Hayley Coupon… “Works well with others…”

Hayley Coupon is quite modest (although she does consider herself to be quite skilled in certain areas).  Hayley Coupon is a NYC-based singer/songwriter and pianist.  In a recent chat...

Hayley Coupon is quite modest (although she does consider herself to be quite skilled in certain areas).  Hayley Coupon is a NYC-based singer/songwriter and pianist.  In a recent chat she told me that she’d rather not think about the roots of her music career, but admitted that she has had some inspiringly moving moments.  Coupon released her debut EP, Remembrance, this September.  The album balances a stripped, folk musicianship with a more playfully popular (yet still minimal) aesthetic.  She and I chatted recently.  Here’s everything she had to tell me.

Izzy Cihak: Your musical career is still relatively new.  What have been the highlights so far?

Hayley Coupon: How do you get to Carnegie Hall? By not recounting highlights of the first year.

IC: What do you feel is most important for fans and potential fans to know about Hayley Coupon?

HC: Fans and potential fans should know that Hayley Coupon works well with others, is a real team player and problem-solver, and has a sunny disposition and great computer skills.

IC: You recently released your Remembrance EP.  Have you had any favorite reactions to it?

HC: I can’t really rate reactions; suffice it to say that anyone who’s been moved by the music and let me know has, in turn, moved me.

IC: What do you consider to be your most significant influences and inspirations?

HC: The cadence of walking long distances, Billie Holiday, W.H. Auden’s “The More Loving One,” my high school’s jazz band, Alex North’s score for A Streetcar Named Desire, my sister’s sense of humor, William Blake, Janis Joplin’s performance of “To Love Somebody,” Henry Ford, Dia: Beacon, and the ever-elusive car ride in New York City.

IC: You recently released a cover of a Tame Impala song that has garnered quite a few hits on YouTube.  What is it that draws you to a particular song to the point that you want to offer your own take on it?  Do you feel like there are commonalities between the songs that you hold most dearly?

HC: Great lyrics and great melody is a powerful combination. I cover songs I wish I’d written.

The songs I hold most dearly come in many forms. Some burrowed under my skin for their artistry, others for the memories they are irrevocably bound to.

[youtube http://youtu.be/-Q-jVbdUm5s]

IC: What are your most significant hopes and plans for 2014?  Any chance of a full-scale tour?  If so, what can be expected of the live experience?

HC: To pay my rent and to stay healthy. There could be a chance … Take with you no expectations, no preconceived notions; just come see a show.

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Band Interviews

During the day Izzy Cihak teaches transgression, subversion, and revolution at Temple University. At night he haunts Philthy's best venues to cover worthwhile acts for Philthy Mag. Morrissey is everything to him and, in their own heads, all of his friends see themselves as Zooey Deschanel.

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