When The Noisy’s Sara Mae asked their grandmother for a family sauce recipe, she rattled off the standard ingredients – eggs, shallots, parsley, tomatoes – and at least four or five different meats.
This encounter was the catalyst that led to Mae naming The Noisy’s latest album, The Secret Ingredient Is More Meat. More Meat is a colorful and vibrant ode to queer metamorphosis. Food is a central theme on the album, signifying an abundant world where everybody’s desires are sated and fulfilled. The music video for the album track “Morricone,” takes aesthetic cues from spaghetti western films and Tomie dePaola’s children’s book, Strega Nona, to create an otherworldly visual experience set to an ethereal, gliding soundtrack.
Cutting their teeth in the annals of Knoxville, Tennessee and later migrating to Philadelphia, Mae refined their craft and evolved their output into the crystalline indie pop project that we now know as The Noisy.
A Grrrl’s Two Sound Cents caught up with The Noisy to discuss their relationship to food and how it shaped the album, moving through grief, and who would headline their dream bill.
How and when did you get into making music and how has your approach to writing changed over the years?
My first EP was recorded on a cassette machine with my guitar teacher while I was in undergrad. I was a slam poet before I was a songwriter, and I think my lyricism has driven my songwriting more and more. The rhythm of the words helps me hear the melodies in my head. I’ve become more confident with this, and some of my best songs have come out of me writing the words first. On this album, “Twos” and “Tony Soprano” were written that way.
I love the color palette and aesthetics for the “Morricone” music video. What catalyzed the creative direction of the video?
This was a funny one because I had the vision for the music video before I had the song. In some ways, the lyrics aren’t my favorite because I felt like I was shoehorning them into a theme, but this song has seen so many lives. There’s a new version on the upcoming album. Anyways, the video was inspired by spaghetti westerns. The gratuitous violence of that genre made silly, mixed with the children’s book colors of Strega Nona and her spaghetti flood. It was the director’s idea to match the dress to the wallpaper, and so we had special fabric printed and they nailed it to the wall in their guest bedroom, where we filmed that scene.
The more I wrote into this album, the more I realized I was referencing food to create a sensory connection, to decorate a scene in my memory, to build aesthetic resonance. Like “Glass of Olives” or “Violet Lozenge.” Each already come with a small world attached to them.
– Sara Mae (The Noisy)
Another central theme on this album is moving through grief. What do you hope this album will be able to signify to people processing grief?
In a very basic sense, the best way to connect with music is to go on a long walk, listen, and feel your feelings. I hope this album can be a lever for that, an opening. I also learned while I was writing this album that grief deepened my relationship with love, with myself. It’s something to work with, not to ignore or be consumed by. It’s something to tend to.
The album is called ‘The Secret Ingredient Is More Meat’ and I find meat to be such a powerful symbol of burgeoning sexuality and hunger. What does meat signify on this project?
Well it’s a great euphemism. It’s also signifying an abundant world, where everyone is nourished. The [album] name originally came from when I asked my Gram for the family sauce recipe, and she listed four or five meats. I thought, so the secret ingredient is…. Just meat? Just so much meat? The more I wrote into this album, the more I realized I was referencing food to create a sensory connection, to decorate a scene in my memory, to build aesthetic resonance. Like “Glass of Olives” or “Violet Lozenge.” Each already come with a small world attached to them.
Since we already have the ball rolling with food talk, what’s your favorite dish of all time?
I grew up in Maryland, and the best crab cake of all time was at a Greek restaurant on the side of I-95 in the town where I grew up. It just closed this year. But I would say a crab cake with tartar sauce, fries, and a Blue Moon from Hella’s.
In a very basic sense, the best way to connect with music is to go on a long walk, listen, and feel your feelings. I hope this album can be a lever for that, an opening.
– Sara Mae (The Noisy)
If you had the opportunity to book a show with anyone in the world, what would be your dream bill?
OMG, Japanese Breakfast and Hop Along and Mannequin Pussy. And I would go first so I could stop being nervous and just enjoy the show after.
You just released your most recent single on the album, “Backlit.” Would you tell me a little more about the song?
Oh I’m so proud of this one!! You can watch the music video on YouTube. We all felt like “Backlit” had something special. The mastering engineer, Heather Jones, whose an angel and so talented by the way, told me they think this song RIPS. But it was a really collaborative writing process for this one. I had a riff that I used for an instrumental love song. And it felt like it never got its shine, and my good friend Josh, who really helped make these songs what they are, edited that riff and we built the song around that. I tried on so many different lyrics, we practiced different structures for it. We wanted it to have that feeling of “Diving Woman” by Japanese Breakfast, and I feel like it landed far away from that, because the harmonies at the end are such a highlight. Jacob Lawter, the album producer, said it has that quality like “The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac. Just such a drive to it. He did such an incredible job on this record. When he first mixed “Backlit,” I thought he had changed the tempo, but the drums just really came forward and had so much oomph.
What does the rest of the year have in store for The Noisy?
Tour!! We’ve got a few weekenders. The release show in Philly will include my friends at Permanent Vacation serving signature cocktails they designed to match the album. Tour is bookended by a dream show at MASS MoCA, a museum I used to work at, playing this amazing outdoor show called the Chalet. I already have a few new songs though, and I’m really antsy to start building out new work. I know so much more than I did when I wrote these, and I’m learning all the time. I look at Marina Allen’s new stuff, Finom’s new stuff, and I feel like there’s a sophisticated weirdness that I want to move towards, and I’m excited for the quiet that will allow me to get there.
KEEP UP TO DATE WITH THE NOISY
LISTEN