Anti-Tour Diary: Lia Ices
Mar 19, 2015
Sunday morning on the farm.
It’s wildflower season! We have acres of calendula growing, and this morning, I harvested a bunch… these are the little flower-heads I’m drying out. Eventually, I’ll use them to make oil. It’s a natural tonic, and amazing for your skin!
I love a Sunday drive because I always work out my best ideas and lyrics while in motion (running, driving, in an airplane)…
Here I am in Winters, California, where I’ve set up my music studio for the next couple of months. The little farm cottage is on a walnut orchard. I find so much satisfaction in the rows and rows of trees. It’s like a living Agnes Martin grid painting!
Every week, we bring you on the magic carpet ride that is a rock band’s tour schedule. So far, we’ve followed Sunflower Bean through the East Coast, then zoomed through Manchester with PINS and hung out in East L.A. with Wrongchilde. And let’s not forget our sweep through Austin, Texas during SXSW.
[Editor’s note: our music guru, Liza Darwin, is getting lots of frequent flier miles this month, huh?]
But when the experimental rock singer / artist / Gap model Lia Ices asked if she could contribute to our site, she had a slightly different idea: Send us some photos of her glorious stay-cation in Napa Valley, California. She makes music; her fiancé makes wine (don’t worry, he is not the cheesy guy from The Bachelor), and together, they documented a “typical” Sunday.
Lia says, “A year and a half ago I moved from Hudson, New York to Sonoma, California. Here’s a brief glimpse into my new whereabouts! I decided to document a Sunday waking up in Sonoma, driving over the mountains across Napa, and into the northern central valley of Winters, California, where I am currently working. I love making my music in the country, because I think there is an inherent openness that comes when I am creative in nature. I also think it’s essential (for me at least) to switch up your surroundings and create new ways of being.”
Click through the gallery above to see Lia in her (new) natural habitat, then visit her website for some fresh songs for your playlist.
Credits
- Napa Valley, California, shot by Lia Ices.
FUN FACT
White-tailed deer are native to Sonoma, and can often be seen by morning joggers.