Loungin' with
Luna's Britta Phillips
by David Chiu
Pop music has its memorable share of famous
male-and-female pairings: Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood, George
Jones and Tammy Wynette, Marvin Gaye and Tami Terrell, John Lennon
and Yoko Ono, Paul and Linda McCartney, Sonny and Cher, and Eurythmics'
Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart (we won't count Michael Jackson
and Lisa Marie Presley). What makes these pairings so memorable
is the chemistry between the principals that conveys a sense
of true romance or conflict, like actors engaged in a love scene
or going through the motions.
Joining that illustrious company are Britta
Phillips and Dean Wareham. Alternative music fans will immediately
recognize them as one-half of the band Luna. They are readying
the June release of their solo record from Jetset called L'Avventura,
a record that recalls mid '60s to early '70s lush and orchestrated
pop records (think of French pop star Serge Gainsbourg and Jane
Birkin). It could also be considered a Valentine's of sorts to
lovers and the broken-hearted, with a few ingredients of regret,
angst, and desire thrown in.
How would one of the principals describe
the sound of this record? "Somebody said it was beautiful
and sick," recalled Phillips with a slight laugh. "Sick
compared to what? It's romantic, lush, mellow, pretty, and all
that stuff. More intimate than Luna.
On the record, Wareham and Phillips debut
a few originals such as the lovely "Night Nurse" (which
recalls the aforementioned Sinatra-Hazelwood records) and even
a surprising dance-styled track in "Ginger Snaps."
"I love that song," commented Phillips, "pre-isco
early '70s sound, and it's got some '80s in there too."
No doubt L'Avventura's retro atmospheric
and orchestrated sound was due to producer Tony Visconti, who
helmed those classic David Bowie and T.Rex albums from the '70s.
"He's great easy to work with, a fan of the music,"
Phillips described working him. "That's very confidence
building. He did some great string arrangements, played guitar
and a little bass, and keyboard. He was very organized; he liked
accidents or mistakes the good ones."
Originally L'Avventura was going
to be a Dean Wareham solo project of all cover songs, with Phillips
only appearing as a session player. It gradually developed into
something more. "He had some new songs," Phillips remembered,
"and I had some songs, and he said, 'Let's do it together.'"
Aside from some material penned by Wareham,
Phillips also contributed two compositions to L'Avventura:
the dreamy, ethereal "Out Walking" and the jazzy "Your
Baby." Those songs brought Phillips' sexy voice and romantic
yet introspective lyrics to the fore. "I actually started
writing ["Out Walking"] about ten years ago and I dragged
it out a year ago and revamped it. "Your Baby"--I based
it on a Lee Hazelwood chord progression from a song called "Your
Sweet Love." Phillips relished the opportunity on the record
to showcase more of her lead voice as compared to Luna in where
she sang backing vocals and maybe the occasional duet. "This
is giving a lot more singing opportunities that 's for sure,"
she acknowledged. " I love to sing."
Although he is Luna's chief songwriter,
Wareham has been known to indulge in a cover once in a while-for
example, the band tackled a sleepy-version of Guns N'Roses' "Sweet
Child O'Mine"; when he was in Galaxie 500, that band covered
works by the Modern Lovers, Yoko Ono, the Velvet Underground,
and even the Rutles. On L'Avventura, he and Phillips tackle
songs by Native American folksinger Buffy St. Marie (the trippy
"Moonshot") Madonna (the folkish-tinged "I Deserve
It"), and the Doors ("Indian Summer"), all of
them rendered in a dreamy, atmospheric sort of way comparable
to Luna.
Phillips couldn't offer a concrete reason
for Wareham's fancy for some those covers. "He had chosen
ten that he was going to do for that album originally,"
she said. " I don't know what his criteria really. I guess
just songs that he likes [and ] I felt we could bring something
to. They just seem to lend themselves."
Not only is there a sophisticated mod lounge
air to the record, but there is also, musically-speaking, genuine
heat between Phillips and Wareham in both their duetting and
harmonies on some of the album's tracks, such as on the sly "Night
Nurse." On this record and on the last Luna album Romantica,
Wareham has found in Phillips someone a musical partner in crime
who can accentuate his songs of yearning and somber meditations.
"I think it's just a natural sympatico musically,"
she explained about their collaborations. "We both respond
to the same kind of things. It's kind of just really natural
and easy. I love his taste in music and we have similar ideas
about things."
