What inspired the name of the band? What are your influences and are they the same as when you started out?
Christina: The name “Deep Talk” seemed perfect since most of my songwriting happened early in the morning or late at night, when most deep talks happen.
Jordan: It was a clear winner.
Christina: In terms of style, we’re somewhere in the intersection of pop rock and psych. Wye Oak, New Order, Lush, Sharon Van Etten, and St. Vincent come to mind. While our previous music was more synth-heavy, our upcoming stuff leans towards straight-forward rock in the vein of Courtney Barnett or The Breeders. We’re both pretty diversely influenced and will follow those different threads – for example, we have a modern song using Charlotte Bronte’s poem as lyrics.
How do you approach songwriting?
Christina: I have a doc on my phone with lyric ideas and a separate journal so that I can write and dig into any theme. There aren’t any specific themes I gravitate to when I start – it’s usually whatever’s been bothering me or on my mind that week. I guess that’s my theme – whatever is bothering me that week!
Jordan: For me it’s very, very freeform. Pick up an instrument, noodle until I got something I like, then repeat and add layers with other layers. I get a lot of short segments this way, and Christina’s great at figuring out how to make a progression.
Why do you write the way you do?
Christina: It really reflects the music I listen to. Especially growing up, I gravitated towards either indie rock or really acoustic, singer-songwriter songs. I actually felt really trapped in my solo music because of this – and why working with Jordan and Deep Talk has been so freeing. He has a music sensibility that differs from mine but leans towards the grittier guitars and sweeping arrangements I’ve always wanted. Lately, and because I know I’m just a sponge, I’ve been consciously opening up the music I listen to. I’ve been gravitating towards RnB, which I think has that intimacy that I love in folk, singer-songwriter music.
Jordan: It’s so much just following whatever vibes I’m feeling. I too am a music sponge, and influences pop up and combine in compelling and surprising ways.
How do you decide what songs to perform live?
Christina: Honestly, we go the other way and there are songs we haven’t really been able to crack live. Because we write completely digitally, we don’t limit ourselves to writing songs that are playable live. It’s freeing during the songwriting process, but when a gig comes up those songs unfortunately don’t see the light of stage. “Win” and “Do you think we can make it” are songs I hope to play live one day with a full band or orchestra to make them sound right.
Jordan: It’s definitely something that we’ll consider more going forward. Our upcoming singles fit a traditional live arrangement a lot better.
What plans do you have for the future?
Christina: I’d love to get to a place where we have a solid local following listening to our new releases and going to our shows. I’m hoping next Summer we can do a little local tour to promote the songs we release this year. We’ve got four great tracks coming up this year – first “I Drove By” on June 14th!
Jordan: More music and more shows! I’m so excited just to do more.