn’t really work out. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do and was kind of aimless for a while. Then I ended up doing this job tree planting and decided I didn’t like this lifestyle anymore. So, I moved to New York after that - I had some friends there from music school who helped me make my first musical project. I kept playing shows and doing my thing in the city, working, and now I’m here, I guess [laughs].”
Despite being five acclaimed albums into her career, Krieger still views her place in the world of music through a somewhat philosophical lens. She takes nothing for granted, almost embracing the transitory nature of the business as it stands today. At present, she is able to balance her musical commitments while working in bars across the city as and when she needs to. Rather than try to figure out what the future may hold, she is content to exist in the present.
“It is a juggling act,” she says. “I’m in this place where it's hard to keep a job with touring as frequently as I do. And it’s frequent but not frequent enough, as I still have months of down time. There are two bars in the city I have worked at for a number of years so I’m lucky that I am able to hop in whenever they’ll have me. I’m juggling a chaotic lifestyle for now because it works and it’s the simplest way to have reliable sources of income with the flexibility to tour. But if one day I am not able to provide for myself through touring… [she trails off for a moment]. I’m just going to keep doing this until I get too tired and then maybe go back to school. I’m not sure. But I still have the energy, and we’ll see if touring will get busier, maybe play bigger rooms.
“I don’t think I ever expected it to be a career of any sort,” she ponders. “And I don’t have that expectation even still, it’s just something I enjoy and is important to my wellbeing. Probably [laughs].”
Art Of The Unseen Infinity Machine is released on September 13.
Cloud photo by Joshua Chang, lead photo by Killian Krieger