“What I love about vinyl is it ties me to a listening experience where I’m home and still.”
“I’m one of those on-the-go Americans, and listening to vinyl in my den or bedroom is grounding—I stop hustling or meeting with people and just basically hang with a record. That hang and the physicality of records ties them to the place and time where I bought them and listened to them most. I moved from Alabama to Austin in 2008, bought Amy Winehouse Back to Black at Waterloo Records, and probably listened to it 50 times in my bedroom over my first couple months there. When I listen to that record now, living in New York, it takes me back to my little house in Austin, when I was new to a city, didn’t know people with future unclear.
For me, a vinyl collection is about great 12” full-lengths from top to bottom—true pieces of music, not singles. I love the A side – B side aspect of how it breaks up a piece like intermission between two movements. I have some records where I’m particularly attached to one side. Rolling Stone’s Tattoo You, for example, I’m all about that drippy B side. I play it on repeat and don’t usually listen to side A.
Here’s a pic (above) of my vinyl that I’ve hung out with the most—Amy records, B Side of Tattoo You, Willie’s Red Headed Stranger, Otis’ Love Man, Cat Power Moon Pix, Conor Oberst, and the compilations Studio One DJ’s and We Sing the Blues. Probably warped them from so many spins.
It’s kinda funny to be discussing vinyl when I’m releasing a 4-song digital EP. I’ve released vinyl before (The Rise and Fall under my previous moniker, Monarchs) but decided to keep my debut release as Celeste short and promotional—a simplified introduction considering folks’ limited attention span for music they haven’t heard before. I love the songs, but do feel with the limited time, a short EP is unable to form an in-depth representation of me as an artist or develop in a way that takes listeners on a proper journey with movements.
After a couple more EPs, I’ll release what I love, a record where people can enter and hang out in that space for 40+ minutes. Would love to press that when the time comes, meanwhile, “More Please” is one slice of bigger pie.”
—Celeste
Celeste’s EP, “More Please” is released today, 10/28.
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