Carolee Rainey is an ambitious musician, who constantly draws our attention with her intriguing videos and in-depth songwriting. Hailing from New York City, the artist has been capturing the attention of our ears as she enlightens and delightens with every song she touches. Her new single and video for "Deal with the Devil" has instantly become a favorite; prominently putting her on our radar. We had the chance to catch up with Rainey to dig a bit deeper into her musical world.
You have a new video out right now. What can you tell us about the new release? What fueled the inspiration?
The inspiration to make ‘Deal With The Devil’ a video came from a deep place knowing that there are tons of people in this world that have a hugely difficult time emoting themselves. Its a way of saying I know how this feels, its not easy but don’t stay locked up, express yourself!
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Was there any specific storyline you had for the song when writing?
I loved the concept of being alone on a stormy sea and privately dealing with that inner devil that haunts your soul, haunts your dreams.
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When writing music, what are your influences? How long does it typically take you to write a song? Do you keep coming back to the piece and revising?
Absolutely I come back to songs and revise constantly until I’m just worn out. Love that you ask this question because I don’t think any song is ever done and can always use revision... brings me back to my painterly life when I actually revised my paintings so much that they wouldn’t even look like the original idea. One can also go too far in the revising direction and leave the original idea out in the cold. Its an exhausting process.
What are your influences musically and lyrically?
Early on I had many musical influences such as Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, Joni Mitchell, Vonda Shepard, Fleetwood Mac, Tori Amis, Five for fighting, Rickie Lee Jones, Ed Sheeran and lots of classical music. These days I draw upon my own inner philosophies and try to find a unique way to express myself so I just sound like me, nobody else.
What was the recording process like for the latest release? Did you self-produce? How long did it take to write and record the album as a whole?
The Recording process for this ‘Feel Fearless’EP of 6 songs ( there’s another EP coming out after this one of another 6 songs) took one year all in all. I did not self produce and it took a while because the musicians I wanted to use were on the road and it took a lot of patience to wait for everyone to be free at the same time. Definitely worth the wait!
Do you have any plans on touring this year?
I have some concert dates set up now but a more solid tour will be set in place after the release of my next EP ‘Hustle Up.’ I will also be directing and editing a couple more videos over the summer for the ‘Hustle Up’ EP.
What do you hope to accomplish in 2018 with the new music and beyond?
You ask amazing questions and to keep myself more focused I should pin your questions to my fridge. In answer to this final question I must say that my greatest hope in 2018 is that my music inspires a hugely widespread audience to listen to my music over and over and question and explore the themes I touch upon in they’re own lives.
