With the steady rise of self-help culture since the dawn of the 20th century, our present moment of public displays of self-affection, widespread nonsensical therapy speak, and missing-the-point branding was pretty inevitable. While the movement’s decline into capitalist waters has long felt predatory, among its other victims are the artists who’ve been processing their feelings through music and other mediums long before the name “Dale Carnegie” meant anything to you, whose earnest lyrics about self-discovery require a little more thought in order to differentiate them from the mantras centered on Instagram infographics pulling from markedly LinkedIn aesthetics.
This may be why artists like Joanna Sternberg resonate so much with us. Descended from Daniel Johnston’s school of primitive emotion—and Joanna Newsom’s school of vocal deliveries to most effectively convey these emotions—their second album I’ve Got Me pushes the boundaries of what seemed possible on their 2019 debut. With Sternberg’s take on contemporary folk so singular that it often recalls the irreverent anti-folk movement, their new LP benefits most from Sternberg’s proficiency in each of the various instruments the collection of songs is crafted from, with the songwriter taking on cello, violin, and double bass duties in addition to the core guitar, piano, and percussion setup.
In hearing them discuss each song on I’ve Got Me, the lyrics were sourced from long-gestating feelings that needed to come out one way or another, while many of the instrumentals they ultimately paired these words with were nearly improvised (if not dreamed) ditties recorded to an iPhone during a flash of (sometimes inconvenient) inspiration. Don’t call it “self-help,” but these songs seem to benefit their author just as much as they do their listeners.
I’ve Got Me is out now via Fat Possum, and you can find it below along with a track-by-track breakdown Sternberg provided us with a guide through these 12 winding songs.
1. “I’ve Got Me”
I technically came up with the melody and chords of this song when I was in my junior year of high school! But I couldn’t come up with any lyrics so I just sang joke lyrics and the song remained stuck in my head until I finished it when I was 23. It’s a song about how everyone feels alone, so if we’re all alone together then are we even really alone? It’s meant to reflect the same sentiment as the poem “Oh, Yes” by Bukowski (I have it tattooed on my arm). I don’t remember if I read that poem before or after I completed the entire song. But I sure do love that poem!
2. “I Will Be with You”
I wrote this song immediately after drinking a giant Dunkin’ iced coffee! I had a half hour to kill before the orchestra I was a hired ringer in had to rehearse, and I was lucky enough to be alone in the room after just teaching a jazz ensemble class and there was a beautiful grand piano. Whenever I’m lucky enough to be alone with a piano, sometimes I’m able to come up with a song that seems to write itself. I probably wrote this song in a total of five minutes. I still play it exactly the same way as I played it back then—I even do the same wannabe Randy Newman piano part! I took a video and promptly posted it to Facebook after writing the song, but then I deleted it because someone said something to my friend (who then told me) that hurt my feelings about my singing and songwriting.
3. “People Are Toys to You”
I wrote this song when I was in one of my more irritated, stressed-out moods. I was upset with someone in my life and really needed to get my feelings out, so I wound up singing this into my phone as I hurried to the subway with my double bass because I was simultaneously late for a gig as I was singing the melody into my iPhone’s voice memos. I still have the voice memo! I probably wound up adding more lyrics and finishing touches when I got home that night. SoundCloud Pro told me that the person I wrote the song about listened to it three times after I initially posted it on Facebook. Whoops!
4. “Drifting on a Cloud”
I didn’t know that it’s actually a bad sign if you take a new antidepressant and feel intense effects from it immediately (usually it takes two to four weeks before you feel anything except for maybe uncomfortable side effects). My psychiatrist prescribed me Zoloft and it had the same effect as an opiate. I was high and happy for a good 12 hours until I crashed. I wound up having a really bad time taking Zoloft though. This song is just about any substance that gives you temporary relief until, of course, you come crashing down...
5. “Mountains High”
I wrote this song the same night that I wrote “Drifting on a Cloud.” Someone once said it reminded them of the Charlie Brown theme song, and remembering that always makes me laugh! I wrote it after being inspired by Cajun bands that have an accordian player repeating a melodic line/ostinato. It really makes me so happy to hear that type of music, and it inspired me to write this song! And the bridge melody was inspired by part of a Thelonious Monk piano solo. Can you guess which one?
6. “I’ll Make You Mine”
I wrote this song on the piano at a practice room at my college (The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music) in about five minutes. It sort of wrote itself. I was trying to write a Roy Orbison–inspired song. I think it’s cheesy and I get embarrassed singing it, but my mom said it has to be on the record so that was that!
7. “Stockholm Syndrome”
This song was sort of a surprise because I wrote it and initially really didn’t like it. I sent it to some friends who all loved it, and that really confused me because I was sure it was horrifically bad. I wound up finishing it and playing it at a show. It got a great response from the crowd, so from then on it was a keeper! I probably wrote it in my room late at night while noodling around on the guitar and recording it on my iPhone. I think the lyrics took a while to finish since I was sort of so stumped by the song and stuff. I guess it all worked out in the end!
8. “Right Here”
I wrote this song after not sleeping for probably 48 hours. I got home from a klezmer brunch gig (never too early for klezmer!) and I sat down at the piano. My parents were away, so I was able to freely write a song without being embarrassed of them overhearing me. The song really seemed to write itself, and I think I sort of instantly wrote it while playing it. I was surprised. I kept crying when I would finish the entire song, so I couldn’t send it to my friends until I finally was able to record a version of it where I wasn’t crying.
9. “The Love I Give”
I wrote this song while walking to the subway with my bass too! I was very inspired from listening to lots of George Jones and Merle Haggard, and I was really wanting to write a country-esque tune. I think I was lucky enough to actually come up with the words and the melody at the same exact time. I wish that happened to me more… The song is about how easily manipulated and how gullible I am. Now that I know I have Autism and ADHD it really helps me see exactly why I get taken advantage of so much.
10. “She Dreams”
This was the first song I ever wrote. The entire song miraculously came to me in a dream! The person I wrote it about was sleeping over in my room and I woke up and sang the entire song into my phone’s voice memos as the person lay there sleeping. Since then I always go to sleep hoping to wake up with another song, but it never has happened again! Oh well...
11. “The Human Magnet Song”
This song is about codependency/self-love deficit disorder. It’s based on Ross Rosenberg’s theory that everyone has a magnet inside of them and some people have a positive charge (meaning they have lots of self-love and are very self-oriented) and other people have a negative charge (meaning they focus on people-pleasing and wind up neglecting themselves). I read the book The Human Magnet Syndrome: Why We Love People Who Hurt Us and then I instantly wrote this song on my friend’s keyboard. I wrote it in 10 minutes and was proud of it because it was in F minor—usually all my songs are in C or G or A!
12. “The Song”
I wrote this song based on the year I dropped out of classical music conservatory. I wound up staying in my room listening to music, drawing comics, and watching the first nine seasons of The Simpsons on repeat. I was very lonely because my only friend had stopped talking to me. I was really hurt, but also knew that this person should not be in my life. I based the first few notes of the song off of the first few notes of Dvorak’s New World Symphony.
