Alison Stewart: You're listening to All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. Annie DiRusso released her anticipated debut album, Super Pedestrian. NPR says the album has "no skips," and calls the record a glorious debut. She's been on tour for years with some of the biggest names in indie music, from HAIM to Samia. Now, she is by herself on her own tour. Annie's songwriting is both confessional and fun, full of introspective songs, straight talk, and some pure rock and roll. Super Pedestrian is out now, and we're joined by Annie DiRusso, who's going to perform live for us in studio. Hi, Annie.

Annie DiRusso: Hi. Thanks so much for having me.

Alison Stewart: Okay, what are we going to hear first?

Annie DiRusso: We're going to play a song called the Wearing Pants.

Alison Stewart: You want to set this up a little bit or just play it?

Annie DiRusso: You know what? Sure, I'll set it up. [laughs] This song I wrote back in Nashville in July during a month I like to call "Party July."

Alison Stewart: We'll talk about that in a minute.

Annie DiRusso: Okay, great. Okay. Can't wait. With my good friend Ruston Kelly. Today, playing the part of Ruston Kelly is Eden Joel.

Alison Stewart: All right, let's listen.

Annie DiRusso: Here we go.

[MUSIC - Annie DiRusso: Wearing Pants Again]

Started wearing pants again

Body is awake

But my brain is dead

Flies on the walls

Gunshots over East Park

Find them when they fall

Covering my backyard

Started picking up again

Left for the last song

Can't see how it ends

He's a shark among men

He kissed me in the kitchen

Break, I never bend

I'm drunk and I don't listen

Now I love pain as it's settling in

I went to your show

God, I wish that I didn't

Love the sound of water as it's swallowing me whole

Hate the way my new room smells

I keep picturing the guy who just moved out

Was he drinking in the bed

Did his girlfriend hate him

The air is thick and gray

From burning all this sage and

I can't breathe

I love pain as it's settling in

I went to your show

God, I wish that I didn't

Love the sound of water as it's swallowing me whole

I love pain as it's settling in

I think I said too much

God, I wish that I didn't

Love the sound of water as it's swallowing me whole, whole

Started wearing pants again

I think I like the way they fit

Alison Stewart: That was Annie DiRusso. You have a beautiful tone.

Annie DiRusso: Thank you so much.

Alison Stewart: Your voice, especially when you hit those high notes. It's just this beautiful round tone. When did you discover you could sing?

Annie DiRusso: [chuckles] That's an awesome question. I think I always hoped I could because I love to sing, but, yes, I didn't really know I could when I was younger. No one in my family does music. I just always loved to sing. I started playing the guitar, but I didn't practice that much. I only wanted to play it so I could sing, so then I switched to doing vocal lessons and stuff like that when I was probably 11. Then I actually joined the Young People's Chorus of New York City when I was 13 or something, 12, 13. I feel like that was very formative for me, and really learning how to sing.

Alison Stewart: What do you remember from that time that you still use with your voice?

Annie DiRusso: I think that the breathing techniques, especially for choral music, it's very important. Also, when you're singing in a chorus, you have to almost homogenize your tone a little bit so that it's not too sticky. You want it to sound like a unit, and I think that's a very, very helpful skill.

Alison Stewart: When you decided to put out your debut album, what did you decide? You wrote a list of non-negotiables?

Annie DiRusso: Yes, I did. [chuckles]

Alison Stewart: What did you want on that list?

Annie DiRusso: I wanted every word on the album to be a word I would stand by for as long as possible. It's hard to say forever, but for as long as possible. Every sound on the album, my whole thing with the album. Eden is here, who actually made the album with me. We worked on it together.

Eden Joel: Hi.

[laughter]

Annie DiRusso: What did we talk about? We talked about no stone unturned. That was huge.

Eden Joel: Yes, we talked a lot about standing by all the words you were saying, and not trying to stay with the blinders up and just making stuff that we were stoked about and not necessarily thinking about how it was going to be received, I guess.

Annie DiRusso: Yes, it was very much like, "Let's just make stuff that we think is cool and not worry about what other people are going to think is cool.

Eden Joel: Which is shockingly tough to do sometimes.

Alison Stewart: Why was that hard?

Annie DiRusso: I think the instinct is you want people to think that your music is cool. Especially having come up as a woman in the indie music scene in Nashville, there was something in the past that I'd felt like I really want to prove that, instead of just being a singer-songwriter or something like that, I really want to prove that I can be a cool rock musician and a cool whatever. That never serves me to try to make something that specific people are going to think is cool.

I feel like what has always served me is to just make-- and served me in the sense of, like, I just love the stuff at that point, if I just make stuff that I think is cool. We were so hyped. Neither of us had done a lot of production before. We started with the song Legs on the record. We just stayed up all night one night working on it, and we felt like we discovered something. It felt like we were kids again. That was the thing we wanted to hold on to when making the record.

Alison Stewart: How did you want people to be introduced to your music or to discover your music who had never heard you before?

