BRATTLEBORO — Christina Schneider - performing under as stage persona Locate S,1 - takes the stage at the Stone Church on Saturday night and will open Ruth Garbus's performance [story, this issue] with a stripped-down version of her band, she tells The Commons.
The opening set will include Schneider on guitar and Vox, Kevin Barnes (who also plays in the band Of Montreal) on bass, and Clayton Rychlik on drums.
Schneider, 34, is excited for her return to southern Vermont after a decade living in Brooklyn, New York and Athens, Georgia. She is a 2008 graduate of The Putney School and attended Marlboro College, so she says "it feels like a homecoming."
"I get to wake up in the forest every day!" she says.
Working on underlying anger
Her newest release, Wicked Jaw (Capture Tracks, Brooklyn, 2022), was recorded at a home studio in Athens, Georgia over the span of a week with the whole band. She says most of the songs on the album were written over a two-year period.
"As an over-communicator who often can't control what comes out of my mouth, I identified with the idea of having a wicked jaw," says Schneider.
"I produced it entirely myself, and it's very exciting to learn how to be a producer and to just say what I want to say," she adds.
In an Aug. 2 cover story in Flagpole, an alt-weekly in Athens, Georgia, Schneider says, "Throughout the writing of this album, I was learning how to be less of a snarky jerk, and trying to work on the underlying anger that causes me to lash out when I feel threatened instead of just processing those emotions on my own time."
Schneider deals with serious topics on this album. This expressive album of "interpersonal analysis and self-reflection that questions what it means to be a survivor, but takes it even further by questioning what it means to be a woman, a modern American and more," writes Flagpole reviewer Sam Lipkin.
When asked how she feels about her newest release, she says she is "really proud of it."
"It definitely moves away from the dance-y pop-iness of the last two albums and sort of a mellow exercise in songwriting - where I got to focus on the songwriting craft," she says.
The biggest lesson from the album, she says, is "being kind to yourself while still holding yourself accountable - those are important things."
She describes her partner, Kevin Barnes, also in the band Of Montreal, as "such a brilliant genius."
"It's so identifiable that it's almost like if he collaborates at any level, it just kind of sounds like Of Montreal," Schneider says with a laugh. "So I just really wanted to explore what my kind of sound could be."
How did she come up with name for her band: Locate, S1?
"I kept seeing that spray-painted on construction sites, and it shows that there are gas pipes near the road and you shouldn't penetrate the ground there or the whole block could explode," Schneider says. "I also learned that S,1 is what they call the first beat of the heart. There's S,1 and S,2. I thought that was pretty cool!"
'Almost a shared hallucination'
In the lyrics of her song "Go back to Disnee," which has a bossa nova beat, Schneider talks about the United States and "the sadness that lies beneath."
"I wrote that song in Athens, in July 2020 during Covid," she says. "There were lots of fireworks going off. I was not feeling very patriotic, and I was just so sad that this is our country."
She had recently read an interview with actor John Cassavetes.
"He said, 'Maybe there really wasn't an America; maybe it was only Frank Capra,'" she says. Capra, the powerhouse director of movies like It's a Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, is credited with creating "a lasting vision of the country's people and values."
The song, she says, explores "almost a shared hallucination [that] what we are as a society is not the full picture and the sadness that lies beneath - that is where that song came from."
She thinks the song "Heart Attack" is not only the pop-iest song on her new album, it's also the oddest one.
"It has a different sonic world," Schneider says. "I just love playing that song...it's such a pop song!"
Like a homecoming
Schneider grew up in Cross River, New York and started playing guitar "as early as I can remember." Both of her parents were guitarists, and her mom taught guitar at Schneider's elementary school.
Her early music influence was Joni Mitchell. "To this day, I think that she is the greatest songwriter of all time!" she says.
She also loves "classic rock, The Beatles, Syd Barrett, psychedelic rock in general, and funk."
"I'm so excited to play a hometown show in Brattleboro!" says Schneider, who says she grew up listening to Garbus's music.
"She inspired me to be a songwriter; it's like a homecoming to me," she says. "I look up to her so much! Those two worlds colliding - my fans and Ruth's fans - is my wish."
* * *
Christina Schneider (Locate S,1) opens for Ruth Garbus on Saturday, Oct. 14 at 8 p.m. at The Stone Church, 210 Main St., Brattleboro.
For more information, visit stonechurchvt.com. To follow Christina Schneider Locate S,1 on Instagram, visit instagram.com/locate_s1.
This The Arts item by Victoria Chertok was written for The Commons.