5 Questions With: Zivi

On the heels of his latest release, the singer-songwriter stops by to discuss the new record, his studio in Santa Fe, and how he went from playing in punk/ska bands to a more mellow sound.

Oct 26, 2023

Good morning!

Today we’re talking with singer-songwriter Zivi

I’ve been on vacation this week and have travel on my mind. My first real trip was when I was 5 or 6 years old. My parents loaded me up in the car, and the three of us drove from Portland to San Diego and back. Somewhere past San Francisco, I fell in love with the coast- specifically the southern California coast— the sun, the sand, all of it. If you have a SoCal stereotype in your mind, odds are good that I love it without irony.

30+ years later, I’m still in love and try and go whenever I can. In between trips, thoughts of swaying palms and endless summers are a great way to escape the bleak winters of flyover country.

Like travel, music is escapist. Unlike travel, you only need to go as far as your stereo (or phone) to take a trip. I’ve written before of my love for AM Gold & Gold Coast Radio. The sounds are light & airy and carry you away on gentle sun-kissed breezes. In this world, wind chill simply doesn’t exist, and salt goes on your margarita, not on the road.

Zivi’s (“ZeeVee”) music fits this to a T. After collecting roughly a decade's worth of demos and notes, he connected with the likes of drummer Josh Adams (Fruit Bats, Jenny Lewis), Isaac Plummer (Cherry Glazer), Peter Recine, and more. Lost In Love (Numbered Recordings/Mama Manana Records) is a beautifully constructed record designed to carry you away.

The record’s Bandcamp blurb says, “his songwriting and voice are melancholic and nostalgic, while his sound blends hints of country western meets surf rock guitar and lazy afternoon rhythms.”

Perfect.

The last few weeks have shown us a world with many sharp edges. Lost In Love helps make them a little softer.

Zivi splits his time between Southern California and Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he’s building a studio. I recently had a chance to catch up with him via email. In a wide-ranging chat, we talk about how his alarm clock influenced him, his path from punk/ska to where he is now, and how the new record came to pass.

Our chat has been lightly edited for clarity/flow.

“I moved a few times between 7-10 years old & one thing that I kept close to me during that time was my radio alarm clock. Every new city I’d get to, the first thing I’d do was find the oldies station and listen to it every night and wake up to it every morning. I think that definitely burned that era of songwriting deep into my brain & has no doubt influenced me to a huge degree.”

KA: Can you fill in a little bit of your backstory? Walk us through what made you get started playing. Are there any other bands that you are/were involved in?

Zivi: Hard to know where to start - I’ve been drawn toward music as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories are of my brother and I figuring out melodies on our mother's piano in our childhood home. Eventually, I took formal lessons for a couple of years when I was 8 or so, but it wasn’t till a few years later when rock and roll took over.

I made friends with a classmate who had a drumset, guitar, and bass, and I immediately loved playing loud, simple riffs that felt like they came from the ground up rather than the head down. Eventually, my taste met somewhere in the middle, and instead of starting a straight-up rock/punk band, I was attracted to the simple, energetic rhythms of ska music that paired the musicality of a horn section and harmonies with its easy-to-digest angst necessary for any teenager.

Ska Rockets were my stepping stone to leading a band, booking, and playing shows, and recording an album. By the time I was 16, I knew I wanted to be a producer. I made a few records in my parent’s basement for some local punk bands and decided to go to college to study recording and engineering.

A year in, I was playing in an instrumental rock band called Eroica that made a couple of records and toured a bit, as well as working at a couple of studios around town. Eventually, I landed in Chicago for a year, where I was connected with a band and made what I (kind of ) consider to be my first record as a ‘producer’ called Nostalgia, the Country by The Photographers. Then, to some irony, I started working as a photographer with my partner, Kelsey Tucker, for the next 10+ years (and still do!). I was traveling, experiencing the world, writing, and often carrying a guitar with me…

KA: Congrats on the new record! How did ‘Lost In Love’ come about?

Zivi: Thank you - it’s been a long time coming, and I’m super stoked with how it came out and the story it tells. From all those years carrying a guitar around, I collected a massive archive of ‘unfinished’ songs – notes and demos that I eventually knew I wanted to share in some capacity. In 2019, I passed around a (fairly bulky) folder of demos and phone recordings to some producer/engineer folks to see if something was there.

