A Chat With: COTE
Brooklyn based singer-songwriter Taryn Randall (AKA COTE) took some time to chat with us this week about her "classic songwriter" influences, her migration to New York City, how she spends her free time in Brooklyn, and what's next for her as far as music and tour. During our conversion, COTE mentioned she's already drawn some comparisons to Fleetwood Mac, which definitely comes across in her latest single "Cruel." While she's only got four songs out at the moment, each have their own distinct vibe, like the hypnotic and delicate "Golden Hour," or "London," with its blend of synths and twangy guitars. Get to know more about this fresh and diverse artist by reading our chat with COTE:
COTE, courtesy of Danger Village.
ANCHR Magazine: So do you want to start just by telling me a little about yourself and how you got into making music? All that fun stuff!
COTE: Yeah, totally. So I have been working on music for a long time. I was in a few bands in LA, nothing that ever really took off or even that I really put that much into. I think I’ve been in the process of writing always, really. I did a lot of musical theater in high school, I have a lot of people in my family who are musical. It’s kind of been a part of my life from the beginning. With this album, I kinda started writing when I moved to New York, which was almost five years ago now. I wrote for about four years, started recording. Yeah, it kind of all came together, even though it wasn’t necessarily my original intent. After writing for a while, it just sort of felt like “OK, I have all of these songs” and that sort of became the next step.
AM: Very cool, so did you feel a little bit more inspired after moving to New York?
COTE: Yeah, definitely! For sure, I felt like when I was in LA, I was kind of writing what I thought people wanted to hear. I was a lot more focused on what was going to get a good reaction or if it was “cool enough.” When I moved to New York, it was so much more this therapeutic process, and because I was writing without the intention of anyone ever really hearing these songs, I really just wrote what I wanted to write. That went into melody, that went lyrics, and for me it was this transitional time. That’s what this album ended up being I think because I was a little more free of expectations of other people and what I thought they wanted to hear. I was able to be a lot more honest and write something that really felt like a good picture of myself.
AM: Yeah, it’s always best to stay true to yourself even if it’s hard at first. That’s typically when you’ll feel best about your work!
COTE: Yeah, absolutely!
"London"- COTE
AM: So do you have any sort of songwriting habits, like is there a certain time that you find yourself writing, or inspiration hits you at random points?
COTE: Yeah you know it’s funny, I almost always start with melody. So that will come to me at really any time. I mean there’s been times where I’ve woken up in the middle of the night, grabbed my phone and just recorded a melody that was in my head. I also constantly forget everything that I come up with, so I have to record everything all the time. I always just start with melody and if something just feels like a natural fit then yeah I’ll put lyrics to it. There’s times when I’m really intentional and I’ll say “I’m going to sit down and write a song” and kind of mess around with some chords, and if I hear something I’ll go from there. But most of the time, it comes from me just doing my day to day life.
AM: Do you draw inspiration from any other art mediums at all, like film?
COTE: Yeah I feel like I’m constantly looking and open to that inspiration, though I don’t know if it’s ever intentional. I don’t feel that I’m seeking it out, but there are things that are always striking me. I feel like so much of my writing inspiration just comes from other music, whatever I’m hearing. Whether that’s current bands, usually it’s older bands. Or just older compositions. I really am just very melody driven, so there will be things from classical [music] or opera that will kind of drive me into a feeling or a mood and then I can kind of write from that place.
AM: Yeah, very cool. So are there any particular bands that you look to as influences? Either current or older ones?
COTE: Yeah, I love Fleetwood Mac, I know that I get a lot of comparisons there. I think they’re awesome and forever amazing. I love, like lyrically, I really love everything Paul Simon does. I’m a big Paul Simon fan. I listen to a lot of older music, so Springsteen, Neil Young, all of those guys are kinda my jam.
AM: For sure, the classic songwriters!
COTE: Yeah, I think that’s really like the position that I come from. Yes like you said, the classic songwriter place. It’s interesting, there are a lot of bands that I love. I mean current people that I love are Jenny Lewis, War on Drugs, and The National... I love. Just like good rock’n’roll! Whether that’s older or current, those are my biggest...I love all of them. But other than that, I’m not insanely aware of the current music scene. I’m trying to get a lot more into it, but it’s really overwhelming and there’s like 50 thousand genres and directions and there’s a lot more out there now. I just end up reverting back to my old favorites most of the time.
AM: Nothing wrong with that! So what’s the story behind the name of this project [COTE]. I know you mentioned you’ve been in other bands so where did you come to find this name?
COTE: So for COTE, well the French definition of “Cote” is coast, so I really liked that. But I was looking, when I was kind of coming along to that I found that one of the English definitions is “to pass by” and so I felt like the English version kind of fit me better. There’s been a lot of transitions and moving and life changes and career changes and all of these things that were kind of encompassing this whole process of writing for me. This album, all of that, was a big change, and so it felt like that name was appropriate.
AM: Oh yeah that makes so much sense!
COTE: Yeah, there’s always going to be some intent and then there’s also like “Oh, it just kind of sounded good.” You know, it’s gotta be a combination of both.
AM: Yeah, so then is there any other news coming up, like a tour or full length [album] in the works?
COTE: Yeah, so right now we’re gearing up. We’re trying to get a show on the calendar for probably March or April. The album will be out this year. It is done, so there’s a full length. I don’t have word on timing yet...there’s a lot of decisions to be made. Yeah, it’s been such an interesting process for me. Obviously I’ve never really done this before in this capacity so there’s so many people involved and meetings and conversations. We will eventually narrow down everything, and the album will be out so…"this year” is all I have for you. But there’s a show in New York, definitely in the spring. I would assume once the album comes out probably a small tour, probably nothing too big. That’s not totally my vibe, but we’ll be around. We’ll try to get out to the different cities hopefully by the end of the year.
AM: Very cool! So kind of a fun question now, what’s your favorite thing to do in Brooklyn, like your favorite music venues, food spots, shops, etc…?
COTE: Yeah totally! Oh gosh, so I’m a big homebody. I’m always home. I have my local bars that I’m at, kind of all the time. One Stop Beer Shop is the most common one. That’s kind of my local spot. Venues? There’s some good venues. There was one called Manhattan Inn, but it just closed. I loved that vibe. But you know, Music Hall of Williamsburg is great. There’s a lot of good venues around here! Gosh, what else do I do? You know, this is super nerdy, but I’ve been going to those escape rooms. Have you been to any of them?
AM: Yeah, I did one with my work team!
COTE: They’re so fun and hilarious!
AM: I know, it’s always a panic at the end.
COTE: They have one in Greenpoint, which is the neighborhood I’m in. My friends and I have been doing that more than we should, but we’ve been enjoying that.
AM: What’s your favorite escape room theme that you’ve done?
COTE: We just did this one called Murder Mystery and it was terrifying. It was like a haunted house. But we still got out in 40 minutes!