Ms Mr

We chat about the significant shift in the New York indie-pop duo’s sound, and her surprise at discovering how deeply personal lyrics can still resound with a legion of fans.

“Hold on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen! Shit’s about to get real! You’re about to talk to Lizzy Plapinger! And coming up next, The Interview!” she laughs. “God, what is happening? I feel like I’m on some kind of imaginary carnival ride.”

And so the tone is set for the duration of our interview – a little madcap, a little reflexive, and never a dull moment. Though worlds apart, there is a parallel here with the media’s fascination with Jennifer Lawrence – someone who appears quite genuine and earnest, yet is also disarmingly charming. It makes sense that Plapinger’s gregarious, somewhat vulnerable character translates into music with such ease. What is surprising, however, is the extent to which the band hit the ground running.

“Honestly, I’d never sung in my life before Ms Mr,” says Plapinger in a rush. “I hadn’t sung for anyone before Max [Hershenow, producer and bandmate], and Secondhand Rapture were the first songs that I’d written in my entire life, the first time that I’d ever seriously used my voice. I think it’s something that’s very inherent to me. I never feel like I’m putting on airs or being someone that I’m not.

“But I do feel like I found my voice by just singing along to all of my favourite artists, learning how to sing through them. And whether that was Patsy Cline or Aretha Franklin, the women that I’ve grown up loving my entire life – even if I don’t actually sound anything like those women – have somehow taught me vocally how to come back to myself. I think that’s sort of beautiful, and makes me hope that maybe someone out there is listening to my voice and singing along, and they’re finding their own voice through that.”

Her mention of Patsy Cline is quite topical, given the Hologram USA company has just announced a holographic tour by the late country singer. Anyone out there still waiting for the future to arrive can finally kick back and relax – and really, if they can bring back Tupac, Cline is the next logical step – but you can’t shake a vague sense of horror at the entire enterprise.

“You’re kidding? Oh, that’s just awful,” Plapinger laments. “How interesting. I think I would rather just sit at home and listen to Patsy rather than go out and see some virtual reality version. I think that would be quite sad. Sometimes when you’re on the grind of tour, a fantasy like that does have its appeal, but ultimately … I don’t think I’d ever be comfortable with that. There’s something so important about physically being there with your audience and connecting with them.

“The other part about performing live is working out how you’re growing, how your audience influences and inspires you. I’d say that playing live is becoming more and more one of my favourite pieces of having this opportunity to be in a band. I think I love being onstage more than anything now, and I only really discovered that about myself through touring the last record.”

Plapinger has had ample opportunity to test this theory lately, with a tour schedule that has seen Ms Mr not only cross oceans and hemispheres, but feature at tent-pole festivals such as Coachella, Glastonbury, and closer to home, Splendour. Recognising how their motivations have been shaped by live performance informed much of Ms Mr’s new album, and even the most cursory first impression reveals a compelling departure from Secondhand Rapture.

“So much of enjoying touring was brought into How Does It Feel,” says Plapinger. “We wanted to make music that we could dance to, that made people move and engage with us. So the challenge we set up was to make a dance record that sort of redefined what dance movement was for us and for our audience. We didn’t want dance music to have to be EDM or house-borne, but to find different ways of moving to different sounds. You know, there are songs where it’s all about fist-pumping and dancing around as loudly as possible, but there are also songs that make you want to grind, to sexually move against your partner, and then there are songs that are more rocksteady stoner dance, where you just want to bop your head,” she laughs. “We really wanted to engage our audience physically as much as we could, and I think people will find that now at the shows.”

Every music journalist will gush to an artist’s face just how much they loved their recent project (the alternative – “Man, your new album really sucks. How does that feel?” – might be more sincere, but would make for a brief conversation). Yet here, the accolades are legit. How Does It Feel is a bold evolution in the Ms Mr sound, sure, but it sacrifices none of the integrity or musical prowess of their debut. What’s more, it paints a striking story of celebration and despair, with standouts ‘Tripolar’ and ‘Leave Me Alone’ showcasing this range.

“Ha, well ‘Tripolar’ is one of my favourite songs on the record, and ‘Leave Me Alone’ is probably the favourite, so you chose well,” Plapinger laughs. “[The album] is absolutely the most intimate, personal and honest extension of who I am. Especially in a song like ‘Tripolar’ – that one almost more than any other song on the record. In a way, I thought that people would never connect with it, because it felt too personal. But maybe that’s what makes a successful song. What makes me feel like a successful songwriter is that every song will sound individual to everyone who listens to it.

“I think we’re starting to cross-pollinate different songs, and I think musically there is an element of call-and-response across the entire record. The lyrics play off each other as a whole, even if the experience in the end is quite specific on a song-by-song basis. I think ‘Painted’ is very much a song about picking yourself up and finding a way forward, but I also think ‘All The Things Lost’ is one of the darkest songs I’ve ever written – a song about completely being the lowest, most lost and tortured version of yourself. And then ‘No Guilt In Pleasure’ is about being carefree and throwing yourself into sin and not feeling bad about it, just experiencing your life in a somewhat reckless capacity, and ‘How Does It Feel’ is this moment of heightened passion. I think each song has its own journey, but they need to be brought together for the bigger story to be told.”

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