Psychic Reality Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Mar 9th 2010 2:56PM by Nando Di Fino
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A unique marriage of the "heavy and beautiful," Psychic Reality is actually the musical presence of just one woman: Leyna Noel Tilbor. The Bay Area musician describes her sound as alternately "crumbling," "melodic," "roaring," and "fragile" -- to throw out just a few adjectives. Although Psychic Reality has toured the country from coast to coast, this will be her SXSW debut. Her new album, a split LP with LA Vampires on the Not Not Fun label, was released in February.

Describe your sound in your own words.

I gravitate towards celestial sounds -- bells, chiming, electronics -- but jacked through my system of pedals and amps, so they're tweaked. It's a swirl of highs but also tends to be really bass-y; I bring a sub[woofer] with me every time I play. I use a certain amount of brash volume and furious sound power to express things of beauty in a way that they two are merged and wedded. It can't be brushed aside as beautiful alone. This is all about fierceness and beauty.

Psychic Reality is, musically, a bit of a departure from your previous endeavors with the Finer Things. How did this come about?

My uncle died -- he was very close to me and was the person who got me into music -- and it just turned my stomach. I was at the point where I needed to make a complete turnaround, and I found myself ready for a completely different direction. The summer before I went on tour [as Psychic Reality], I was terrified because I didn't know how I was going to pull it off; it was completely terrifying to me. But this brash, loud, kind of distorted music answered something very old in me that I always wanted to make.

What are your musical influences?

I'm into all kinds of beat-centric music: Dubstep, disco, French filter house. I'm really into the Diabate family, who perform African kora music. What it really boils down to is me responding to any kind of really fervent emotional expressions through music.

So not exactly the Beatles ...

Of course, the Beatles. They didn't really influence my music as much as they influenced me as a person. And if you're going to go with the Beatles, mention "Plastic Ono Band."

How did you come up with "Psychic Reality"?

I wanted a band name. An illusion of something to separate me as a person from the project.

Do you have a musical guilty pleasure?

[Laughs] I really enjoyed certain songs on the new Beyoncé record. And I've become curious about Lady Gaga.

You and Lady Gaga have a lot in common: You're both born in New York, you have these outsize performance personae that are totally separate from truly sweet demeanor, you play the piano ...

I never thought about it like that. Maybe that's where the curiosity comes from.

So besides the Beyoncé CD, what's in your festival survival kit?

Plenty of water and plenty of bling. I definitely plan on wearing my favorite gold necklace. It's the one I'm wearing on the cover of my album.

Speaking of your album cover ... you're topless.

It was Amanda [Brown of LA Vampires]'s idea and I really liked it. We didn't do it to be sexy; it's not about being coquettish. We're operating in a post-feminist world and It's a way of being really open and completely honest as musicians. I'm a normal person; I wear clothes. And if someone finds it sexy, it's just a byproduct of being completely bare and not hiding anything.

What's the craziest thing you've experienced on tour?

I played a show in Austin with these Australian girls, and we stayed with the band we played with, who lived in San Antonio. We stayed there because they had a lot of couches. It's midsummer and superhot, so I just choose the couch in the living room and go to sleep in just my T-shirt. I wake up in the morning to hear this woman screaming to her boyfriend that there's a girl sleeping on the couch with no pants on. I hear it, and I run into the bathroom. She's coming downstairs screaming, "Where are you?!" I'm in the bathroom trying to lock the door, putting my pants on. She can't find me and just leaves. And me and the Australian girls just got in the van and went to the next town.

We never heard from the guy again.

Back when you were with the Finer Things, you came up with the most inventive album case designs in recent history

It was completely sewn so the CD and liner notes, which were printed on antique ledger paper from the '40s, were sandwiched between two big quilt swatches. It was an ode to a woman's work, people like my grandmother and mother -- the women who have begotten the women who we are. Completely about nostalgia. People responded to it as an art project. It was just a CD-R inside, but it was really heartfelt.

How many did you sell?

About 500 of them.

Finally, your dad is a toy inventor. Would we have played with anything he came up with?

You know the RC Hovercraft? By Tyco? My dad was pretty much behind the whole thing.

Nando Di Fino is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.