QueensOfVintage exclusive: We chat to A Fine Frenzy’s Alison Sudol

QoV: You’re currently writing your first novel. Can you tell us a bit more about it?

Alison Sudol: Indeed! I’ve actually finished it now, which is the most wonderful feeling, I can’t even tell you. It’s considered a young adult book, though I think that it can be read by people of all ages (at least, by the ones that never fully grew up inside…). It’s an adventure, a fantastical one, led by two children, Angus and Maggie Moss. The book begins in England, in a small fishing village, where the children live with their Grandfather in an old ship. The children sleep in a lifeboat on the deck of the ship when the weather is warm, and one night, they are swept away by a great storm.

The next morning, they awake to find themselves on an island entirely inhabited by talking animals. They discover that their parents, who have been gone for three years, have been on the island doing research, but have been kidnapped by two malicious animals. No one knows why. Angus and Maggie embark upon a journey to find them, which takes them up into the clouds and down to the bottom of the ocean… There is much more to it than that, and there’s also a love story weaving through it (not the children’s love story, of course, as they’re very young -and brother and sister – but their grandparents’ story, that of Morgen and Cate…).

It was such a joy, writing this book. I never expected anyone to read it while I was writing it- I was really just writing it for my own enjoyment. However, it grew and grew and took on a life of its own, and now I’m excited for others to read it.

QoV: You’re juggling lots of different things, acting, singing, writing and modelling. Do you enjoy all equally or do you have a favourite creative outlet?

Alison Sudol: I used to believe that music was the only way that I could express myself, that I had to focus on one thing and only one thing, and that doing anything else would dilute my creativity. I really held myself back in a lot of ways for that very reason. However, the older I get, the more I realize that the only thing that matters to me is art, expression, creating wonder and beauty and making an effort to transport a person to some other place, even for a moment.

I am affected by all forms of art, and feel much more balanced when I can express myself with whatever comes out, even if it’s a really embarrassingly clumsy attempt at something I’ve never tried before. It all adds to the music. The more creative I let myself be, the more creative I become. Plus, if I get blocked while writing a song, I can go work on the next book or the script I’m writing, or I can work on a series of pen and ink drawings that I’m getting into, or I can just go for a walk and say eff it all… haha… but at least there are more outlets to explore.

QoV: Who and what influences your music?

Alison Sudol: Wow… it’s hard to say, really… Anything and everything, everyone and no one at all… Love and the lack thereof, friends, nature, greatness, unfairness, hope, sorrow, loneliness, wonder, literature, films…

QoV: Where do you see yourself in 2, in 5 and in 10 years?

Alison Sudol: Oh my. Hmmm. I suppose in two years I see myself with two more albums under my belt, or an album and an EP, at least… the first book out and the second on the way, a movie in the making… and hopefully, I will have mastered a few more dishes, as I’m vaguely learning how to cook now, and I hope I’ll get somewhere in a couple of years.

In five, I hope to have another few albums out, 2 more books, the film done and another on the way… and perhaps I’ll have worked out how to be happily in love by then too… in 10… oh goodness, let’s just say as long as I’m still making music and writing books and people are still listening and reading, I will be the happiest person in the whole world. And I will absolutely know how to cook by then.

The single Happier is out on the 7 March and Bomb in a Birdcage is released on 15 March

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Tags: A Fine Frenzy, Alison Sudol, interview

Category: Queens meets, Vintage news