Q&A: Annabel Gutherz Dissects Love and Apprehension with New Single “Dance Around It”
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY LENA FINE ☆
MONTREAL-BASED POP-ROCK ARTIST ANNABEL GUTHERZ — is back with another head-bangable yet yearnful single, “Dance Around It.” The song captures the double-edged sword of affection, complete with its intoxication and apprehension. “Dance Around It” comes as a masterful awakening for Gutherz, who’s been at it for quite some time honing her skills and growing solid and steady in her classic yet modern sound. With the single and her recent successes, Gutherz is cementing herself as one to watch.
Since the release of her debut album Loose Ends in 2021, Gutherz has been working hard cracking into the industry. She’s found success in working with storied collaborators and finding her voice in the pop-rock sphere. After Loose Ends, she released a trail of singles, culminating in a more realized sound with “Dance Around It.”
We caught up with Gutherz and her contagious positivity to discuss “Dance Around It,” her immense joy and gratitude for Berklee, and how she’s honoring her heroes through her own music.
LUNA: First of all, congratulations on the single! I’ve been listening to it all morning and it’s definitely stuck in my head.
GUTHERZ: Thank you so much, I’m blushing!
LUNA: You grew up in Montreal before coming to the US to study at Berklee, what was your start in music before college?
GUTHERZ: Great question! I would say my first love was musical theater, which was my introduction to the arts and to singing and performing in its entirety. My mom and sister took part in a local theater production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and my dad and I were in the audience, and I just remember sitting there and being absolutely enamored by the magic unfolding before me. From the light design to costumes, the resonance of the story told in that format, through music, just captivated me and resonated deeply. I felt this magnetic draw to the stage and was like, I think this is something I want to be a part of and want to do. Immediately, I auditioned and also took part in that same company’s productions. I got involved in school plays and plays outside of school. Musical theater was really my foray into music and I was very passionate about it; I loved it.
When I was in high school, I started writing songs of my own and I loved having the agency to craft the story and to express what was in my heart and mind. It happened very organically. I was writing in a journal and I heard the words as melodic phrases and I was like, maybe I should make this into a song! Lo and behold, it came at the intersection of my passions – storytelling and music. I was like, I think this is something I might want to pursue more seriously at the collegiate level and started looking online to decide what I was going to do – I was looking at cognitive science, pre-law – I really didn’t know what I wanted to do. My mom was like, “if music is what’s going to make you the happiest, then I would encourage you to do it.” I had the support of my family and thought, “let’s do it! Berklee College of Music here I come!” So I got my undergrad at Berklee, and I’m so grateful I did.
It was such an enriching and beautiful educational experience, so I count my lucky stars. And one point of clarification, because sometimes it’s very confusing: I actually had the opportunity to earn my Bachelor’s degree online because it was COVID, and also because I was writing my debut album here, which enabled me to pursue music in a really tactile and practical format, as well as the theoretical because I was learning so much theory and acquiring so much knowledge at Berklee, which informed my writing. It was the most immersive experience despite being remote.
LUNA: So, you were in Montreal the whole time?
GUTHERZ: Exactly! I had the opportunity to visit Boston a few times, of course, but I would say the majority of my education was online.
LUNA: That makes sense, especially with COVID and working on this much bigger project. I feel like that’s very Berklee, in and of itself.
GUTHERZ: It’s so Berklee! It’s an incredible school. I can’t speak highly enough about the facility and the teachers and the students. You just learn so much through osmosis, just getting to interact with such talented and masterful peers. So much so that I pursued my masters there! I’m just like, sign me up for anything you have!
LUNA: I’ll take any degree you can give me!
GUTHERZ: Exactly! PHD! Bring it on! I don’t think they do that.
LUNA: It’s so interesting to know that your roots are in musical theater. The vocal performance in “Dance Around It” is so dynamic and varied – there’s very much a theatrical feeling to it. Can you talk about keeping the emotion in the foreground during the recording and production process?
GUTHERZ: That’s an amazing question and also thank you, you’re just too kind. Again, I’m blushing! Because musical theater is my background, sometimes – especially with the vocal performance – I can be a bit more theatrical. These more pop-rock records that come a bit more inherently to me, have this inherent emotionality and I think what I take from musical theater is this unadulterated sense of expression. When you’re onstage and you’re performing in that format, there’s a rawness to it. I find it to be a bit of a dichotomy because on one hand it’s so grand and polished in the performance, but then on the other hand it’s so raw because it’s so grand; there’s no filter. I think I try and take with me the no-filter part and the emotion sort of just pours through that. In terms of the polish, I don’t think I ever honestly had that, even in musical theater. My voice’s timbre is a bit more raspy, so I lean into whatever comes naturally. And to maintain my vocal health, of course.
LUNA: That makes a lot of sense! I think also with pop records, it’s such an interesting balance to strike between the theater of it and those more polished moments. You want it to be easy listening, at a certain point, but at the same time the subject and the nature of that music in general is very theatrical. It’s always really interesting to see how people do that.
