Lola Kirke suggested the introduction to this interview."Kirke walked in without a bra on and then spilled egg all over her breast," she offered, after letting me know that she is"the messiest eater in the world." We were sitting in Café Mogador in New York City's East Village, talking about her new EP Friends and Foes and Friends Again, which drops today.
Friends and Foes and Friends Again contains the musical influence of old-school country music—a genre which Kirke said she was introduced to by her sister, Jemima, who"has a flair for the camp and tragic, which I think is the country niche"—but isn't merely a retread of the past."I don't think that the songs are just that straightforward representation of good old country," Kirke said.
Kirke mentioned country legend Tammy Wynette as an artist whose tumultuous life informed her work, even if it wasn't exactly reflected in it. She said of Wynette:"Her hair is falling out, so she's wearing a wig, and she's married to a guy [George Jones] that is possibly the most impossible husband to have, and she's singing 'Stand By Your Man.' [There's a] constant tension between what the language is and what the sentiment behind it is.