Friday, October 15, 2010

Interview: Lovelite

Andrew Polfer of Lovelite talks about the band's new album, it's sci-fi cover art, & more... 




How did Lovelite get started?

My wife and I have always enjoyed making music together. We used to do a coffee shop singer/songwriter style but we found that writing worship songs was so much more fulfilling for us personally.  Several opportunities opened up at the college I was attending (Azusa pacific). Some of our songs were being used in the chapel services.  That encouraged us to keep writing at which point several of our friends joined our band and we formed lovelite.    


Where did the name Lovelite come from?

The name comes from Ephesians 5 "for we were one children of darkness and now we are children on light". So, in other words we used to love-dark now we love-lite. The spelling is "lite" for a stylistic preference.


How did the band get hooked up with Come&Live!?

Well, that's an interesting story. As we were getting ready to release our CD all color I received an email from Chad Johnson. He still worked as an a&r guy for toothandnail and we thought that he was going to talk to us about joining that label. But instead he offered us to join in a incredible call to a new type of Christian label, one that offers free music and more importantly offers the opprotunity to "live simply and give generously"


What were some of the musical and lyrical influences for your latest release, Nearness?

Musically speaking we really enjoy Doves, Elbow, sleeping at last, and peter Gabriel.
Lyrically we love the poetry in old hymns and that usually challenges us. Almost as a lofty hope of creating new liturgy.


What inspired the title-track, “Nearness?”

Nearness sums up a spiritual season that my wife and I went through. It's based on the idea that often we feel as if God is far from us.  It may make us feel dry and possibly feel like were living without purpose. But the reality is that God remains close and is willing to re spark the passion if we ask for it. It often takes a journey of spiritual dryness in order to realize where we are most satisfied.


Who came up with the album artwork for Nearness and how does it relate to the album’s overarching theme of drawing nearer to God?

The artwork was created by a great friend named Matt sheean.  We wanted something that was more than digital Photoshop style artwork. So we chose to go with a watercolor feel.
We got together with the artist before he developed it and we came up with the idea together.


As far as the science fiction theme; The final track on the album is called "perihelion". It refers to when the time of year that the earth is closest to the sun. We thought that was quite poignant in regards to being "near" to God.

We enjoyed the idea of the journey of a space traveler. It seemed to be a great allegory for our own personal journey through spiritual dryness.  There's  a comic inside the physical copy. Also, how often does a worship band have sci fi art for their music.


What’s the songwriting process like for Lovelite?

My wife and I are both involved in the writing process. I usually start the songs with a melody or a lyrical idea. It's usually very raw and unrealized. I then talk to to Jen and she helps craft it into a completed and understandable song. Every song is a collaboration between the two of us. Recently we've begun to write with the guy who produced our album, Tyler Chester as well as our guitar player, Adam Taylor.


Several months ago, Lovelite posted a video tutorial for “There You Are.” Do you plan on posting tutorials for any other songs in the future?

Haha. Yeah those are a lot of fun for us to do. We plan to do more. You might not be able to tell by the end result but it takes quite a bit of time for me to do those.


Are there any social justice or philanthropic organizations that the band’s really passionate about?

We are passionate about homelessness   We have been involved with the San Diego rescue mission for some of their events and we would love to continue to serve in that way.


I noticed that all of your upcoming shows are in your home state, California. Does Lovelite only do one-off dates? Or do you go on full tours around the country as well?

For most of our musical lives we've been mostly in California. We've recently started working with a new booking agent named mark mattingly at paradigm booking. We are hoping to play out more with this new relationship


Does Lovelite have any plans (tours, music videos, etc.) for 2011 yet?

Well we hope to participate next year in a lot the festivals as well as pursuing some touring. A music video is possibly in the works with a great filmmaker named Andy Reale. He works with come&live and he is incredible.  We also are working on more music. We love the writing and recording process


Get Lovelite's Nearness for FREE at comeandlive.com

For more info on Lovelite visit http://www.myspace.com/lovelite

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School: Arcadia University '11 Major: Accounting