We live in an age of too many recommendations. The modern small talk conversation has been engulfed by pop culture chatter about recent bingeable content and insistent nagging about how you just have to watch/read/listen to the latest and greatest new thing your conversation partner has just devoured. It can be frankly exhausting. Folk singer-songwriter Andrea von Kampen is keenly aware of this, so she went the extra mile to make one of her suggestions stick.
After falling in love with a certain book, she decided to use it as a jumping off point for her brand new album, Sister Moon.
"It really started with reading The Overstory by Richard Powers. Anytime I read a great story, I'm kind of always thinking like, 'How can I share this? What can I do?' And mostly it just turns into me telling people, 'Oh, read this book or watch the show,'" says von Kampen. "But for this one, so many of these words that he's saying, so many of these lines could sing really well. This could be more than just a book, I thought."
The Pulitzer Prize-winning The Overstory follows a collection of disparate characters who, united by their experiences with trees, come together to try to stop deforestation. Sister Moon directly pulls some lines for the text and becomes a meditative folk reflection on climate change and humankind's relationship with the earth.
"It's about the interconnectedness with nature — kind of how humans can integrate into the world in a way that's more in harmony with the earth, and then just digging deeper into the point of why we're here," says von Kampen.
As the Lincoln, Nebraska-based von Kampen reflects on the beauty of the natural world, the melancholy of its current state and greater existential meaning, Sister Moon sonically settles into a warm and welcoming pocket of melodic folk. There's a soft confidence to von Kampen's voice throughout — both casually welcoming and steadfastly resolved. It never feels like she is searching for what to say, but things also never seem belabored and forceful. The musical backing only adds to the aura, keeping things simple and never overwhelming the ear with too many layers. The singer-songwriter's acoustic guitar lays the base, with minimal percussion and piano adding color. The occasional injection of brass notes ("Cedar Street") or pizzicato string plucking ("Such Love Does") give the album the slightest dose of aural diversity without feeling out of place.
One might assume trying to thematically tie together a large assemblage of songs would be a tricky task for a songwriter, but the process of making Sister Moon actually put von Kampen more at ease because the collective connective tissue ends up filling in the gaps.
"It's almost easier to write the songs about these types of topics, because the songs are sort of like poetry. So you don't have to be overly specific or pedantic with what you're trying to say. You can kind of give more of an impression of what you're trying to say," says von Kampen.
In terms of songcraft, there's something seemingly contradictory about von Kampen's lyrics. Her songs feel super lyrically dense, despite often being rather sparse and impressionistic. Take, for example, the start of Sister Moon's "Cedar Street": "She lived in a college town on Cedar Street / A tree in the front yard that once covered the earth / Wet from a shower, turns off the light / Dead for a minute, then comes back to life / She moved from that eastern town somewhere on Cedar Street." It's both specific and ethereal, fitting for someone who is more than happy to let her songwriting stories slow burn in a listener's mind.
"I think the songs are approachable in the way they're produced and the melodies. I try to write melodies that are captivating and interesting. When it comes to the lyrics, my philosophy has always been to say the least amount, but mean the most. Just cut all the fat and just say as little as you can to get the point across," says von Kampen. "I'm not really concerned with the lyrics being approachable, I would way rather get somebody in because of the genre, the aesthetic, or the vibe, and then 10 listens in they might be like, 'Whoa, what is the song about?' That's way more interesting to me than writing something right off the bat that everyone immediately can relate to."
That sort of sentiment speaks to von Kampen's folk roots. Inspired by the likes of Paul Simon, James Taylor, Laura Marling, Sufjan Stevens and Elliott Smith, she's one of those artists who seem like such a natural fit in the folk realm that it's almost hard to imagine her doing anything else. She cherishes what being a folk artist can mean, and that's why she pushes back against the virality trends some modern folk singers try to chase.
"Folk is such a broad genre. And I think that there's a lot of different types of musicians existing in this genre," says von Kampen. "But I really like music that has some sort of event to it. I think that we can get stuck with a lot of music that sounds similar right now. And with TikTok driving so much of the music trends, I kind of feel like people are just writing for 30 seconds instead of writing for a 30- to 40-minute album. And the songs feel really disjointed and incomplete. Like, I'll love a hook, but I hear the whole song and I'm like, 'Oh, these verses just feel so phoned into me.'"
"What's so great about the folk genre is that it comes out of such an honest place of storytelling. And that is something that I can really appreciate in my fellow songwriters who are making great music these days," she continues. "Like a song comes on, and you just know from start to finish that this meant something, this is telling a story. This writer didn't sit down and say, 'Okay, what's the catchiest 10-second melody I can come up with and what's a catchy, relatable lyrical thing?' No, this person sat down and wrote something that was truthful for them, start to finish. I'm a little biased, but that's what I like."
She thinks there's still value for listeners to fully dive into a concept album like Sister Moon, despite increasingly dwindling attention spans.
"This is my third full-length album, and this is the only one that's been a concept album. And it's been cool to see fans kind of approach it as such. They're kind of seeing the full picture as they listen from start to finish," says von Kampen. "In a world now that's become so driven by 30-second sound bites, it's really refreshing to know that people are actually sitting down and listening to and liking the full thing."
That said, being a folk musician is still a job, and von Kampen isn't some type of snobby purist who loses sight of that. She recorded commissions for everything from Shakespearean productions in her hometown (Romeo & Juliet) to a British hardware company (a popular cover of Alphaville's "Forever Young"). She's also taken her musical and acting talents to the big screen — costarring and writing the music for the 2022 film A Chance Encounter, where she plays a one-hit singer-songwriter who has retreated to a small Italian town and becomes entangled with an adrift tourist poet.
But von Kampen remains much more focused on the music than trying to be an actor. In support of Sister Moon she'll head to Spokane for a show at the District Bar on April 16. Despite her Middle America roots, she has spent time in our neck of the woods, as showcased in her song "Portland," one of her most popular tunes off her first album, Old Country.
"I was inspired after my first time driving from Nebraska to Portland. I'd spent a lot of time in the Midwest and hadn't never been to the PNW. And it's a beautiful area. I found it to be inspiring," says von Kampen. "In the song, Portland is more a metaphor for something. But, I mean, Coeur d'Alene is just beautiful. I love that lake. I love walking in that town. I'll always try to stop in Coeur d'Alene and walk around when I'm touring."
So if you happen to see von Kampen strolling around Coeur d'Alene, don't be shocked. Maybe she'll even offer up a book recommendation. ♦
Andrea von Kampen, Sarah Walk • Tue, April 16 at 8 pm • $15 • 21+ • The District Bar • 916 W. First Ave. • sp.knittingfactory.com
