Louisiana born Sarah Lipstate aka Noveller already has quite an impressive resume on her CV. The 25 years old artist already performed with Rhys Chatham, Glenn Branca, being the guitar player of the indie act Parts & Labor and lately released her debut LP on Carlos Giffoni's No-Fun label. Joining Berlin based Rashad Becker and Ushi Hupe in GdK/White Rabbit, we took the chance to talk with Sarah about music, film and music.
Text/Interview: Omer Schwartz / Fotos: Schlafzeug
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Q: So when did you arrive in Berlin?
Sarah Lipstate: We arrived on Sunday, as part of the tour of Parts & Labor. The show went well, but it was kind of crazy because we just landed from Valencia, and had only four hours of sleep. Also, my 
noveller/foto: schlafzeugluggage was lost on the flight and sent to Milan instead. So it took until Tuesday for it to arrive. I was mostly catching sleep in the last days.
Q: So you find yourself without gear...
A: Oh no, the equipment was with the other suitcases. They sent away my private luggage.
Q: Do you have lots of this crazy flights?
A: No, usually not. The schedule is better most of the time, so we can sleep. But it was a last minute thing, this festival.
Q: I've been listening to your new release Paint on the Shadows, and was surprised from the first track, which was had much more of clean guitar sounds, with almost no manipulation. Is that a new approach?
A: I kind of developed this piece when i was in some festival in France. They wanted me to play for a hour, and i'm used to play much shorter gigs. So i made this one to last longer, and during improvising i found it interesting to play chords instead of using the e-bow or feedback and other effects. It felt different and refreshing. It has a melody, chords and a structure that goes through it.
Q: Do you think this kind of music can be received live for longer period of time?
A: Well, typically, i play around 20 minutes. For me it feels better to keep the crowd wanting more, instead of getting them tired and exhausted from the show.
Q: But do you sometimes find yourself want to linger more during the show, when you find yourself on some specific flow?
A: It is possible. I just had a conversation with a friend. He saw me play in Brooklyn just before we left. I played like 25 minutes and he said that he was surprised how short it was, and that my music should enjoy more space and i could linger more on the pieces. I also heard it from other people, but i guess it's a preference. I like to feel like i'm introducing new ideas when I'm playing live, but now i think i should stretch it some more and be so tense about the music. One of my friends, Rhys Chatham, does a lot of minimalistic compositions. He was staying at my house when i was getting ready for a show, and i told him "they want me to play for an hour!". He said back "Sarah - MINIMALISM! Stretch it out!" (laughs).
Q: How does it feel to play with Rhys Chatham?
A: I played with him in small ensembles, three years ago. We were 7 or 9 guitar players. It was the first time for me to play with him. We wlaso played recently in New York with more or less the same structure. In August i will join his 100 Guitars Army though.
Q: How different is the perspective when you play with Chatham or with Parts & Labor
A: With Parts & Labor it's truly different, i'm playing THEIR music. I just show up and they tell me more or less what to do. It is fun for me to switch modes. With them it's more like a performance, and playing a role, and i guess it's good to balance it with the other stuff i do. I like to keep it separated from my solo work. Playing with Glenn Branca and Rhys Chatham on the other hand, quite influenced my solo work. It's a good experience to play in ensemble of only guitars. With Branca i had to learn to read music again. he's music is much more academic. It brought me back to when i was young and i played trombone in a symphonic band. So it was all kind of nostalgic in a way. In a much cooler way (laughs).
Q: So you have classical training?
A: Yes. I had 8 years of piano and then 6 years of trombone.
Q: What took you to drone/abstract music?
A: I started playing guitar at the age of 17. It was a bit of my private rebel against the classic way of playing and training i was going through. I wanted to find a new way, not conventional way, to play the guitar. Without learning how to play it. I was really influenced by No-Wave, Sonic Youth, different guitar-tunings methods. I wanted a fresh approach to the instrument and not being taught how to "play" it. After years or piano competitions and recitals i found the guitar more enjoyable. It took me a while to figure it out though (laughs). I told my parents i want a guitar for christmas, when i was 15, and they bought me acoustic guitar. I was very disappointed - since i wanted an electric one! I was listening to Pixies and Sonic Youth, what can i do with acoustic guitar at that time? So i found a shitty job in a music store, cleaning huge brass instruments in the back room. But saved enough money to get a cheap guitar and a small amp. It didn't sound good at the beginning but slowly i managed to get my gear. I was really obsessed with changing the gear all the time, plugging weird instruments into everything and see what happens. nowadays i'm trying to get rid of gear and build a basic setup and work only with that.
Q: Can you tell about your films, and how is it related to your music?
A: I started making films in collage where i studied film, it took me 2 years to realize that i want to do,
it's dealing a lot with 8mm and then making the soundtracks for the films, and i enjoy it a lot. There's no narrative and it's a bit more like improvisation, with no traditional structure. When i moved to New York i focused more on the Noveller project, but now i want to pay some more attention to my films.
Q: How improvised is your music when it comes to recordings?
A: The last release is all one-takes. No overdubs. Only some mastering and chopping out the edges of the track maybe. I really like this one-take aesthetic to try keep it as close to live as it can be. It has a certain quality and charm.
Q: How did you get to no-fun?
A: I was playing in Brooklyn one show, and Carlos Giffoni came to it. We became friends and after a while we scheduled a release on his label. Then he said "you know, now you have to play in no fun fest too!". I really appreciate his exploring and supporting young acts.
Q: I`d guess that most of the artists you are working with are older than you..
A: Well, most of the time i'm the youngest, with Chatham Ensembles everyone were over 50 and i was
also the only women in the group. I felt a little out of place asking myself "why am i on this stage?",
but it also really inspired my work, see this experienced people who's been doing it for long time.
artist links:
http://ushihupe.org/
http://omnilemma.org/
http://www.myspace.com/noveller
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ushi hupe/foto: schlafzeug
ushi hupe/foto: schlafzeug
noveller/foto: schlafzeug
foto: schlafzeug
noveller/foto: schlafzeug
rashad becker/foto: schlafzeug
foto: schlafzeug
