"[I'm] fixing pencil sharpeners. Send them over, if you've got a broken one," Alison Mosshart said in a conversation with Jill Riley.

Mosshart discussed how being in quarantine has made her realize her ability to be patient, and to dive into projects that take up time that she didn't have before this new normal. She has been spending her time learning about cameras, repairing her busted mechanical pencil sharpener, and learning how to navigate video-editing software in order to make the video for her new single, "Rise."

Mosshart is known best as the singer for The Kills and Dead Weather, but for the first time has released music under her own name. "Rise" was recorded for a Facebook Watch series called Sacred Lies and was released back in the beginning of April, along with her video, which includes footage of her playing in her studio along with footage from a trip cruising around East Los Angeles in her beloved Dodge Challenger.

While the song had been in the process of being written long before the global pandemic, both Riley and Mosshart note how it feels applicable to current events. According to Mosshart, it's a song about "rising above incredibly troubled times."

"That's the beautiful thing about music. It can mean so many different things," Mosshart said, while discussing how her music constantly redefines itself for different situations and contexts. "Every night you notice on stage [that] the song means something else."

Mosshart is planning to release another single so that the pair of tunes can be released as a 7 inch, which is coming soon. Additionally, Mosshart and Jamie Hince of The Kills are currently working on a new record. Ultimately, Mosshart, like many other artists, is trying her best to stay creative while at home but is patiently waiting to get back on the road.

"I really hope when all of this is over, we can go back on tour," Mosshart said. "I'm just dreaming of it."

When asked about what she misses most about being on tour, Mosshart replied, "The adrenaline, and that connection to people." She notes how this adrenaline essentially compiles all of the things that make her feel alive, that it is addictive, fulfilling, difficult, and hard to mimic.

"It's incredibly character building, and never boring, even though it involves a lot of waiting and boring moments," Mosshart said. "Your brain [on tour] is just the best version of itself."

     – Sylvia Jennings

External Link

Alison Mosshart, "Rise" b/w "It Ain't Water" - Domino Recording Co.