Of the Ocean, To the Ocean, Lily Ryder

An in-depth interview with the Songfish herself, Lily Ryder

From the rotated coastlines of Santa Barbara, a young Lily Ryder heard her inner Songfish guide her to her oceanic destiny as she grabbed the mic at the Lemon Festival at just 3 years old. Though the toddlers babble might not have been as enchanting as the sirens songs you will hear in her debut album, Lily’s destiny was set as she unlocked her love of music and performing at a young age. 

Her family kept her surrounded by music, early on she listened to the likes of Paul Simon, Fleetwood Mac and Crosby, Stills & Nash, she was even classically trained at a young age, performing in musical theatre and even a few operas. 

“I have always sort of gravitated towards things that involve attention and people paying attention to me.” 

Ahead of her debut album Songfish I got the chance to speak with the singer-songwriter and hear her story, her unique sneezes and her deep connection to the ocean and both coastlines of Santa Barbara and New York City. 

Ryder expanded her songwriting confidence and knowledge while attending the Clive Davis Institute at NYU and it was there where she went from focusing on journalism to taking her first songwriting class.

“I didn’t really know that I could write songs or that the songs I was writing were worth listening to until I took that class and until Mike (Professor Mike Errico) just like really breathed a lot of encouragement into me and kind of gave me that affirmation… And that was kind of when I changed courses and started to really work on my songwriting and pursue getting better.” 

Ryder further went into her process as a songwriter, “I always describe my songwriting process that it feels like a sneeze because I can’t really tell when I’m going to have like a burst of inspiration but if I’m in the right place at the right time I’m like ‘oh here it comes!’ “ 

As she developed her skills at school she periodically had her sneezes and compiled more and more songs until everyone’s world stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We got booted from our dorms and I was sitting on all these songs that I had been writing over the last year and one of my friends from Santa Barbara and I decided… ‘why don’t we make like an album or EP?’ “

From there Movement Four was born and Ryder’s debut EP launched her into the sphere of recording artist. 

“5 songs that I had written while I was in college and that were relatively newer songs to me, but that took us a couple of months and we made it in this house with like very limited tools and gadgets and everything and I think that really helped.” 

She reflected on her growth since the EP 5 years ago and how being back in New York for the last few years was a different experience when writing and recording for Songfish.  

“I think I experienced choice paralysis because I had everything available to me. I had all these options, microphones, instruments, locations, all of this stuff that I had to figure out what was supposed to be on this record (Songfish) and what wasn’t so I honestly am kind of grateful for that experience (making Movement Four) because it was very contained.” 

We talked more what it was like living in New York for her and being an artist and doing more with her music. More things like shooting her first music video for Salt, the first single off of her album, with her close friends from college. 

“I wanted to pick places (video locations around NYC) that felt lived in and lived in by me, but then also I had like a desolate and remote feeling… I think in this song, a lot of the questions being asked and the thoughts being reflected on are about identity and feeling empty and hollow, a buoyancy within time and I thought it was a really interesting thing to dissect being in New York and having access to places that we could make feel a bit remote.”

She referenced her love of the song and video Rhinestone Cowboy by Glenn Campbell and how she wanted to pay homage to that and Westerns alike. Though she modestly denies that she has a visual creative reflex, I asked her if we could expect any more videos as the album rolls-out. 

“That’s a good question, I’ve been trying to pull some stuff together. I’m a huge control freak when it comes to this and when it comes to my music… I will never put anything out that isn’t 100% what I want it to be.” Though it sounded like there might not be another full music video, she did note that there will be fun “visual companions” that will be tagged along with a few songs. 

We began to discuss more about the album and I asked her what the meaning behind the title, Songfish meant as well as her abundant usage of water as a theme or symbol in her music. 

“I have always been a person that is drawn and also self-centrally defined by water, and my proximity to water… I have felt just a lot of energetic kinship with it since I was really little partially, I think just because growing up by the ocean and growing up in nature really was like a formidable thing for me and it’s like the core of who I am as a person and subsequently who I am as a songwriter.” 

She spoke of the word “Songfish” as being almost a form of energy and consciousness, like a sort of spiritual alter ego. 

“I think it’s Prince who described the creative process as a creative consciousness, like a channel of collective energy and thought and frequency that any person can access… I started to call that voice or that trance, like that place I can get to when I’m either singing live, performing on stage or writing, I started to kind of refer to it as Songfish in my head.”

Hopefully Songfish will be in all of our heads as Ryder gains more traction and reaches even higher heights. She reflected on now being able to look back at the process and I asked her what’s the one thing she’s looking forward to doing the most for when the album is out. “Rest,” she plainly stated. 

“I think the gift of when this comes out is going to be that it’s out and it’s not mine anymore. I think that’s going to be a relief and I think just allowing myself to let it go, is going to be really special and different.”

We moved the topic to films for a bit being that I am primarily a film journalist, and she talked about her personal favorite film, Lady Bird as well as a film that she felt resonated best with her album and her sense of home being from Santa Barbara, 20th Century Women.

“I just have an insane connection to it and will always see it as home as my place, as a seventh generation Californian on my moms side… I think a big theme in stories about this place is returning and coming back.”

She further lauded her hometown and the impact it’s had on her especially since she has moved back and forth from there and New York and now back again and a bit more settled in Santa Barbara “I think having a place that feels like home and that no matter the changes that, that place goes through or that you go through, there’s always a place for you there, even if it’s a different shape I think that’s really rare.”

As she spoke more on her home there was a crow cawing in the background of our call and though it may of been just a common act of nature, it felt very symbolic to our conversation, almost as if the crow gained inspiration from Lily Ryder and began to find its own “Songfish”. 

We wrapped up our interview but Ryder made sure to save time to personally thank her mother, stepdad, sister and step sisters as well her friends back in New York who helped her in many ways on the album. 

Her debut album, Songfish is out now on all streaming platforms.