LILY KERSHAW
dialogue with treehouse arists
Who are you and what made you that?
I guess I’m a writer. I don’t guess, I AM writer and that’s how I interpret the world. I think I became that way probably because I wanted to understand the world. I think that writing in any form helps me to process It. I work mainly in the medium of writing songs.
How would you say you developed as a writer and what is your style?
I developed as a writer just by writing. I’m not certain what my style is other than having a desire to tell stories and to understand experiences, life, or things about people through writing and telling stories. I think a through line in all my music is me trying to get to the root or core of some personal thing or universal truth. Reflective and Self-reflective, is that a style? Haha!
What have you been working on recently?
I write everyday. I write lyrics pretty much all day. I’m always thinking about new ways to put words together. I have one specific idea which has just started to come into focus. I’ll be working on it for the next few weeks. I like to work really quickly - once an idea shows up, I like to execute it - write the music and record it. I’m trying to make my turnaround quicker because I find that I can capture the essence of what I was trying to sort through and get to the bottom of it more succinctly. So, I don’t want to say specifically what it is but it feels good - it’s the most connected I’ve felt to an idea in awhile, which is nice. I think connection is key - that it keeps drawing you back, that you keep wanting to explore it and work on it - a kind of obsession. It’s important to follow your obsessions, I think.
What self-resistance do you run into as an artist?
I like being alone. I like spending time working alone and I like my solitude. So I think that if there’s an aspect of resistance, it’s often that I want to cocoon a little too hard. And I think that can be to the detriment of the work being seen. But I think that the older I get, the more I know myself and what I need in order to feel comfortable being out in the world and sharing the music. I so enjoy the time that I get to work and write the music, thats my favorite part of it all, but I’m getting better about when the project is done getting it out and letting it be in the world.
So, you’re finding a balance within yourself.
Yeah, I’m just like, “okay! This is what I’m obsessed with. This is the work I’m making. Okay, I made it and now it’s out!”. Just kind of letting it go and being okay with having it be seen and heard.
Why do you make music? What’s the point?
I definitely feel like I initially started to write and sing songs because I wanted to feel better and they helped me feel better. I found that it was the only way for me to process things, so thats why I make music. It helps me to know myself more and to be myself more. I hope to encourage others in that sense. When I listen to an artist that I love they’ll say something, a lyric, and things will make more sense to me in life. I’ll feel stronger and braver in term of being myself or being in my skin.
Art helps express the unexpressed. Art helps evolve the subconscious or unconscious aspects of the human psych. That’s what it does for me so I can only assume it does that for other people. I think art helps us to know ourself and to evolve.
What role does art have in society?
Art helps express the unexpressed. Art helps evolve the subconscious or unconscious aspects of the human psych. That’s what it does for me so I can only assume it does that for other people. I think art helps us to know ourself and to evolve.
How do you see yourself impacting that role?
Well, in writing I certainly self-reflect and evolve aspects of my personal consciousness. Maybe I discover something within myself, that like I said earlier with the artists that I listen to, that a lyric will bring something new to light for me, and maybe I could do that for someone else. That would be lovely.
What’s the worst thing that’s happened to you and do you use that to drive your art?
I think that I’ve faced a series of things that felt traumatic to me and they, at the time, were too painful for me to write about. When something is really, really painful, I can’t write about it. I have to wait until the wound heals and maybe it’s just a bruise. But, yeah, at a certain point the pain always drives me to work. But, the worst things? No. I kind of shut-down initially because the pain feels greater than any potential positive outcome of music at the time. Once the healing has begun and maybe some of the emotion and hurt leaves, then I can write about it. The pain always ends up in the work and driving the work.
On the flip-side, what’s the best thing that’s happened to you?
Probably being drawn to writing music is the best thing that’s happened to me. Nothing is perfect - nothing is a perfect solution but being drawn to write music was an absolute gift, even though pain is what drew me there. In turn pain is a gift as well. Everything is cyclical. Nothings is good and nothing is bad - everything is a loop and you’ll be on different points of that wheel at different points of your life. Writing music helps me unify the loop in my mind and it helps me weather different kinds of storms better or enjoy different types of sunshine better. But I think that being able to write music, record it, and put it out helps me to balance my personal experiences and helps me to function better. Being able to create music, discovering that I love to write music and being able to do it for work is the best thing that’s happened to me. It is a gift and I’m very lucky.
So, it sounds like some of the best things are derived from what’s driven by some of your worst things.
Oh, of course. I think that if you look closely at life, that’s all you’ll see. Good coming out of bad, bad coming out of good- nothing is good or bad. It’s all what you make of it. The worst thing that you ever do could be something that brings you to the greatest thing you’ll ever do. I think it’s important to not judge the experience. See how it’s making you feel and act accordingly, but I think that’s why it’s important to know yourself well. You know your inner landscape and the outer world becomes easier to navigate.