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Cindergarden

Valentine: I've been doing music since I was a toddler.

Did you play in any other bands before starting Cindergarden?

Valentine: Yeah, but really briefly. I tried the band thing, but they never worked out. It was usually just myself, continuously writing songs.

Tell us a little about how you first started Cindergarden.

Valentine: I actually had just been dropped by management; I was starting to produce myself, and they had wanted me to be working with other producers. I just wanted to do my own thing, and they dropped me. It was just a reaction to being so upset, because people who had acted like they believed in me had really only believed in the commercial aspect.

You just finished writing a new album, The Clandestine Experiment. You've mentioned that it sounds a lot different from your first album. What is your take on the differences between the two?

Valentine: It felt different, doing it, the entire process. I'm not really sure how it sounds; I'm not very good at figuring out what it sounds like. I just know how it feels.

What was it that felt different about the writing and recording process?

Valentine: It was definitely more experimental. I was definitely tapping and digging deeper into texture. And conceptually it was more detailed, with more character development and more thought put into how it all ties together.

You have a definite aesthetic that's present in both recording, with clockwork sounds and chimes, and the antique imagery you use in your photos and album art. Who are your biggest inspirations in terms of both sound and imagery? Where does that aesthetic come from?

Valentine: Aesthetically, I'm working with other artists, and I leave a lot up to them to interpret what they're hearing, because they're artists I already love and trust. Allison Meierding, who did the paintings for Underground Light Machine and for the new album...I've been a fan of her work since college. We were in college together, and she became one of my favorite artists. Rico JC, who does the photography, is again someone where I came across his work and just loved it. I give them the information that they need, like what concepts are happening, I give them the record, and then they do the rest. They interpret it.

What about musical inspirations?

Valentine: It's so hard because there are so many. I like stuff from every genre; I really do. I studied jazz in college, so I have a lot of roots there. Prior to that, growing up, I was definitely inspired by the fact that I saw females writing their own songs. There wasn't really a lot of them doing their own production, but that in itself was like, 'I want to be a singer, and who better to write my songs than me?' That was a big influence, the idea that you could rely on yourself and always believe in what you were singing because it came from yourself.

You recently released a digital remix EP. Can you tell us a little about that? Were there any remixes you were surprised by?

Valentine: All of them! They were really good! Some of them came from friends of mine whom I've known for a while and respect as artists, and some of them I reached out to because I was a fan of, like Neuroticfish, Penal Colony and Babyland, so they surprised me by saying that they would do it! The biggest surprise about that album, though, is not only how diverse it is but how well the songs each go together. No one heard anyone else's, but from one song to the next it has this really cool, odd flow to it.

You've also been working with Clint Carney as a member of System Syn's live band. How did that come about?

Valentine: I've been friends with System Syn for a long time, and they just finally realized that they had a keyboardist nearby. Clint was ready to bring more elements to the show to make it bigger, so they brought another person in. We're actually about to go on tour.

Is there a chance of collaborating with them in the studio, as well?

Valentine: Clint and I have mentioned the possibility of doing a little side project. We've thought of putting our heads together, him with the industrial and me with the vocals, perhaps. He just recently released a new album along with a new single, and I did a cover of the song, 'Like Every Insect,' on that single. And Clint is on my new record, doing background vocals. I should also mention that there are a couple of tracks that Nick Liberatore, Cindergarden's live drummer, plays on. He's on 'Transformed,' 'Alibi,' and 'Litmus Red,' and there's one more but I can't think of it. He's really amazing.

What are your next plans for Cindergarden, now that you've finished recording the album? Shopping it to labels?

Valentine: Shopping it. That's really the only plan I have right now. I enjoyed releasing the first one myself, but I feel like I need to get the new one out more efficiently.

Do you have any plans for upcoming shows?

Valentine: Not at the moment. I'm waiting to see what happens. I would like to set up a tour. That's ideally what I want our next show to be, kicking off a tour.