Annie DiRusso: Like, what would be my ideal way?

Alison Stewart: Yes.

Annie DiRusso: Honestly, I really love playing live, so I think opening for people is my favorite way that people discover my music. I feel like my live show is a really great introduction to the project.

Alison Stewart: My guest is Annie DiRusso. She's performing from her debut album, Super Pedestrian. It's out now. Like you said, you toured a lot with HAIM and Samia. What did you learn from touring with those acts and observing them that you thought, "That's important. I should know that. I should keep that in the back of my mind"?

Annie DiRusso: Wow. Yes, that's another amazing thing about opening. I honestly love opening. I've been lucky to open for so many of my favorite artists, and they've all taught me different things. I feel like Samia is such a great example of someone who really delivers each word to the audience. The words are obviously so important in her music, and I learned that from her. Honestly, a lot about health on the road and vocal health and stuff like that has been very important to learn from all different people I've toured with.

Also, just understanding how to put on a show and how long you want the set list to be and where to-- It is challenging, too. Especially now that I have a record out, I have a bigger discography than ever. To create the flow of a show is very challenging to try and have the moments where it's big and small. I feel like I learned that a lot from the different people I've toured with.

Alison Stewart: You mentioned Party July at the top of this interview.

Annie DiRusso: Sure. Right at the top. [chuckles]

Alison Stewart: Tell me a little bit about what happened during Party July.

Annie DiRusso: I would love to.

[laughter]

Annie DiRusso: Party July was July 2023. I had just gotten off tour for my EP. We were on tour for a long time, like two and a half months or something like that. I don't drink or smoke on tour because I don't want to get sick. I'd just been in this phase when I was writing that EP and when I was touring it. I was just nose to the ground. I didn't really feel like I was living.

I was just thinking about making stuff, which I don't think is really a great way to make stuff, to be honest. I learned that because also I was on tour with 10 of my friends. There was a band from Nashville also opening for us. It was just 11 of us running around the country for two months, but I had to be such a bummer because I couldn't hang or do anything. I had to go to sleep and stuff, so I was like, "When we get back to Nashville, it's Party July."

Alison Stewart: [laughs]

Annie DiRusso: I want my turn. I want to hang. I want to do the whole thing.

Eden Joel: The rest of us were exhausted and tired. [chuckles]

Annie DiRusso: I was like, "No, no, no." Honestly, I also knew that I had to start thinking about my debut record. In the past, I'd gotten back from like, "Okay, I need to write," and then just gotten so depressed because from going around with 11 people all the time to being completely alone and being like, "What do I want to write about?" That time we drove through Texas, there's nothing to write about. I basically just was like, "I'm going to start living life, partying a little bit, living like a 23-year-old," and that's what I did. I just did a bunch of stuff. It wasn't just partying. I was just saying yes to things instead of being like, "No, I've got to stay home and write." I was like, "Why don't I go do stuff?" I wrote three or four of the songs from the record in Party July.

Alison Stewart: Well, because you had experience.

Annie DiRusso: I had something to say, yes.

Alison Stewart: Let's listen to another song, Annie DiRusso. What are we going to listen to next?

Annie DiRusso: This next song, I'm going to tune my guitar, is a song called Back In Town.

Alison Stewart: Oh, I like this song.

Annie DiRusso: Thanks. This is not a Party July one. I think this was an October piece.

[laughter]

Eden Joel: This was in peaceful October.

[laughter]

Annie DiRusso: It's a yearning song about wanting to give someone your all if they would just let you, but also not really saying that and acting like you don't care at all.

Alison Stewart: This is Annie DiRusso.

Annie DiRusso: This is called Back In Town.

[MUSIC - Annie DiRusso: Back In Town]

Swore I would take to my grave the fact I changed my flight

Out of Chicago

Just so I'd see you one more time

Met you at that beach you love on the northside

You told me your friend said I've got pretty eyes

But you don't tell your friends you love me all the time

Now you're somewhere in Idaho letting me down again

Yeah I know I should know by now

I heard from a friend you're still sleeping around

But give me a call when you're back in town

I wanna give you my all when you're back in town

When you're back, you're back

When you're back, you're back

When you're back, you're back

When you're back, you're back

I hope you don't think I'm just waiting around

But give me a call when you're back in town

Well I keep sending you books I know you'll never read

Guess it's all I can give that's not all of me

Wrote some things in the margins I hoped you might see

But they just sit in your room where I'd kill to be

I've never been in your room and it's killing me

When you're back, you're back

When you're back, you're back

When you're back, you're back

When you're back, you're back

I hope you don't think I'm just waiting around

But give me a call when you're back in town

Wanna call you up just to see where you're at

Saw it in your eyes that night the train was packed

You know I'd be your girl if you would only ask

Don't tell me everything just tell me when you're back

Heard you're back in town

I can't handle this

If you want me now

You know where I live

When you're back, you're back

When you're back, you're back

When you're back, you're back

When you're back, you're back

I hope you don't think I'm just waiting around

But give me a call when you're back in town

Wanna call you up just to see where you're at

Saw it in your eyes that night the train was packed

You know I'd be your girl if you would only ask

Don't tell me everything just tell me when you're back

Alison Stewart: That was Annie DiRusso. Her new album is called Super Pedestrian. I can't wait till you're older and you write a song called I Don't Care That You're Back in Town.

