Her Castles in the Sand

Pegged as a country artist when she first emerged in the mid-’80s, k.d. lang has eluded pigeonholing in her 17-year career by veering from campy roots-rock to classic country to standards to adult contemporary. It’s been an unorthodox path, but that hasn’t kept the Canadian-born singer, 38, from selling millions or winning three Grammy Awards, nor has her open lesbianism stopped fans from adoring lang as a torch singer with a powerful presence.

Recorded in her adopted home of Los Angeles, lang’s new album, “Invincible Summer” (due June 20), is perhaps her most accessible yet (see review, Page 66). Her first collection of original material since 1995’s “All You Can Eat” and her first release since 1997’s smoking-themed “Drag,” the recording was inspired by a quote from French writer Albert Camus: “In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” But the music is an airy fusion of classic California pop, Brazilian textures and electronic atmospheres inspired by Southern California beaches.

In an interview in the lobby of a beachfront hotel in Santa Monica, lang is friendly and down-to-earth. During a photo shoot at the beach, she wades joyfully into the sea to “get some salt water on me” and obligingly rolls around in the sand with a radiant grin on her face.

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Question: You wrote many of these songs on the beaches of Southern California. What drew you to them?

Answer: I’m really attracted to the water. It’s in some ways similar to the open space of the prairies. I love the expanse of nothing, and the energy of the ocean. It’s a good place to write, because there are no distractions. My dog can hang out with me and run and play, and that’s a big inspiration.

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Q: What else about the beach inspired you?

A: The feel of summer. I wanted to use summer as a metaphor for the lightness and euphoria of love. When I was writing country, I spent a lot of time driving through Montana and Alberta, doing the prairie thing. I like to immerse myself in the imagery and the surroundings of an environment.

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Q: Does the visual prompting make it easier to get to the heart of the matter?

A: When a project has a concise palette, I have to wait until that vocabulary has settled in [my mind]. When I wrote the chorus to “Summerfling,” the second song I wrote for the record, it felt like I’d physically homed in to the place where all these words and images existed. It’s great when that happens. Because before [you start writing], you’re kind of lost. You have option anxiety.

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Q: That pre-writing anxiety is the worst.

A: It’s awful. It’s the scariest part. Writing the music and melodies is easy. I always write all the music first. Then, when it comes time to write lyrics, it’s so arduous. Oh, I hate it. I labor over them so intensely. Every tiny word.

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Q: The Camus quote doesn’t really refer to love, or to summer as a literal season. What does it mean to you?

A: This album is the result of me making a conscious effort to stop, take stock, reflect and get to know myself. I was k.d. lang for 15 straight years. I started when I was like 21 and didn’t stop until I was 35. I never had the opportunity to look back.

So I did all these really normal things, like go to the grocery store every week, and go to the hardware store, and renovate my house, and wake up in the same bed for three years. That’s a luxury people take for granted.

Also, I reflected on my career. [After finishing the tour for “Drag”] I was edging on being very burned out, jaded, bored and cynical. The quote is about me finding that burning sun inside of me again. Right on the edge of being completely awful and negative, I cracked. And I found my love for my music, I found my joie de vivre. I found my core personality, which is incredibly positive and happy-go-lucky.

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Q: Will this positivity surprise people?

A: Yeah, because there’s a conception that I’m kind of severe and intense and stoic. I probably am all those things. But more so, I’m pretty laid-back and positive.

When you’re a public figure, certain snapshots of your life get enlarged, and that’s what is indelible in people’s memories. Like “Ingenue,” which was very longing and kind of a green, immature period in terms of my emotions, that got hugely [projected]. It was a big record, so that’s how people remember me.

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Q: The album incorporates classic California-pop elements. Did you like the Beach Boys or the Mamas & the Papas before this?

A: I didn’t really pay attention before. I was listening to KCRW, which I worship, and getting into the contemporary Brazilian sound. I forget how, but I fell head over heels in love with Mama Cass Elliot, became fixated and started listening to the Mamas & the Papas for the first time. It blew my mind what they did vocally. I started listening to the West Coast sound a little more, to the Beach Boys and even the Eagles. To me that sound is always illuminated by big vocals.

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Q: This timeless sound is fused with electronic elements that give the songs a modern feeling. Is that what you wanted, or were you influenced by your producer, Damian leGassick?

A: I wanted to update my sound, which is very difficult, because my voice is so classic-sounding. I was really into the Morcheeba and Air albums, and simultaneously the Brazilian music and the Mamas & the Papas. I tried to combine what I loved about those things. So I was looking for a young, keyboard-oriented producer from Britain who had a lot of techno experience. I met Damian through Madonna, and he was exactly what I wanted. He’d been working with William Orbit and was ready to make it on his own. He wrote and conducted all the strings on the record. He managed to update the classic k.d. lang sound--lush strings, steel [guitar], big vocals--without overproducing or making it kitschy.