GUTHERZ: Yes! I feel like I just learned a whole new perspective, absolutely! And to that point, I feel like with pop music it’s both performative and theatrical, but it’s also conversational. I think somewhere in between is where you strike the authenticity. That’s what I’m always trying to do when I get behind the microphone – what’s the most authentic way I can express myself and this moment? And just trusting that.
LUNA: I think that’s a beautiful thing!
LUNA: What does the writing process look like for you? Was it different with “Dance around it” or is this another step in an otherwise honed and fine-tuned process?
GUTHERZ: My writing process actually changed quite a bit. I would say the evolution of it, or the point that it changed, was with “Dance Around It.” The genesis of a new process for me is that – I used to write from the lyrics and melody and then go and put chords behind it and figure out the key. With “Dance Around It,” one of my remarkable producers who I can’t speak highly enough about, Mikal Blue, I was in California at the time and we were working on a number of songs. I was in Malibu and he texted me saying he had just come up with this chord progression and he thought I could do something special with it. I played it and immediately was so taken by the intimacy and the warmth. It was just acoustic guitar that he was playing, but it had this really engaging quality to it. While I was in the car I heard the chorus for “Dance Around It” and was like, “ok, I have the chorus and can build the song around it.” Now, that’s how I approach writing, with the chord progression. I’m just picking patterns – a harmonic that grabs me, that resonates, and I build the top line over it.
LUNA: You’ve had the wonderful opportunity of collaborating with Mikal Blue and Bret Mazur, how has working with them influenced the way you approach your music?
GUTHERZ: It has been truly one of the greatest gifts of my career to be able to work with Bret and Mikal. I’ve learned such a wealth about music and how they approach creating music. They’re masterful craftsmen who’ve honed their skills. THey have very different backgrounds, so I was sort of able to learn a lot from each of them respectively. Mikal approaches everything with a lot of sensitivity and warmth and leans into more acoustic palettes, whereas Bret has this incredible ear for anything contemporary and loves to explore synthesizers and beats.
The two of them together come from very different worlds, and somehow they’ve managed to combine those and to bring a sonic vision to fruition in a way that I couldn’t have anticipated. To get to experience their talents and expertise and learn from them – it was a real learning curve but I learned so much and I’m so lucky I get to experience their magic. That’s the only way it can be described. I think it’s informed my approach to the songwriting, I would say one of the main things is that I can be very precious about the moment and meticulous and thoughtful to bring things to the best place it can be for me. They teach me how to let go, because that’s also part of the process: being thoughtful and pouring your heart into it, but also being like, “this is a moment in time,” and honoring the present, honoring that moment and letting it speak for itself. That’s just one of the innumerable lessons I’ve learned from them, but I’m so grateful. I pinch myself!
LUNA: It’s so exciting! It seems like, based on this moment that you’re in, especially with the single, there’s a lot of new things happening for you. You’re kind of finding yourself in a very new space that seems to really be working – which is so wonderful and exciting!
LUNA: Your style is very distinct, with clear influences of Stevie Nicks and Bonnie Raitt – how long did it take you to hone your sound and make it so distinct?
GUTHERZ: Thank you so much, I feel like that is the greatest compliment I could receive. Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Nicks, those are people I revere for just who they are and the impact they’ve had on music. For you to say that is just a thrill to me. I would say, everything came a little inherently because I grew up listening to them and they were so influential that it was that sort of that same osmosis as being in an environment like Berklee. Artistically, it felt very inherent and natural to make music that was a little reminiscent of that style.
In terms of honing it, I listened to a lot of my favorite songs from those records as references when writing my new material. I listened to a lot of “Rumours.” I was also watching “Daisy Jones and the Six” at the time – which I love, love, love. It was definitely a source of inspiration and I would be like “what are they doing that’s so effective and really resonating with me?” I would use that to help guide me like, ok the bass is playing a syncopated pattern and just breaking it down into its unique parts. Also, I think, even further Berklee and everything I learned there and the tools and techniques I acquired helped me approach it from a more technical standpoint. So it’s sort of like, “did the chicken come before the egg?” It’s like a balancing act – some of it is inherent and I lend myself naturally to that palette and aesthetic and style, and the other half is going like, “ok, how can I create the music I want to make in the most impactful, resonant way?” That’s leaning on what I’ve learnt in school and through practice. It’s a bit of the two.
LUNA: That makes perfect sense, and it will only continue that way as you grow on and up!
GUTHERZ: I love that! Yay!
LUNA: I was listening to a lot of your earlier work and I noticed that there’s a slightly brighter tone to this song in comparison to the other singles you’ve released over the past two years. Is this signalling a bigger project in the works?
GUTHERZ: Yes! Definitely working towards a sophomore album.
LUNA: Thrilling!
GUTHERZ: “Dance Around It” and the sonic aesthetic of it, the theme of it, and the way we approached it from an emotional standpoint, will definitely be informing all the music to come. Really excited to be working on a greater body of work that all these songs can call home! They can be roommates! Honestly, I wake up every day with a heart full of gratitude that I get to do what I love and what I’m passionate about and share what I love with others. It’s so special, I’m so excited to be working on more material and towards a greater project.