[laughter]

Annie DiRusso: Next album. Next album.

Alison Stewart: That's what made me think of it. That's one thing I loved about it, because I remember that feeling of the person. You can't wait till they're back in town. Now, I'm like, "Oh, whatever."

[laughter]

Annie DiRusso: It's like, "Miss me with that. I don't care."

Alison Stewart: You're from New York, right? Croton-on-Hudson.

Annie DiRusso: Correct.

Alison Stewart: Then you went down to Nashville?

Annie DiRusso: Yes.

Alison Stewart: Then you just moved to Queens?

Annie DiRusso: I did, yes.

Alison Stewart: Why did you want to come back to New York?

Annie DiRusso: I always knew I would at some point. My family's still in New York, and I have a lot of friends here. Honestly, I just love it here. After Party July and everything where I took my break to write the record, that was the first time I was in Nashville for a while after I'd graduated college, because I was touring pretty extensively up to that point. When I got back there, it was honestly really great to be there and write my record, but I realized I was just taking that same walk every day, seeing all the same people and lovely people.

I thought, "I think I could do this later in life. I think right now, I want to live at maybe a higher frequency." I just felt like all the days were starting to blend together. About a year ago, my best friend from childhood had a room open up in her apartment in Chinatown. I was like, "Okay, I'll just sublet for January." As soon as I got here, I was like, "I feel so engaged with life." I never moved back. I just sublet around this year and, yes, just moved to Queens.

Alison Stewart: How has your writing changed since you moved to New York?

Annie DiRusso: Honestly, this year was a lot of touring for me, which is always a little bit hard writing-wise, but it was really fun to write with the people in my band. New York is very exciting to write about because I feel like every day is so different. There are so many things to do all of the time and so much to observe. It's honestly just a much wider spectrum. I feel like what I'm learning is to figure out where to focus in.

Alison Stewart: I want to get to your last song so we don't run out of time. What are you going to play for us?

Annie DiRusso: We are going to play a newer song. This came out on the deluxe version of the record last month. We actually just wrote it in August and finished it in November, so it was a pretty quick turnaround. I think it has more of the juice of what's going on writing-wise for me these days.

Eden Joel: The New York juice.

[laughter]

Annie DiRusso: That New York juice for sure. Yes, this song is called Muck.

Alison Stewart: This is Muck, and this is Annie DiRusso and Eden, right?

Eden Joel: Yes, good job.

Alison Stewart: Thank you.

Annie DiRusso: All right, here we go. [chuckles]

Eden Joel: Scary.

Annie DiRusso: We were practicing this in the apartment this morning. Kind of just--

Eden Joel: [chuckles]

Annie DiRusso: All right.

[MUSIC - Annie DiRusso: Muck]

I told you yesterday swimming in the Hudson

You went and spread my legs, letting all the muck in

The days getting shorter again

I'm spending them all on you

You're meeting me at the station

Don't know what I wanna do

I guess what's wrong

Is when we're kissing, we can't talk

But when we're talking, we can't kiss

I watch your lips, but I love the things you say

And when I'm gone, and we can't kiss and we can't talk

It's just my thoughts

You're just my thoughts

You're all my thoughts

You're all I think about

We're making out at departures

My blood drying on your hand

It's always been so much harder

I'm starting to understand

I guess what's wrong

Is when we're kissing, we can't talk

But when we're talking, we can't kiss

I watch your lips, but I love the things you say

And when I'm gone, and we can't kiss and we can't talk

It's just my thoughts

You're just my thoughts

You're all my

You're all I think about

I don't think about the road when I'm driving

But I think about death when I'm flying

I don't think about the song when I'm writing

I just think about you

I don't think about my breath 'til I'm running

I don't think about love 'til I'm loving

I don't think about sex when we're mucking

I just think about you

Only think about you

I guess what's wrong

Is when we're kissing, we can't talk

But when we're talking, we can't kiss

I watch your lips

'Cause you're all I think about

Alison Stewart: You did it.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: That was Annie DiRusso and Eden Joel, who are laughing. You'll tell me. Why are you laughing?

Annie DiRusso: No, no, no. We just had such a great time.

Eden Joel: It was just the best-- [laughs]

Annie DiRusso: Did I curse on that or no?

Eden Joel: I don't know.

Alison Stewart: I don't think you did.

Eden Joel: I don't think so.

Annie DiRusso: All right.

Alison Stewart: They don't seem that concerned in the control room. They said no. Thumbs up.

Annie DiRusso: I am shocked. Thank you so much. This was awesome.

Alison Stewart: The name of the album is Super Pedestrian. Thanks for coming in.

Annie DiRusso: Thanks for having us.