Q&A: Sea Lemon on Intimacy, Vulnerability and the Divinity of Blissful Ignorance With Her Latest Single, “Fortune Teller”

 
 
 

REMINISCENT OF A NOT-TOO-DISTANT TIME — of routine isolation and global lockdowns, singer-songwriter Sea Lemon’s discovery of her artistry is the result of pure introspection and self-discovery. Having started her journey into music on the Brooklyn scene, Sea Lemon later moved back to her hometown of Seattle in which her career in music evolved into her newfound passion for production and songwriting as a solo artist. Delving into the personal conflict of her own vulnerability within her latest single, “Fortune Teller,” Sea Lemon encourages us to embrace the divine openness and blissful ignorance of the human condition of falling and freeing ourselves of all logic and reason. To accept, to learn, and to love. Describing her discography as art that evokes feelings reminiscent of “driving down a summery road while drinking a cherry slurpee,” with an equally intimate and indeed nostalgic sonic and visual production, Sea Lemon’s latest single, “Fortune Teller” is stunning. It is coated in dreamy guitar riffs, latently juxtaposing the deeper lyricism within the song, which is also reminiscent of one of Sea Lemon’s other releases, “Sunday.”

Read below to learn more about Sea Lemon’s latest single “Fortune Teller,” the forthcoming release of her first EP, and her entry onto the music scene thus far. Pre-save her upcoming single 'Turn Away' (releasing March 11) here.

LUNA: Congrats on the release of your latest singles “Sunday” and “Fortune Teller”! Can you tell us more about how you started out as Sea Lemon and how you have evolved creatively within your artistry as your journey has progressed?

SEA LEMON: Thank you so much for your kind words! I got started with Sea Lemon a little under a year ago. I started my journey in music in an all-girl grunge band in Brooklyn a few years ago playing rhythm guitar, but moved back to my hometown of Seattle during the pandemic and left the band. With a bunch of free time on my hands during the lockdowns, I taught myself and discovered a love for songwriting and production.

LUNA: Instantly, the opening lyrics of “Fortune Teller” emit a sense of intimacy and nostalgia, directly asking us, “How would you like to see how I grew up?” What kinds of feelings would you like us as listeners to draw from the intimacy behind the song, and were there any personal feelings or experiences that influenced the lyricism in particular?

SEA LEMON: “Fortune Teller” is a song all about that nervous feeling when you first discover a love for someone — even a friendship type of love — and how good it feels to just tell someone how much you care for them. I think what I’d love people to take away from the song is how blissfully ignorant vulnerability can be, even just for a moment. 

LUNA: It would seem that the title of the song, “Fortune Teller,” and lyrics that speak of you “predicting the weather” relates to the contemporary resurfacing of tarot readings and fortune telling in general, often seen on TikTok and other social media platforms. Has this theme within the song been influenced by the popularity of this within our generation? Does the song relate to this in any way for you?

SEA LEMON: That’s a great question. It’s almost kind of funny, because in a lot of ways, the song is about my total inability to read someone’s mind or predict the future (or even the day’s weather), and presents how, even though I’m not always going to be this magical or mysterious individual to my partner, I’ll always be predictably there and loving them. I’ve honestly always really had a hard time connecting with the more spiritual side of myself, and find myself often turning to logic or reason instead of being able to believe in sentiments like “everything will turn out the way it’s supposed to.” I’ve had a “beginner’s guide to astrology” book on my bookshelf for years and have been almost afraid to crack it open because of my own cynicism. 

LUNA: The visuals shown on Spotify for the song have a dreamy, vintage feel to them. Is there anything in particular that impacts the visuals you have for your music and your personal style as an artist?

SEA LEMON: I went to school for design and really love tying my music to aesthetics. I usually get a pretty distinct vision for the visual direction of my songs once they’re in somewhat full production, but generally find that an older and more DIY look feels very connected to my music. That style feels really intimate and personal to me, almost feeling like it was recorded on a home video camera from 20 years ago and could be something you’d find in your family’s basement attic dusty in storage. 

LUNA: Similar to “Sunday,” the sonic element of “Fortune Teller” possesses an incredibly hypnotic, almost dreamy feel to it. Can you explain the process behind the instrumental elements of the song and the influences behind it? What kind of feeling do you seek to get from your music as you listen to it?

SEA LEMON: When songwriting, I almost always write melody first. Guitar-driven melodies often pop out first, and I discover vocal melodies after I’ve got a solid riff I’m excited about. My music is largely inspired by artists like The Cure, The Sundays, and more current artists like Mini Trees, who create such dynamic instrumentals that establish a bittersweet longing and yearning feeling that come off as so personal and intimate. 

LUNA: Despite “Sunday” and “Fortune Teller” being largely similar in their dreamy sonic instrumentals, how do the tracks differ in the kinds of feelings you aim to evoke for listeners within them?

SEA LEMON: When people ask me what my music sounds like, I tend to describe the general feeling I aspire to create as driving down a summery road while drinking a cherry slurpee; I aim to capture sort of a bittersweet and nostalgic dreaminess in my music. “Sunday” and “Fortune Teller” are, in their own respects, two songs about the build and eventual release of personal anxieties, but with “Fortune Teller,” I wanted to create an instrumental build so heavy into the bridge that it feels like an inescapable burst of intense emotion right as you imagine the song might be ending. 

LUNA: Needless to say, the release of “Fortune Teller” is incredibly exciting — how do your visions for future releases compare to the likes of “Sunday” and “Fortune Teller,” and are there any upcoming projects for the year ahead that you would like to talk about?

SEA LEMON: I’m super excited about the year ahead; I’ll be releasing my forthcoming and first EP with my label Spirit Goth, which I’m super excited about, and have a single called “Turn Away” from that EP coming out March 11. The EP revolves around some of those concepts I mentioned: fear of vulnerability, of being perceived, and the ebb and flow of releasing those anxieties and fears. It’s my first body of work that’s fully my own, and I can’t wait to share more! 

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