Doing her damnedest

>>Carla Bozulich is a monster
and can’t control herself

THINKING OUTSIDE OF BOXES
WITHIN BOXES: Carla Bozulich

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

As good as Carla Bozulich’s Evangelista is on record, you really have to witness Bozulich stomping the pines (literally) in a live setting to get what the woman is really about, and this year’s Suoni per il Popolo fest offers not one but two such opportunities. Whirling blues dirges and her personal stamp on modern folk music take on new life as she holds an audience transfixed with her intensity and raw emotion. Despite having worked with such acclaimed artists as Willie Nelson and Wilco’s Nels Cline, Los Angeles-based Bozulich is probably still best known as the lead pipes of the Geraldine Fibbers—though her most recent work threatens to eclipse her influential past. The Mirror had the following e-mail exchange with Bozulich as she tapped away on a keyboard from a tour stop in Toulouse, France.

Mirror: You have worked a lot lately with a cast of Montreal musicians, as well as recorded in Montreal, for 2006’s Evangelista and your new record, Hello, Voyager. How did that happen and how did working with these Montrealers influence the music?

Carla Bozulich: I was lucky to have a series of events that brought me together with the Montreal musicians on the albums and with [Montreal record label] Constellation. I’ve played with Jessica Moss [Thee Silver Mt. Zion Orchestra and Tra La La Band, the Geraldine Fibbers] before and she’s the most responsible for me finding a haven there. The Montreal crew, along with Tara Barnes, Shahzad Ismaily and Ezra Buchla etc., have given the music a more complex, realized form than I could have done without them. Many times, I just did what I could, and then Efrim [Menuck of Thee Silver Mt. Zion] or someone would step in, turn it on its head and make it just that much better.

M: You’ll play two sets at the upcoming Suoni per il Popolo festival, including a set under the name Scarnella with your longtime co-conspirator, guitarist Nels Cline. What can we expect?

CB: We never play the same idea twice. Working with Nels is like working with a part of my body that I was born without. It opens boxes within boxes within boxes. I think because my arm is hurt, we are anxious to try something sort of beautiful and stirring—well, I think I may know what we’ll try this time.

M: You’ve worked with so many different people and dabbled in so many styles while retaining a signature sound. As an artist, is it important for you to stay away from the comfort zone?

CB: Well, what is the comfort zone? I’m a monster, I can’t even control myself. I don’t know how to determine what, who, when or how my music makes sense or does the utmost damage, kisses or morphing into introverted tree creatures. I just try to stay out of the way as best I can and let the thing do its damnedest.

Evangelista play with Oneida at la
Sala Rossa on Saturday, June 7, 8:30
p.m., $15. Scarnella and
Nels Cline Singers are at
la Sala Rossa on Sunday,
June 8, 8:30 p.m., $15