Of the two people on L'Avventura,
Dean Wareham might be the more recognizable name having been
a founding member of legendary '80s indie group Galaxie 500 before
starting Luna in 1992. However, one may be surprised that Britta
Phillips had been involved with music for nearly fifteen years
before joining the band in 2000. How she got to where she is
now is a story of interesting career turns and perseverance.
Phillips hails from Bucks County, Pennsylvania,
the daughter in a musically-inclined family; her father played
the piano and trombone and her mom sang. "Elton John was
probably my first record," she remembered about her early
musical tastes," and later Blondie, Television, and Talking
Heads. And I lived in England in the early '90s I got into the
shoegazing stuff."
Early on Phillips wanted to pursue a career
in music though professionally she started out acting. One of
her first forays in entertainment was being the singing voice
of the cartoon character JEM in the mid '80s. Soon after in 1988,
she got the part of Billy Swan, the blonde guitar player in the
film Satisfaction. At the time, it was Phillips first
major acting break. "I had a manager at the time. He told
[the agency] that I was a good actress which was just totally
made up. I hadn't done anything. This was actually my first audition
and I got it."
 Fans
of those goofy '80s comedies might remember that flick about
a young mostly girl band who lands a summer gig, and the film
boasted an impressive cast in Justine Bateman, Trini Avarado,
Blondie singer Deborah Harry, and soon-to-be Hollywood heavyweights
Julia Roberts and Liam Neeson Although the movie added precious
little to the cinema, Phillips looked back at that experience
somewhat fondly. "It was a blast--really fun. We knew the
movie was going to be really silly once we started doing it,
so we didn't worry about it too much." Other acting gigs
for her included appearances in the short-lived '80s TV dramas
Crime Story and Nightingales.
In an ironic way, life imitated art because
shortly after her brief acting career, Phillips did end up joining
a real-life band called Belltower where she moved to London at
the height of the shoegazing sound pioneered by My Bloody Valentine
and Lush. "Music was something I wanted to do before [acting]
but I hadn't actually played with a band. It was mainly jingles
and home recordings." Belltower won critical kudos in the
British music press ("...a sound that inspires the mind
and pleases the body," raved Melody Maker) and recorded
an album Popdropper before they broke up in 1996. Shortly
afterwards she joined another group called Ultrababyfat, which
released Silver Tones Smile in 1998.
Then Luna's longtime bassist Justin Harwood
announced his departure from the band, during the release of
their record The Days of Our Nights in 1999. "I had
done a tour with Ben Lee," Phillips said, "and Ben's
guitar tech also techs for Luna. And he knew that they were looking
for someone to replace Justin on the tour and recommended me.
I got a call and auditioned for a couple of times. They had me
for the tour, and after the tour was over, they asked me to stay
on."
Phillips officially made her recording
debut with the band on the Luna Live disc from 2001, but
it was on the all-original Romantica where she was credited
as a full member. Although considered the new guy (or gal) of
the group, Phillips made her presence known, adding honeyed vocal
harmonies on the record, bringing a pop element to the band and
a contrast to Wareham's melancholy.
Admittedly, Philips had heard of Luna though
admittedly she wasn't entirely acquainted with their catalog.
"I heard a couple of songs but I wasn't really familiar,
much to my chagrin," she said. "Sometimes when you
are busy doing your own thing, you just don't take the time to
really listen to something. So I really wasn't familiar, which
is kind of good in a way. It made me a little less nervous. I'm
a big fan now, and of Galaxie 500 too."
Though music is now her full-time profession,
Phillips still has the acting bug and has involved herself again
in some film and television projects. "Having been back
in New York for the last three years, I do have an agent who
signed Dean and I up, and who has been sending me out on voice-over
auditions. I actually did a Nestle's commercial on camera for
just the UK only." Even Wareham has done some work on the
silver screen such as on the upcoming indie film Piggy.
Depending on whether L'Avventura meets
any varying degree of success or not, Phillips admitted she would
love to do another of this sort with Wareham. Later in the year
the two plan to tour behind the record and play in the major
cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. How are people
going to perceive this retro, ultra cool record in this environment
of prefabricated, bland corporate pop music? "I want them
to fall in love it with it," the singer/bassist said with
a tinge of joking glee. "As long as it is something good
no matter what. Hopefully Luna fans will like it as well as people
who aren't familiar with Luna."
http://www.brittaphillips.com
http://www.fuzzywuzzy.com
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