Louise Goffin

THE ALBUM
“When you set out trying to capture people with your songs, you never affect them as much as you would if you’re just being honest and writing for yourself,” says Louise Goffin of the music captured on her DreamWorks Records debut, Sometimes A Circle (released Feb. 12, 2002). “I accumulated songs that were personal and moving to me, and they became this record.” The album was produced by Greg Wells (Creeper Lagoon, Amy Correia, Rufus Wainwright).
“Sometimes A Circle”: It’s about just what it says: “Sometimes a circle feels like a direction.” Sometimes I’ll think I’m going somewhere new until an objective observer says, “Haven’t you been here before?” I rode in the sideways elevator at the Luxor hotel in Vegas and I thought it was a funny metaphor for striving to achieve something, except that instead of going up, you’re traveling sideways.
“Instant Photo”: This one’s about stripping life down to the bare essentials. It’s about putting a stop to running in the rat race and constantly questing to make money.
“Sleep With Me Instead”: This is about the absurdity of having a crush on your best friend, and how it’s really good news for you when he breaks up with his girlfriend and wants to come cry on your shoulder. It has an old-fashioned, Patsy Cline feel to it. We used an octagon – it’s a grandma-style, push-button, plastic record player. We were playing with it while we wrote the song, and when I got to the recording studio, I realized the song really needed that vibe. Once we got the octagon in the studio, everything just fell into place.
“I Can’t Remember Why”: It’s about dealing with regret and how childish you can be. When you’re in the moment, anger can just be so important to you. Years later, though, you see the person you had all this anger for and you think to yourself, “They’re actually quite a lovely person.”
“What If I Were Talking To Me”: This is about having an argument with your lover and eventually realizing you’re arguing with yourself; you’re unconsciously projecting your problems onto this other person. As far as the sound, I was out getting coffee one day and heard a funky bit of music, something Sly Stone-ish, and I thought, “Hmm, I don’t have anything like that on the record … ”
“Only Water”: “Only Water” is a pretty dark, unlikely scenario. It’s about falling in love at first sight – in this case with a guy who’s driving a car that’s about to run you over. In that split second, your eyes meet and he acknowledges his love for you by swerving off the road, over the side of a bridge. He dies, but spares your life.
“Saved By The Bell”: This is an intimate, haunting piano song, and one of the loneliest on the record. It’s about how the voice of someone you love, how just that sound can lift you from the depths of the direst day.
“Just Bone And Breath”: This draws on the experience of being in the middle of a dramatic relationship, where the man is threatened by the woman’s strength and keeps trying to hold her down. When you’re involved in that kind of situation, you know you’re not in something healthy and empowering, yet something keeps drawing you back.
“Clicking To The Next Slide”: I was thinking about Viewmasters. Remember those things you held up to your eyes that showed you little slides? I decided to write a song about views and what they represent, how you can change how you feel by changing what you see – escapism.
“Light In Your Eyes”: An optimistic song that sums up how different I felt after finding the right partner for me. People are always trying to steer me away from writing this kind of song, but I’m, like, “Burt Bacharach is cool!”
“What A Waste Of A Perfectly Good Hotel Room”: I wrote this with Steve Bogard, a Nashville songwriter. My publisher put us together and I had no idea what would come out of it. As an aside, Steve played me this cute little country ditty he’d written for his wife that talked about how much he missed her. It had a Hank Williams feel to it. I asked if he’d mind if I changed the music, and we worked together on the lyrics and finished it in one day.
“Quiet Anesthesia”: I wrote this in England. It’s about my father, who fell ill and was prescribed a lot of medications. The doctors deadened his senses, which got him no closer to any healing.