Songwriting with Dorée Gordon and Annabel Hoffman
by Jojo Summer
After meeting in their freshman year of high school, Dorée Gordon and Annabel Hoffman circled each other in friendship, gradually getting closer as the years went on. They admired each other for different reasons. Annabel was inspired by how Dorée took the craft of songwriting seriously at a young age, and Dorée thought Annabel was the coolest and was awed by her self-motivation. Now, a decade later, Dorée performs and records prolifically under their name, and Annabel recently released her self-titled debut album as Aggie Miller. I sat down with the two ahead of their shared bill at The Owl Music Parlor on May 18th, to talk about how they conceptualize songwriting in the day-to-day.
Who or what inspires you most?
A: Dorée has been a big part of that for me, to be like, “You can take this seriously and be a young girl and write things down, and they can actually mean something.” In terms of who I listen to and want to be like, it’s definitely Fiona Apple, Sharon Van Etten, Kate Bush, and all those ladies that are just doing whatever with their voice and don’t sound like little girls. D: One of the reasons I like to leave New York is to get out of my element, because when I come back I have new pictures in my mind and I’m suddenly way more in tune with whatever just happened. It’s hard to process in the moment. Lately, I’ve been listening to more songs not in English because I feel like I’ve been struggling with my own words and it’s been helpful to hear songs where I don’t know what they are saying. I can connect to the song in a way I can’t always when it’s in English because I’m thinking about what it’s saying.
Do you tend to write from an autobiographical perspective?
D: Lyrics are hard because you don’t want to overshare, but you don’t want to lie. It’s hard to put out the amount you feel like sharing.
A: I write really for myself, and a lot of the album I’ve done is about me. In terms of oversharing, I’ve never been scared of that and I feel like I’m starting to be a little more scared and it’s making me write worse songs. In the songs I’ve written that I feel are the most successful, the people they’re about for sure know they are about them and that’s fine.
D: I think I used to look for the drama more when I was first understanding songwriting, and then I realized that songwriting is a really powerful thing because making something into music is intense. You hear something and you feel it, whether or not you know what it’s about.
A: I feel like a lot of the time I don’t know how I feel about a situation until I’ve finished a song about it.
D: …because songs are just kind of emotions that have sound.
A: You’re just kind of throwing things against a wall and seeing if they stick. You’re seeing if they make sense or feel true to you, and if they feel true to you, you decide if it should stay in the song. Once you have this piece of work you know what is true to you, whereas before you’ve written this thing it’s hard to admit something to yourself.
D: There’s this Adrienne Lenker lyric on “Steamboat” that is “You can’t put a lie in the mouth of a song.” If you’re going to write something, if you’re going to sing it, you better be telling the truth. A: It’s really hard, I mean you just have to know that whatever you’re writing down feels like a period rather than a comma, because those make the better songs. The things that are really clear make a better song than a timid rumination on something.
If you could play on a 4 band bill with anyone of your choosing, who would it be?
A: The Last Dinner Party, Lucinda Williams (but, like, 30 years ago) and Mitski.
D: As of right now, Kim Ildu, Elliott Smith, and Aretha Franklin.
What are three things you are obsessed with right now?
A: Chappell Roan, dropping in (skateboarding), chia seed drinks.
D: Juggling, running, working (but in an anxious obsessive way).
We are hanging out with our stacks of gunkie at
tomorrow for a couple of long happy hours from 6-10pm in the front room, and we’d love to see you there. Our bestie Arturo is DJ’ing and in the other room will be an incredible show….if u have any trouble finding us just go up to everyone and ask are you hannah or ceci ?Speaking of hannah and ceci, I wanted to say I really loved reading Jojo’s Interview this month with Annabel and Dorée (who is a new friend to us too!) — it’s so cool reading about people’s songwriting processes and inspos, and I love two friends talking about it together. That is near and dear to these gunk editors’ hearts.
More MAY shows to consider…….
5/9
⇾ Shatter Machine x in-Dreamview x Perez/Edwards/Morton Trio at the Windjammer (Footlight Presents)
5/11
⇾ Sailor Boyfriend x Orca Bones x Funeral Doors x Vi Viana x Cyphvin at Bar Freda
5/17
⇾ Retail Drugs x Catatonic Suns x Christian Pace x The Dutch Kills at the Knitting Factory (Baker Falls)
5/26
⇾ All Maine Points x Safety Scissors x Jinzo ft. Live Drag Performances at Rubulad
5/31
⇾ Villagerrr x h. pruz x Special Guests at Trans Pecos
ˋ°•*⁀➷ GUNK CLASSIFIEDSˋ°•*⁀➷
is your band (or solo act) looking to connect with other bands or performers to put together a bill for an upcoming show? send GUNK a little intro to your music (no links sorry) including an email address for a reply and we’ll publish the listings!
—> thegunkyard@gmail.com **if you’d rather your email address not listed let us know and we can get you in touch with interested parties**
Welcome to Brainrot (www.brainrotradio.com). We are a fully remote, 501(c)3 nonprofit internet radio station. We broadcast live Monday thru Friday, hosted by DJs on the east coast from 5pm - 8pm and 11-2am on both coasts. We are predominantly centered in Brooklyn and LA, however all of us broadcast from our own computers in our own homes, and we have DJs based in 8 cities and counting around the country.
Brainrot is our attempt to reconcile radio with the 21st century. Taking advantage of the opportunity that the internet offers for a more flexible and decentralized approach to radio and broadcasting, Brainrot is a station that sits in the balance between commercial, public, and college radio, taking the best parts from each. These include:
- Competent and engaging DJing
- Thoughtful programming
- DJ flexibility
Most importantly, Brainrot is a station that people can always tune into and know that they are listening to a live broadcast. We don’t advertise 24 hour programming and then play old show recordings. We advertise programming from 5-8pm, in both PST and EST, that listeners can tune into and know that there is a real person on the other end. Brainrot is a radio station you would want to hear. It’s not radio that disregards the listener, and it’s not radio you think the listener would want to hear. It’s not an algorithm, it’s not a recording, it’s not tiring, and it’s not trying to sell you anything. It’s all the good parts and none of the bad.
We are always looking for more people to get involved! Since we started in September we have grown to now include 25 full-time shows during our Rush Hour and Late Night programming blocks, and we have recently begun a live session initiative and opened slots to feature college DJs as well. If you’re interested in having a show, being a fill-in DJ, getting involved with the live sessions, or helping out in any other way, head over to brainrotradio.com/apply to learn more and fill out an application, and give us a follow @brainrot.radio to keep up to date!
Thanks so much, and as always, keep it locked.
xx
Ceci and Hannah
Hope to see you there! The new Camp Saint Helene stuff sounds great and I will check out Aggie Miller and Doree.