He Said She Said with Shelley Segal

I love being in that rhythm. Playing every night, connecting with people, working out different variables, getting the chance to work on your craft and improving all the time.

You must have had some experiences on those American dates – were there any particularly memorable moments?

There were some hectic times! We had to drive through a historic flooding in South Carolina to get to our shows. A gig in a candy shop, sing-alongs with fans after gigs, a house concert in New Hampshire on a riverbed over sunset, adapting to driving on the wrong side of the road, altitude sickness in Colorado and Wyoming, the best podcasts ever. And my road manager joined the Satanic Temple.

For anyone who hasn’t heard your music, how do you describe your sound?

Spirited singer, songwriter and storyteller. Folky guitar and reflective lyrics. Flirting with influences from jazz to blues, klezmer and reggae to pop.

How did you come to write your new single, ‘Background Noises’?

The song was inspired after a friend’s divorce. It made me reflect on a different aspect of letting go of a relationship – the spaces and times in our life that disappear when we go through drastic change.

Is it a difficult song to perform each night, given the subject matter?

I love playing my songs over and over again. It gives me the chance to explore the song further each time. Hearing the varied responses from audiences to the song and letting that reshape my own meaning of it. Sometimes it can be cathartic to express strong emotions, even difficult ones. Immersing yourself regularly in a spectrum of emotions allows you to reflect on what is an internal experience, externally. Both transcendent and empowering.

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