ANDREW LIMBONG, HOST:
Breaking up sucks. When a relationship crumbles, it can leave you feeling adrift, hurt, angry, unmoored - all these feelings jumbled into one miserable stew. It's not a great feeling. But those of us on the outside of the relationship should be a little grateful heartbreak hurts so bad because it's given us some excellent breakup records - "Rumours," "Blood On The Tracks," "Exile In Guyville," "Igor," "Sour," "Melodrama" and on and on and on and on. And now, the musician Cate Le Bon has thrown her hat into the ring with her new album, "Michelangelo Dying."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HEAVEN IS NO FEELING")
CATE LE BON: What does she want? Oh, yeah.
LIMBONG: And she joins us now. Hi, Cate.
LE BON: Hello. Hi.
LIMBONG: So the story of this album is that you were working on something different - right? - a follow-up to your 2022 album "Pompeii," which was a huge critical success. And then a heartbreak happened. And at what point did you realize that you just needed to shift and work on something new?
LE BON: Well, I think I'd been trying to outrun heartache and convincing myself I was doing a pretty good job. But, you know, I was really just carrying it around with me.
LIMBONG: Is songwriting a natural source of comfort for you? Like, when you feel stressed out in your day to day, do you find yourself, like, laying down bass tracks or something?
LE BON: (Laughter) It's what I like to try and experience and make sense of things by either, you know, writing melodies or within arrangements. But writing this record felt like a very necessary tool. It was, you know, something needed to be dealt with, put down, so that I could...
LIMBONG: Expunged, exercised, all those things, right?
LE BON: Oh, yeah, completely. You know, so that I could, you know, hope to make something that isn't about heartache afterwards, you know?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOVE UNREHEARSED")
LE BON: (Singing) She's a real contender for a marble face.
LIMBONG: If you're just joining us, we're talking to Cate Le Bon about her new album, "Michelangelo Dying." You are a sought-after producer and collaborator, right? You've worked with, like, Wilco, St. Vincent and all these other people. You know, you had mentioned before that you were working on a lot of other artists' records. What have you learned from producing other artists that you have been applying to making your own music?
LE BON: I mean, there's so much, you know? I've been so lucky. I think Brad - working with Bradford Cox was like 20 years of experience in one, you know, recording session.
LIMBONG: This is Bradford Cox from Deerhunter, right?
LE BON: Yeah.
LIMBONG: Yeah.
LE BON: Yeah. You know, it was - Bradford really taught me how to be - take up the space that was mine in a studio. You know, Annie - St. Vincent - she's brilliant. She's so, like, activated and so - you know, music is everything to her. And, you know, a band like Horsegirl, I was completely blown away by how brilliant they were at communicating with each other and making each other feel seen and heard. And, you know, that is something that is so important but often missed, you know, in a studio.
LIMBONG: It's like you're building up a super team of indie rock stars.
LE BON: (Laughter).
(SOUNDBITE OF CATE LE BON SONG, "RIDE (FEAT JOHN CALE)")
LIMBONG: Speaking of rock stars, the great John Cale shows up as a guest feature on this record. You know...
LE BON: Yeah.
LIMBONG: ...Listeners will know him as, you know, the composer, former member of The Velvet Underground. The song that he's on - right? - if I'm not mistaken - right? - he's the one that sings, like, it's the last ride, right?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RIDE (FEAT JOHN CALE)")
LE BON: (Singing) It's a ride.
JOHN CALE: (Singing) It's the last ride.
LIMBONG: There's one part where he says - instead of, it's the last ride, he says, it's my last ride.
LE BON: Yeah.
LIMBONG: Was that an ad lib on his part?
LE BON: It was. Yeah. Yeah.
LIMBONG: Did he go rogue? What did you think when you heard that?
LE BON: (Laughter) Rogue.
LIMBONG: That seemed like a kind of a pointed statement.
LE BON: He sings, it's my last ride. It's their last ride - you know, something so personal and becomes something so universal. And, you know, if I'm totally honest, when I first heard it, I just burst into tears (laughter). And yeah, you know, it's the power of John Cale and his voice.
LIMBONG: Cate Le Bon, thank you. Thank so much for taking your time, and congratulations on the album. It's really great.
LE BON: Oh, thank you so much. Thank you for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF CATE LE BON SONG, "RIDE (FEAT JOHN CALE)") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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