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Q: Was there any difference in how you worked with leGassick as opposed to previous collaborators?

A: I’m usually quite involved. I don’t want to sound controlling, because I’m actually not, but I have a lot of input. This time, I didn’t. I mean, I had the songs constructed and ready to go when Damian came into the picture, so in that respect I had done my work. But I really just let him and the musicians do their thing, and stayed out of the way. It did me a service.

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Q: Before touring on your own, you’ll do a rare turn as an opening act, for Sting. How did that come about?

A: Actually, this is a managerial maneuver. It works out really good for me, because [the opening slots] are the first 10 dates on the tour. It gets us up and running. But also, it’s been such a struggle with me and radio. I mean, it’s not funny when I say, “Now I’m gonna do a medley of my hit.” That’s the truth. I have one song that’s been played on the radio in 15 years, “Constant Craving.” We’re going to try harder to get played on the radio with this record.

In all fairness, I’ve never put out records that are that accessible. The beautiful thing about this one is that it is accessible, and I didn’t compromise.

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Q: Maybe radio stations don’t know what to expect, since you’ve jumped around stylistically. But some people still define you as a country artist. Do you identify with that?

A: No. Country is a big part of who I am, but I’m a singer. Ray Charles, and even Elvis [Presley] and Linda Ronstadt, they do different kinds of music. Ray Charles did country, jazz, standards, rock ‘n’ roll. I’m a vocalist. It’s important for me to have the liberty to move into things I’m inspired by.

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Q: And to not impose restrictions on yourself or let others do so?

A: Yeah. I did an album of standards [1988’s “Shadowland”] with [former Patsy Cline producer] Owen Bradley, at 26, before I had a hit or anything. People were shaking their heads. Even with “Drag,” people shook their heads. But to me, it’s not about making hits. That means you’re relying on a trend, grasping at finding what’s going to sell, and sculpting your stuff toward that.

To me, it’s like being a good actress, like Meryl Streep. It’s important to frame the good stuff, like the three autobiographical records, “Ingenue,” “All You Can Eat” and “Invincible Summer,” with these other projects that open me up as an interpreter, a songwriter and a singer.

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Q: That said, why do you feel the need to be more accessible now?

A: It’s really from an emotional place. The contact I’ve had with people, with society, in the last three years has been very, very different from the contact I’ve had in the [previous] 15 years. I fell in love with people again. It finally got through my thick skull that music is a really beautiful way of touching people. It’s not this thing that takes me away and shoves me on a bus for two years. It’s a beautiful thing to do for a living, and I wanted to make people feel happy, whether they bought my records or not.

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Q: Do you think your being an out lesbian hinders your mainstream appeal?

A: A combination of that and my anti-meat stance has hurt me at radio, because of advertisers. But, I think the heat’s off me. Ellen [DeGeneres] and Anne [Heche] are bearing the brunt right now. [laughs] I’m like, “Go, girls, go,” and then I’m kind of free to do whatever I want.

I certainly had a lot of pride in coming out, but I always saw it as a secondary thing to who I am or what I am. Maybe it does affect men more. Some men don’t want to like or buy my music, maybe because they’re afraid it says something about them. I don’t know.

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Q: The songs on “Invincible Summer” are all about falling in love, being in love, wanting to fall in love.

A: [laughs] That’s all I write about. Ever. Love is it for me. When you boil everything down to its purest form, that’s basically all there is.

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Q: Is it something that works in your own life, are you in love now?

A: Yeah. I’ve had a good relationship for four years now. It’s definitely opened me up, relaxed me and shed new light on things. It’s fantastic.

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Q: Have your goals changed at all between when you first started and now?

A: No, my goals have always been to sing, and to sing with total integrity. I think my priorities have shifted a little. When I was younger, I was completely fixated on becoming famous and doing well, being very competitive. Now I still want to do well, but it’s more about a personal challenge.

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Q: Do you feel ready to tour again?

A: I have a little bit of fear about getting back out there. Because about three days into it, you remember what it’s like, sleeping in a different bed, having crappy coffee in the morning. I generally quit drinking coffee on the road because you can’t get good coffee.

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Q: Will you do anything differently to make it less stressful?

A: No, but my mentality will allow me to be less stressed out. The big difference this year is that I’m super-proud of this record--it’s not a big difference, because I’m proud of every record, but I know this one is good. It’s easier to talk about, it’s easier to imagine myself onstage with it, because it’s a fun record.