Microbe Madness: The Musical

Jenna Rycroft

Interview by L. Valena

First of all, describe what you responded to.

It was an ink drawing. It was five little creatures and my first impression was that they looked like sea creatures. I just went with that reaction, although in retrospect I thought they could be maybe little viruses. But that’s because we live in a Covid world and everything looks like a virus now. Or something else. But to me, they look like fun little sea creatures that could have come from a Dr. Seuss book.

Awesome, what happened next?

I saw them and I thought immediately that it would be fun to do something with music because it just seemed like there should be a sonic seascape situation. And that each of them would have their own little motifs or themes as you would experience in some sort of orchestrated music. 

What was that process like? How did it happen?

Oh man, it was quite a journey. I’ve been a little hesitant to do music because my recording game is pretty bad- the first thing was just spent trying to figure that out. I was thinking of something whimsical and fun. There are so many little different things that you can play with, including a lot of guitar effects pedals. I first thought of using a Wah pedal but of course, when I dragged that out, it didn’t work. It was just a whole series of these situations. I kept hitting walls every corner I turned. I feel like I have historically been someone who is like, “Oh I need this thing, and I’ll just go out and buy it and put myself further in debt.” But this time, I was like, no, I really want to just be creative and work with what I’ve got. Be like one of those cool MacGyver creative people. And I feel like the time limit around this suggests that, so I just wanted to make myself do that. Which is what I did. I kept playing around. Luckily, I was using Garage Band, and I found a loop that I liked, and I just added a whole bunch of guitar nonsense on top of it. 

Did you end up having to MacGyver something crazy to make it happen, to bring the vision to life?

Not like TRUE MacGyver fashion! There weren’t any paperclips involved or, I don’t know, fun doodads or whatever…

Sources of steam that are pushing things…

No, more of a MacGruber than MacGyver to be honest! I decided to use the microphone on my computer, and my guitar used maybe two pedals and I just played around with whatever sounds I could get.

When you listen to it now, what does it say to you? As a piece on its own? 

One thing that’s challenging for me is I really like form. I like to be creative within a structure because then there’s a part of it that’s creative and it speaks to that part of me, but there’s also this puzzling aspect that works on another part of me. My idea was for it to be just kind of free-flowing, and that was challenging in its own way. I can still hear an arc to it beginning and ending, which wasn’t intentional. I think that, probably subconsciously, I can’t completely let that go. But yeah, I think it turned out fun. 

How does this relate to the rest of your work?

Wow, it doesn’t at all, I guess! In the past, I’ve been a songwriter, a sideman in a band. I’d hear it more as, not really a soundtrack, but something more instrumental or orchestrated that would maybe accompany something animated. I haven’t really done anything like that before. So that was kind of fun! It was nice because it just lets you be free. I didn’t have any preconceptions about it. I wasn’t gonna be upset that it didn’t turn out one way or the other because I’d never tried anything like that before. So having the opportunity to do that was really fun. And it helped me overcome a lot of the feeling that I can’t record something because my whole situation’s a mess. It forced me to just do it. When I saw the picture, I was like, “It’s gotta be music. I gotta figure it out. It has to be music.” It just spoke to me that way. There’s nothing I want to write; I don’t want a story. I want music. That’s what I want and that’s what it needs to be. I feel really grateful to have the opportunity to do that.

Yeah, I think there have been so many opportunities in this pandemic for just kind of pushing through that fear. Resources are limited, and we can’t just go to the store and buy whatever we want right now. There are all these limitations that we have. I’ve definitely had moments when I want to bring a thing into the world, but I have to do it with whatever I have around. It’s kind of special. And I hope we can continue to keep some of that energy as we move forward and get out of this horrendous era.

YES. I agree! I feel truly grateful that I just worked with what I had and gave myself the space to do that. In the past, I think I was just too scared or something. So that was really cool. It made me think about when I see people making weird wizardry with their instrument and I’d just think, “Oh I would never know how to do that.” Now I think, “Okay I could maybe lean in that direction.” Maybe it’s not my main path, but I feel a little bit more comfortable exploring it a little bit further than I might’ve been before. 

Do you live near the ocean?

I do!

You said from the top that you were thinking about a seascape when you made this and I’d like to hear a bit about how you feel about seascapes.

Actually, what I didn’t say, now that I recall, is that when I saw the prompt initially, the song “Under the Sea” came into my head. Of course, this annoying Disney tune was stuck in my head for some days, and that in itself was kind of a curse. 

I'm sorry for bringing it up!

Yeah, I guess I blocked it out! Actually, I was gonna tell you that from the beginning but I’d already forgotten about it. We live about five houses down from the ocean and we cherish that. I grew up in Southern California and my family’s Hawaiian. I just couldn’t ever be too far from the ocean. Maybe there have been times in my life when I’ve taken it for granted, but I can never really have it not there because it kind of leaves a gap. It’s just a wonderful, beautiful force of nature that’s incredibly humbling and centering. So yeah, I guess it is pretty important to my sense of self. 

I read an article not too long ago that was so interesting. I guess people who listen to whale songs have found that with all the vehicles we put in the ocean now, compared to even the mid-1800s when we still just had whaling ships and stuff… now we have so many ships and submarines. All those things are very loud in the ocean, and whales and other animals have actually changed the pitches of their songs because they weren’t able to hear each other and it was affecting the ecosystem. They’ve evolved in their own way to work around it. I thought that was so interesting and powerful on so many levels and in so many ways. I definitely thought about that a little bit when I was layering the tracks because I was thinking about how some things are happening in the background at the same time, but some things are pushing to be heard, and putting them in different pitches so they can talk to their people.

There are all these obvious ways we affect how the natural world changes. But then it’s crazy to see how animals and plants are dealing with it and compensating almost.

They are so many steps ahead of us! We’re just so arrogant in so many ways. We’re like, Oh we just “discovered” that… and it’s like, how long have they been doing that?

It’s true. Sometimes when I see small animals moving around, I realize how large and slow-moving we are as a species. We totally think that we’re so sophisticated, but we must seem like these slow-moving, bumbling creatures that are just steamrolling things.

That’s how my cat feels about me, and he will tell you! That’s exactly how he feels about me.

Same with my cat!

He’s just like, You’re an idiot, so…

You bumbling fool.

Just give me food. That’s all I need you for. 

Is there any part of the music-recording process, anything more technical that you want to talk about?

I don’t know! I think I used maybe two pedals. I used a slide. And then I just used some really basic effects to make it echoey and the sound really wet. It’s just amazing how little you can do and how diverse an instrument the guitar, can be. The one thing I was doing, I thought this really sounds like a whale song to me. I’d never heard that in that way. And that wasn’t super tricky. I didn’t completely mask the sound. It’s not too far off from what I was doing. That’s just pretty cool.

Do you have any advice for someone else participating in this project?

I would say just have fun with it. The people that you’re speaking to are artists, so like me, I’m sure everyone’s completely riddled with self-doubt. But for me, the best way to block that out was just to go with my first instinct. Link on it, follow it, let it go where it will, and not do too much to question it. Just see it through and see where it lands. It might take you somewhere that you’re not familiar with, but afterward, you might be really happy from the journey.

Call Number: Y40VA | Y43MU.ryMi

Jenna lives on the North Shore with her wife and most handsome cat. You'll likely find her reading on the beach, finishing a puzzle, or playing guitar.