Inna Showalter :: Magic Fig Interview
What was your childhood like growing up and are you originally from the SF area? When did you first begin to fall in love with music, more specifically singing, and was this something that was relevant around your household when you were young? Who were some of your earliest influences? When did you realize you wanted to pursue a path in music?
I was born in Ukraine when it was still part of the Soviet Union. Ever since I was little, I have always been composing melodies in my head and putting words to them. I noticed early on how effectively music conveys emotion and tells a story even without words, or images. Recently, I rediscovered some recordings I made on my grandpa’s tape recorder and was blown away at how creatively uninhibited and pure my voice sounded. It’s a state I now aspire to return to. Some of my earliest influences were the music in the Soviet cartoons and movies I watched, like Karlson (Who Lived on the Roof), Just You Wait!, The Bremen Town Musicians, Cheburashka and the Crocodile Gena, The Adventures of Buratino, and Morozko. My parents also had a small collection of cassette tapes that included ABBA, Pink Floyd, the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Madonna, Queen, and George Michael.
We immigrated to the US when I was eight years old, and other than four years in Davis, California for college, I’ve lived in San Francisco ever since. I’ve always loved and felt inspired by this city and can’t imagine living anywhere else. Shortly after relocating to the US, my parents and I began attending a Russian church which I didn’t enjoy other than the opportunity to sing in the choir. I was a shy and lonely kid, and singing became an escape for me. It’s like meditation - a way to transcend the physical form for a moment. In high school, I joined the school choir and played the English handbells. Several of my friends played in bands, which I was intrigued by, but couldn’t imagine doing at that time. In college, most of my friends were involved in the Davis music scene or worked at the college radio station, KDVS. I dabbled with singing backup for friends’ bands and occasionally recorded songs with my housemates, but wouldn’t join any projects of my own until I moved back to San Francisco. I can’t say that I ever came to a distinct realization that I had a path in music; it’s always seemed to find me, and has been a constant presence in my life in one way or another.
Prior to Magic Fig, you participated in bands such as Modern Charms, Dissolve, Blades Of Joy and Whitney’s Playland, who just released an album last year. How did you come to front these groups, and what were those early days and experiences like being in bands for the first time?
To be honest, I’m not sure how I keep finding myself the front person of bands, as I’m a total introvert. I was invited to join all the bands I’ve been in through the years by musician friends. It’s been a fun, exciting, sometimes painful experience that keeps evolving and improving. Even the difficult situations inevitably taught me lessons I needed to learn and made me more determined to express myself through music. I used to be very inhibited and self-conscious, which made performing stressful and unenjoyable. These days, I’m beginning to reach a flow state where I’m connecting with the song, with my bandmates, and with the audience simultaneously. In my two current projects, Magic Fig and Whitney’s Playland, I feel safe and supported, which allows me to take more risks with writing, recording, and performing.
How did you meet your bandmates, and what ultimately led to the decision to start Magic Fig? What was that initial chemistry like between everyone, and what would you say is one of the main sorts of ingredients that tied everyone together in the beginning?
San Francisco has a very close-knit music community. All of us played in other bands and were familiar with each other, though I wasn’t close friends with any of my bandmates at the time I joined Magic Fig. When I joined the band, they had already been playing together for almost two years and had a large cache of material. I was immediately impressed at the complexity and creativity of the songs and how skilled and dedicated my new bandmates were as musicians. The music was nothing like any of the projects I’d been a part of before, but the songs were exciting to me, so ideas for vocal parts started to emerge pretty quickly. A key factor in it all coming together is the collaborative nature of the project. Everyone contributes ideas for each song and is open to making changes. The writing process feels very natural as no one is boxed in by a specific set of influences. Each of us has a unique perspective and a desire to make the best song possible, which is highly motivating and keeps things fresh and exciting.
Tell me about the process of writing and recording the band’s self-titled debut on Silver Current Records. What was your particular approach to this project with all the experience you’ve gained over the years? Tell me about some of the songs that are featured on the album, such as “Distant Dream”, “Departure” and the album’s epic opener “Goodbye Suzy”.
“Goodbye Suzy” was the first Magic Fig demo I heard. It already had lyrics written by a friend of the band and a rough idea of what the vocals would sound like. For the rest of the songs, I came up with vocal melodies and a second librettist wrote the lyrics. “Distant Dream” always felt very light and carefree to me, conveying wonder, new love, and oneness with the world. We recorded the album at Santo, the beloved studio across the bay in Oakland. Our drummer, Taylor Giffin and bassist Matthew Ferrara, unsurprisingly, nailed the rhythm section right away, which set the tone for the rest of the process. “Departure” was kind of an outlier. It came together when we were already close to done recording the album. Matt had composed and recorded a beautiful folky acoustic guitar piece and sent it to the group text thread, and the same morning I recorded a demo of my idea for it. Somehow, it got back to Joel (Robinow) and he said “let’s throw it on the album!” That song felt the most vulnerable for me because of how exposed the vocals are, and the personal nature of the lyrics. It was the early days of the war in Ukraine. I was processing a lot of grief and grappling with understanding my own identity.
At the time, I was listening to a lot of Anne Briggs and Judee Sill and drew inspiration from the raw emotion and vulnerability of their vocal delivery. Overall, making our first album gave me the chance to experiment with different singing styles and layering harmonies. Now that we’re working on our second album, there’s even more of a collaborative flow in the writing process. Usually, someone brings a mostly finished song or a part of a song to the group, and others contribute parts and ideas. Our guitarist, Muzzy Moskowitz, is quite prolific and has a seemingly endless supply of incredible song ideas to share with the group. Our keyboardist, Jon Chaney, has been composing some beautiful and darkly mysterious piano pieces lately, which add a distinct kind of dynamic to the project. The songs all follow different trajectories as to how they come together, but it’s always a collective process. We exchange a lot of voice memos and demos and refine things little by little. I’m also writing all the lyrics now, which has challenged me to come out of my shell and share more of my inner world and experiences while indulging my love of poetry and rhyme.
I understand you worked with Joel Robinow of Howlin’ Rain, Once and Future Band on this album. What was that experience like as well as his unique influence on the band? What does the rest of your year look like?
Working with Joel is an absolute pleasure. Not only is he a brilliant and talented musician, but he’s endlessly supportive, has a great sense of humor, and brings so much positive energy to the process. He encourages us to explore any and all ideas we come up with while helping steer us in the right direction for generating the best possible result. He also knows how to balance the fine line between improvement and diminishing returns during the recording process, which can be hard to do when you’re working on your own. This summer we went on our first tour, which was a lot of fun and brought us closer together as friends and bandmates. We have a few shows coming up later this fall, but are mainly focusing on finishing writing and recording our next album.
