I
t’s interesting, sometimes, to note the way people describe themselves on their tiny Twitter bio. A minute caption to encapsulate a whole being, it shows – however hastily it
was committed to the three double-u’s – how a person perceives themselves. On Samantha Urbani’s Twitter, bewitching lead singer of NY band, Friends, you see all at once a great spectrum of her character in her ‘2 smart 4 art’ declaration; challenging but playful, creative and reactionary. Samantha imparts this colourfulness into her music, and in turn, we receive it in full stereo and technicolour. Urbani’s voice is light, risible and relatable, as we find out on the phone, ahead of her dates in the region…
We’re doing this interview ahead of your two July dates in our region; the first is in a stunning converted church, Norwich Arts Centre – - Really? I didn’t even know that.
And the other is a field in one of the most rural parts of England, for Latitude
Festival.Tose two don’t seem obvious settings for your music – do you feed off the wide variety of backdrops though that touring gives you? Definitely, I’m always glad for diversity, which is why I moved to New York, you know - there’s different kinds of people everywhere, different neighbourhoods you can go to… I hate going on tour and just playing bars, you know? Tat’s my nightmare. So it’s exciting to know there’s gonna be a church and a field, it’s like, who knows what there’ll be in between?
It’s funny that we mention the church though – have you seen how your band is listed on Spotify? Under Friends as a band, there’s ‘Manifest!’, your album, then there’s a collection of Christian Classics. Really?! Tat’s actually really cool!
I wondered, if Friends was indeed a religion, what would be your commandments? Oh, well, it’s really funny that you said that because, like, a month ago my friend was like, “Friends should be a religion”, blah, blah, blah… It’s just inherently spiritual to me, music is; I think it’s silly for different religions to sort of co-op certain concepts or names for things, because in the heart of it, everyone that feels a sense of spirituality wants the same thing. But if Friends was a religion, man, it’d be all about being expressive, being of
38 /July 2013/
outlineonline.co.uk
independent judgement of yourself and thou shalt… be all about trying to lose ego and identity. Don’t be a man, or a woman or an American, or a British person or a black person or a white person. In essence, just be like a future ghost, like a force rather than an identity.
On a lighter subject, we were talking about ‘Manifest!’ Te album’s hugely danceable, in the main – I wondered what your own relationship with the dancefloor is like? It definitely depends, but I’ve definitely started countless dance parties. It kind of drives me insane to think people are holding themselves back from doing what they want to. Shyness and anxiety takes over, and I did feel that when I was younger and my Mom was the crazy, wild dancer. But something inside of me has been set free, I think. Dancing is one of the best, like dancing is probably THE best drug. It’s social, it’s expressive, it’s exercise, it’s celebration, showing your appreciation for music, it’s everything.
So, there’s definitely an aesthetic to the album, but there’s some kinda like, sub-chapters as well. Listening to ‘Ruins’ makes me feel uneasy and drunk – - Tat’s cool.
Were you keen to fully explore where a song was taking you, even if it deviated from what you perceived to be the main fabric of the album? Yeah, definitely; if we had written the
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