Kim Fox's
Return to Pop Music
by David Chiu
The late '90s brought a dearth of young
female singer/songwriters at a time when such artists were vastly
underrepresented for the last two decades. With the success of
Lilith Fair spearheaded by Sarah McLachlan, these women were
being snagged up and then putting out records that garnered critical,
if not always, commercial success.One of those artists was Kim
Fox who in 1997 released the modest, sounding pop-friendly Moon
Hut on the major label Dreamworks. She, like her contemporaries
were being touted as the ones to watch out for.
But as usual, trends come and go. Dictated
by corporate mergers and the bottom line, these artists were
discarded like yesterday's news for the next big trend. Some
of those women songwriters haven't been heard since or continue
to work albeit in obscurity compared to when they had a momentary
spot in the sun..
And out of the blue today, the aforementioned
Fox is back with her first new album in over five years called
aptly enough Return to Planet Earth (notice the space
connection with her album titles). "I moved from Bloomington,
Indiana to Los Angeles [three years ago]," explained the
very outgoing and enthusiastic New York City native over the
phone. "The transition to Los Angeles was sort of difficult
for me. I was trying to make a record for Dreamworks but it was
just going very, very slowly. In short, there was one
point where it was like being in a bad marriage. They wanted
me to do something I really didn't want to do. We actually made
half of the second record, and I couldn't stand it."
During the time between albums while fighting
to get out of her contract with Dreamworks, Fox continued to
write and perform but also spent her time traveling in exotic
countries like India, Turkey, and Nepal. In addition, she became
a professional photographer. Despite the legal distractions and
the time off to pursue other interests, she said, "In total
I really took a year off from doing music and stuff."
Those experiences in the last couple of
years had shaped her music, and it became time for her to work
on the follow-up to her debut "I had a group of songs that
were a record. When I was in Dreamworks I felt like I didn't
have a record, so it was easy for me to keep writing. But once
all of these particular songs were written, I had to put this
out. It's hard for me to pay much attention to it because I really
can't continue my next project until I get this out. It felt
like a completed work to me."
Kim Fox's sound is a throwback to the female
singer/songwriters of the
late '60s and the '70s she grew up admiring: Carole King, Rickie
Lee Jones, Laura Nyro, etc. Her piano playing, introspective
lyrics, and melodic instincts, dominated the sound on Moon
Hut, particularly the song "I Want to Be a Witch."
On the latest album Return to Planet Earth, her sound
hasn't changed that much but have expanded. For example, electronic
textures and beats play integral parts in songs like "I've
Got Music," "Ladybug," "Baby I Want You Back";
There is a musical eclecticism throughout the album from the
'70s nostalgia balladry of "Something Just as Good,"
the atmospheric title track, and the poppy "Love x 10."
With Fox's warm, child-like vocals and colloquial, imaginative
approach to songwriting, the music is the soundtrack for fans
of classic pop radio music.
Part of that diversity in sound was due
to the record's producer Linus of Hollywood (whose credits include
Puff Daddy and OPM), who not only worked with her on her new
songs but also helped sign her to the Franklin Castle Recordings
label. "I definitely wanted to experiment a little bit with
sounds. I really like all music. I love very commercial pop music
as much as I love completely obscure indie bands. The one thing
that was great about working with Linus was that he was the same
way. We just have a lot of fun. We didn't have really have many
limitations."
Fans who were weaned on the stripped-down
approach of Moon Hut might be surprised about the some
of the uptempo, electronic influenced tracks, "Baby I Want
You Back" being a prime example. "I really don't know
why that happened to be honest," Fox said about that change
in direction. "When I made my first record I definitely
wanted to be stripped down. There was something about when I
started working with Linus that just happened. He basically just
laid down the bass line on the tracks. For some reason it ended
up being disco. We kind of overproduced stuff because it was
fun."
The long layover also gave her time to
being out and experiencing life, which influenced her songwriting.
"When I wrote Moon Hut, I spent time sitting with
my instrument and melodies--two chord progressions that I had
already written. This was written very differently. Most of these
were written just living life. "Feel Like Crying"--I
remember sitting on the bus going like, I feel like crying and
thought that would be really good for a song. "Return to
Planet Earth"--I wrote that from screwing around the piano."
The Tin Pan Alley and theatrical bent of
her pop songwriting came from being raised in an artistic family.
Her father was a singer in the '50s doo-wop group, Norman Fox
and the Rob Roys, her mother is an art historian, and her brother
is a classical conductor. Having grown up in New York City, she
was surrounded by music whether it was going to see Broadway
musicals or going to rock concerts that included the Violent
Femmes, Duran Duran, and the Clash. Someone gave her a copy of
Laura Nyro's New York Tendaberry in her teens, which more
than opened Fox's musical vocabulary.
"She's probably like my number one
influence," Fox said of the late singer. "Before I
heard her I was like a kid of the '80s--I watched MTV. When I
heard Laura Nyro, I didn't have access to many singer/songwriters.
When I heard that music there was something about the chord structures
of the piano--just the melodies and the amount of emotion that
was involved--really resonated with me. It changed my life. I
was doing nothing else but schoolwork and listening to Laura
Nyro records for like over six months to a year. She was my ultimate
hero. Once I heard her I realized that's the kind of stuff I
wanted to do." Fox wrote songs in high school, recorded
demos, and performed in the city.
Fox also harbored ambitions of becoming
an opera singer but said, "Ultimately I couldn't stand the
scene of classical music. I'm a pretty laid back person. Classical
music was never my first music that I gravitated to." She
later returned to her hometown after graduating from Vassar and
there decided that she wanted to become a pop musician. She later
hooked up with producer and collaborator Paul Mahern and made
demos of her songs, which caught the attention of then-lfedgling
Dreamworks Records. The label signed the artist and released
Moon Hut in 1997, which would turn out to be her first
and only record for the label. Despite an appearance at the Lilith
Fair, Dreamworks wanted her to go in the musical direction they
thought would be appropriate for her; Fox thought the contrary
and eventually got out of her contract with them.
With a new album already out, Fox is back
on the road performing unplugged behind her piano. For her, playing
in front of people especially with these new songs have become
easier for her. "It used to be literally where I was like
"Could I just get to the song?," she remembered. "I
couldn't really be that expressive. Now through time I'm a much
better player. I'm not really playing [the songs from Moon
Hut] live at all they're very difficult for me to play.--the
lyrics are very oblique it was a little weirder or harder for
people. This record is a lot more accessible. I'm surprised at
how many older people are really liking the live show because
I think it's very reminiscent of older music to them."
Riding on the creative momentum of making
Return to Planet Earth Fox's outlook towards her career
is optimistic. She is already thinking about the next album,
of which she promised will be a stripped down affair. Right now,
she's taking both the album and tour all in and enjoying the
experience. "I'm actually having a lot better time playing
live right now and getting a lot better response than I did on
my first record."
Whether returning to record and performing
live will recapture her old listeners back in the late '90s remains
to be seen, but Fox doesn't measure success in that way or the
numbers of people who either buys her attends her shows. "My
hope for the album is that it affects people in a way. I hope
that people relate to it and be moved by it, whether that's ten
people or 10,000 people, so be it. I'm doing my best to promote
it. That's all I can hope for.
"When I started writing music I didn't
have many aspirations to be a huge star. It's not about how many
people you affect, it's how you affect them."
http://www.kim-fox.com
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