When Hobbyhorse first heard Aoede, we were immediately struck by Lisa’s unique voice, their songs, which are both intimate and catchy, and the personal and musical chemistry between Lisa and David. Aoede’s music has really grown on us. The more we listen to and get to know Aoede, the more we like them.
Aoede is a folk-laced, pop-rock San Francisco trio of Lisa Sniderman, David Sands, and John Walden.
Mini-Interview with Hobbyhorse and Lisa Sniderman of Aoede
Hobbyhorse: Tell me more about the name of your band. Aoede is an unusual word. I was wondering where it came from and what it means to you. And do people have
trouble pronouncing it?
Lisa: In Greek mythology, Aoede was one of the three
original Muses, though there were later nine. Her
sisters were Melete and Mneme. Aoede was the muse of
song. I found that the concept of muse resonates
strongly with me-permeating my life and art-inspiring
and connecting with others through my words and music,
and life’s imagined and real events pouring through me
and into my music. Using Aoede as a band name has been
a good conversation starter-people tend to ask what
the word means, and I can tell them why it has meaning
to me, but yes, it can be hard to pronounce-I usually
just say it sounds like AED…
Hobbyhorse: Your songs have a very personal quality. Do events in your own life inspire you to write?
Lisa: I write a lot about life’s events-my own, those who
are close to me, sometimes, those who have no
voice-there are times I feel helpless to deal with a
lot of the bad/negative stuff that happens to people I
care about and in the world around me-the social or
environmental injustices, inequities or abusive
relationships, death. Other times its about where I’m
at and taking my real or imagined experiences and
somehow making them more accessible and universal.
Putting words to music is a way for me to both express
what I feel about these issues and affect and
hopefully resonate with people who’ve been there and
can say, yeah, I feel that too…We played a song
called “Who Will Bless Them” once at a Project
Homeless Connect event at the Civic Auditorium in San
Francisco. I wrote it some time ago based on my
experience continually observing homeless people and
others in need, and from a place of compassion. We got
to play the song and reach the same people I wrote it
for…that was real connection for me…
Hobbyhorse:When you play live or when someone listens to
your recordings, what do you hope that they get from your music?
Lisa: I hope my listeners can feel the place the music has
come from and is going…I hope they can connect with
me on a more personal level and are inspired by the
range of expression-that the songs are a reflection of
themselves in some way-make them say, I want to keep
listening, I could have written that-that describes
how feel…I can really relate-I’ve been there
too…mostly, I hope they are a little lighter and
have more joy in their hearts from listening.
A note from Aoede: “We are excited to announce and promote the release of our new album, Push and Pull …after nearly a year of recording and mixing, we’re finally complete and pressing it now! I Lost You Win, featured on this site, is a single from the album-we’ve also begun shooting a video for it!”
“We’re having a Pre-Release special to order the CD at
a discounted rate through March: email lis@aoedemuse.com, indicating you saw Aoede’s feature on Hobbyhorse’s page to receive the discounted rate ($12).
please go to our new website for details (click on store button) and upcoming shows and tour:
www.aoedemuse.com
“thanks to Hobbyhorse for featuring us!”