I reached out to Dan Horne, who had a studio right by my apartment, but he was on a long tour with one of his bands and connected me with Jason Abraham Roberts, who had helped him build his studio and was working out of it while Dan was on tour. Having little clout, no website or Spotify profile, etc., is a hard place to start getting things going, but Jason liked some of the songs and introduced me to drummer Josh Adams. The three of us ran basics (drums, bass, rhythm guitar, scratch vocals) live at Dan’s studio, and that was the start of it.

‘From Paradise’ felt like the right mood to start things out, and I released the finished song later that year. A few months later, the world slowed down considerably, but I eventually got back in the seat in late 2021 when two friends were just about to open a new studio, and I spent about 10 days at The Market Recording with numerous collaborators finishing up what - at that point I knew - would be my first album.

I wasn’t in a huge rush and knew I wanted to release the album on vinyl, so then came the arduous process of figuring out how to do that. Without getting into it, almost a year and a half later, the vinyl showed up, and I planned a 3-month release plan, released ‘Move Along’ to some really good feedback, and now we’re here!

KA: Listening to ‘Lost In Love,’ I keep thinking about “Gold Coast Radio” and/or AM Gold. How much of an influence is that era of music for you? Any artist/band in particular?

Zivi: To be honest, I had to look up this reference, but I like that I have it in my vernacular now, so thanks for the term! I moved a few times between 7-10 years old & one thing I kept close to me during that time was my radio alarm clock. Every new city I’d get to, the first thing I’d do was find the oldies station, listen to it every night, and wake up to it every morning. I think that definitely burned that era of songwriting deep into my brain & has no doubt influenced me to a huge degree.

I guess I had to get through my angsty and explorative periods before coming back to it - though I think you can still find carry-over from both of those periods on Lost In Love.

KA: I read that you’re splitting your time between LA & Santa Fe. Is that correct? If so, what drew you to the desert (or vice versa)?

Zivi: I’m working on a project in Santa Fe, building up a destination recording studio and writing room. It’s functional but isn’t polished yet. I’ve had a handful of close friends there to work on projects, and I hope to open it up to more people in the coming years. So for now, when I’m not in LA (or elsewhere!) working on creative projects, I’m out in New Mexico, enjoying a slower pace, building up a longer-term project, and flexing my producer/engineer side.

KA: You and I are driving in your car from LA to Santa Fe. What are we listening to?

Zivi: It is a pretty long drive, so we’ll have to take turns! I might put on a record or two that a friend has recently sent me to check out to start. Around the AZ border, I might need a podcast to help get us up to Flagstaff. Stop at my favorite juice spot or noodle bar for some food & it’s your turn coming down the mountain. Once we hit the 15 and are almost down to the 210, I’m tuning to 93.9fm!

KA: What does the rest of 2023 look like for you? More shows? Back to the studio?

Zivi: Yes and yes. I have a backlog of songs to record and an itch to continue writing and collaborating with new and old friends on my music. I’m excited to play live when it’s right or when friends ask me to play, but for now, it’s not an every-week kind of project. Shows are a lot of work! But I’d like to get a tour in the books soon… will keep you posted!

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Zivi | Lost in Love, 2023

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5 Questions:

1. Describe your music style in one sentence.

As I’m sure you’ve heard countless times - genres are many artists’ least favorite question, but I’ve been enjoying this ‘groovy hazy indie-rock’ line that I’ve been using… so I’ll keep it going!

2. What music played in your house(s) growing up?

Classic folk songs were probably the most prominent, from Pete Seger to Bob Dylan when I was little.

3. What are you listening to these days?

I’ve been enjoying a number of releases from this ECM label that a friend of mine - Mike Nord - got me keyed into, especially this one group, Oregon, and their guitarist Ralph Towner. Older experimental/new-age/classical kinda music. He has an album called Solstice from 1975 that I keep putting on.

4. What are your 5 Desert Island Discs?

These questions stress me out, but I tried not to overthink it!

Neil Young - Heart Of Gold
Radiohead - Amnesiac
James Blake - Overgrown
Crown City Rockers - Earthtones
Poolside - Pacific Standard Time

5. If you could collaborate with any artist/band, who would it be?

James Blake is cookin’ with the right ingredients. It would be unreal to spend some time in his kitchen. But truly, my favorite thing is to play and work with other writers and musicians, so you name them & if they’ve got a good attitude, I’m probably down!

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