Interview: Tess Posner
California based singer songwriter Tess Posner has been releasing alt-pop music for only around 2 years, but grew up with a musical background singing and playing piano. Despite it being her passion throughout childhood, she was afraid of writing and feared she didn’t have anything interesting to say or share with people. But after her vocal coach Danielle LoPresti suggested a morning journal writing stream of consciousness every morning for 6 weeks, she looked back on her stories and feelings, knowing she had to get her thoughts out into the world. Her music explores darkness, with underlying roots of hope and generally has a healing nature to her words. Tess tells us, ‘My goal with music is to create songs that explore authenticity, healing and the freedom to be who you are.’
Tess’ newest single ‘Paper Walls’ released just a few days ago, with themes of opening up and allowing yourself to be vulnerable with people in spite of it feeling so scary. The track has an autobiographical nature, inspired by Tess previously living in NYC and regularly enjoying the night-life the city had to offer. Although she was constantly meeting new people and being around friends, she struggled a lot with opening up to people. There was always fun and socialising, but a lot of her true self and feelings were bottled up inside: ‘I partied, smiled, laughed but inside felt alone, though there were always people around.’ Recently reminiscing on her younger years, Tess has been thinking about how much she has grown and learned to open up and be vulnerable with people. With the added constant isolation of COVID, she is grateful to now have learned how to reach out and connect rather than isolating herself thinking it was the better choice to be alone.
Within this new release, there are a few new sounds such as the harp, that has never been featured in any of Tess’ previous tracks. Yet, she has kept a consistent style and vibe to her other releases, which is pop leaning towards alternative and electronic elements. As the main themes of the track are intimacy and vulnerability, that has been maintained in the vocal recording and lyrics to capture a longing to connect but a fear of doing so.
When it comes to her writing process, Tess is constantly thinking of new ideas throughout her days (and nights), with hundreds of voice notes and written memos on her phone from these moments of inspiration: ‘I may get hit with a feeling or a phrase that pops into my head, or after noticing something that just happened.’ Previously, she would write every morning for 20 minutes as she tells us that ideas come faster after coming out of sleep, however now most ideas flow naturally throughout the day. The writing process behind each release has also been incredibly cathartic for Tess over the years, as she tries to process past trauma and transform pain into words that can’t be spoken. This process also gave her great joy learning that others found her words and music to be healing for them too.
‘I try to uncover and write from the truths of my own experience, and in doing that maybe it can help others who have been through similar things.’
Like most artists, Tess’ musical career has been affected by the COVID pandemic with a number of her shows cancelled including in Austin during SXSW. Nevertheless, she explains how in the face of all the negatives, moving to the online world has allowed her to connect with a global audience and build up a virtual community, along with getting more into music production during lockdown. She even went as far as to set up a home recording studio, which has been her base for every release since 2020.
With inspiration from her friends and family, Tess’ shares with us two instances her writing process and lyricism has been impacted by those she loves. Her brother - an incredible guitarist and experimental musician constantly pushing boundaries - is always thinking and hearing things differently and giving her a fresh take on her work when they collaborate together. On top of that, a recent release of hers titled ‘Say It’ was written about a friend who sadly passed away, with all the things she wished she had said but never got the chance to. This message was important for her to put out especially during COVID, when many many be facing loss, isolation, or even just to encourage those of us to be grateful for our loved ones while they are still here with us: ‘I hope that by sharing my experiences honestly and authentically, if someone relates and has been through something similar, it might resonate with them.’
Tess’ new single ‘Paper Walls’ is currently out and available on all streaming platforms, so check it out here or find her at @tessposnermusic on Instagram!
See more from Tess on Spotify
Interview by: Tatiana Whybrow-Price
