AC: One thing I've learned from the pandemic is the ability to be highly intentional with who I give my energy to, especially in times of deep loneliness. I'm curious to know how you were able to maintain and nurture your friendships (and this album) over the pandemic and what you've learned from it.
In other words, what have you learned about friendship over the past year and a half or so?
Hannah: Yeah, I hear that. I think many people have had a reckoning with their work and interpersonal worlds, hopefully reaching higher ground going forward.
Sometimes, when I'm going through periods of heavier depression, I tend to retreat. Sadly, I think I did a lot of that during the pandemic and lost touch with many people. Thankfully we as a band maintained a songwriting practice that had us Zooming once a week and sending song files pretty constantly. That connection has been so vital for me. It kept me synthesizing my feelings and maintaining a close bond with people I love, regardless of how deep in despair I might have been any given day.
One of the hardest parts of my isolation was losing access to my people, and thus a part of myself nurtured by those friendships. I was in a bubble with my family and only getting to experience myself within my family dynamic. At the same time, the part of my identity I've been fostering for the past 20 years or so since I started playing music was a bit starved.
I think I really took stock of how important a collaborative process is to who I am as a person. It's been such a relief to be together again, practicing for our upcoming shows. Lots of PCR tests, but so worth it.
AC: What have you learned from gardening? What have the plants taught you that you practice in other areas of your life?
Hannah: Gardening has been such a humbling experience during this time. Watering dirt day after day and not seeing immediate results, yet still pushing on. It's also a somewhat private endeavour, not tied to any social validation. I'm not a naturally patient person, so it's humbled me quite a bit.
It took almost a whole year to grow this one cauliflower, and I just harvested it and shared it with the band after practice last week. It was very satisfying.
It's optimistic to focus on plants. They lean toward the light and definitely forced me outside a lot, and kept me grounded.
AC: You've spoken a bit about rituals and the practice of being immediately present. Do you have any rituals or practices that you could share with us?
Hannah: I think the only time I'm truly happy is when I'm in a flow state. Not thinking about the future or past, not looking at my phone while in company, not fractured in my attention span.
Music-making, gardening, cooking are all things that keep my hands busy and in that flow state. I've been working with ceramics lately, too. It's similar to gardening in that there's a lot of room for error, humility. It requires your body to be in the moment, totally present. I like doing things I'm 'bad' at for that reason. I like to try new things and maintain a beginner's mind.
