The debut solo album from Warpaint guitarist Theresa Wayman has it all – LoveLaws is sexy, sensual, thought-provoking, but it’s also very vulnerable. From a very personal perspective, Wayman, branding herself as TT, has begun to explore different ideas that would otherwise be difficult in a band. It’s a reflection of her musical growth over her 14-year career, and of her fragility with people around her. Talking with TT about LoveLaws, the musician is as vulnerable and as pensive as her work.
“I didn’t realise that was [all] happening so much but I did want to be clear,” she says, “Saying what I meant and not to shroud in metaphor, so that definitely left me more vulnerable.”
TT’s album is heavily focused on the nature of relationships, the forms they take when you’re a travelling musician and the tumultuous pleasures that can be found in the rare ones that stick. One relationship that has been pivotal through TT’s career with Warpaint and indeed, surfaces on this album in several ways, is that which she shares with her son.
“I guess I found myself in a position where I did have to really think about how to be there for my son and do my work, my job that takes me away from him all the time. With those two things while trying to have a relationship, I had to come to terms with the fact that those three things don’t go together so well,” she says.
“In a way, I felt it was necessary to write about all this so I could kind of understand it and I feel like I’ve let go about some of the confusion I had. Now I’ve written about it in an album, I feel like I am more there for my son – not that I wasn’t before, but I do feel even more present with him – I can give him the time he needs and I’ve given myself what I need too by just being in my art, which helps facilitate me in a therapeutic way.
“I also think with my child, I have this unconditional love that I sometimes wonder if it’s even possible to have with someone who isn’t your kid. It’s set the bar really high and now I don’t really want to have anything in my life unless it feels as natural as that.”
TT wanted to ensure that her unique experiences were heard in a way that was her own, so she took her voice to another level and did something different to anything she’s done previously with Warpaint by pretty much playing every instrument heard on the album herself.
“I think just through the mere fact of really being able to hone in on what I was doing, and I had no time constraints, no studio worries or money worries, some kind of release date that doesn’t make sense because the album isn’t done yet – I got to hone in on doing things the way I wanted to and explore,” TT explains.
“That’s definitely going to lend itself to me finding new places in my voice, my musicality and my musicianship, and that was really fun and liberating.
“Nerve-wracking at times too,” she continues. “I usually can rely on my talented friends to chip in and this time I had to take it all for myself. I feel it was important to do, so I cold grow as a musician.”
TT talks about growth as a musician but her experiences with Warpaint, grateful as she is for her journey with the band, only went to serve her thirst for wanting to create more, play more, and share more.
“I started realising that I wanted to make all kinds of music in 2009, to make music on my own so I could explore any style I want,” TT says. “I think even back then, those early days, I was feeling like I couldn’t do as much as I wanted to do in Warpaint because we are a collaboration, so I’ve been slowly building to making [my] own album for many years.
“It’s hard being a mom and also having a career, to then try and interject another career. It took me a while.”
