Using just a cello and a series of distortion and loop pedals, Helen Money creates music that blurs the lines between classical and rock. Helen Money is Alison Chesley, a classically trained cellist whose impressive resumé includes several film and dance scores, having been a founding member of power-pop group Verbow, and recording with a wide array of artists, from Bob Mould and Broken Social Scene, to Anthrax and Mono. Before her intimate set at Boulder Coffee House in Rochester, NY, Alison took the time to speak with me about her new album, abstract modern dance, and her burgeoning popularity in the Metal community.

IYS: Can you talk a little bit about how you go about creating your very distinct sound?

Alison Chesley: Well I think it started with playing with my friend Jason Narducy, with whom I formed this band Jason and Alison, and then later Verbow. Jason and I were both really into punk rock and epic rock; we were both big Bob Mould fans. When we started to play together Jason had in mind Bob Mould's Workbook album, and that style of aggressive cello and guitar. So when I started to play with him, that's what we went for. And then Jason was like, “Why don't you get a distortion pedal? Why don't you try a delay pedal?” So, I kinda developed my sound from that, in this texture of a lot of guitars and drums and bass. When I left Verbow, I still wanted to play that kind of music, but it's really hard as a string player to find a band to play in where you're gonna have that kind of role. So I just ended up writing material myself. But I think I always liked that really dark sound. I'm drawn to that kind of music anyway.

For the first album, I recorded most of it live. There was some over-dubbing, but for this one [In Tune] I didn't want to limit myself that way, so I started to write differently too. I just started to create pieces that had separate parts and then tried to figure out how to put them together with my loop pedals. So I kind of did it in a reverse way this time. I also wanted to push myself compositionally, so that I would go beyond just what those effects pedals could do. I think I'm about at the limit of what I'm gonna do with this set up. I don't know what's going to happen next, if I'll involve other people for a couple songs, or what. But I really like how I have everything on the floor, and I step on the pedals and interact with them, like a guitarist. I don't like, as an audience member, feeling like I'm listening to backing tracks. They don't feel present...they feel so static to me. So when I'm performing, I like to feel that I'm interacting with the loops I've created.

IYS: Compared to the first Helen Money album, In Tune has a much more spare, stripped-down sound.

Chesley: For the new album, I wanted to play more of the acoustic cello. I had done a project writing some music for a film [Indestructible, 2007] and a lot of it was just acoustic cello, and I thought, man this sounds so great! Why don't I do more of this on my album? So maybe that's what you're hearing. There are more moments when it's just the cello.

IYS: Yeah, I couldn't detect the presence of any guitar this time around.

Chesley: Yeah, I mean...I play cello. I can't play guitar [laughs]. It felt weird, I would bring the guitar to shows and play just that one song on it and then put it down. It was like, maybe I don't really need to bring the guitar. I don't need to play that song. But I think I wanted to push my writing and push my cello playing, see how I could use the cello a little more on this record.

IYS: The new album also, for the most part, has a darker and more sad feel to it.

Chesley: Yeah, I agree. When I finished recording it, I was actually worried that it was too dark. I don't know why it came out that way. It wasn't really a conscious decision. I guess I like that kind of music.

IYS: One of the lighter moments on the album comes in the form of a Minutemen cover. How did you decide on covering "Political Song For Michael Jackson To Sing?"

Chesley: Well, I knew the album was dark, and I knew that a lot of the songs were longer. I wanted to do a cover, so I was thinking about who I would do a cover of. I don't know how the Minutemen came up, but all of their songs are really short [laughs]. I thought, this might be kinda fun, and also I grew up in Los Angeles and I got to see them play a bunch, and I love them. So I listened through that record Double Nickels On The Dime, and just tried to figure out what I could pull off. It was hard because, the drummer, George Hurley, is such a big part of that band, I realized I couldn't do it without some kind of rhythmic element. So I put my distortion on, and came up with a rhythm by hitting my cello and it seemed to work. Then I figured I could do it just really simple, even though the lyrics weren't going to be there. So, I think it works. I also think it's a nice break from the tone of the rest of the album.

IYS: I really appreciate the way that you are able to retain some of the humor of the original within the context of an instrumental, cello rendition.

Chesley: Oh, good I'm glad. Yeah, I figured it had to be really over the top. And I think that also, with early punk music, one of the things they were against was these long guitar solos. That was seen as being really self-indulgent, I think. It was fun to think of something that was just kind of, you know, stupid [laughs].

IYS: For the release of your new album you switched from your own label, Cellobird, to reknowned avant-garde label, Table of the Elements. What led to the switch, and how has it affected your work?

Chesley: Well, I wrote the new record, and recorded and mastered it before I found a label, so it didn't affect that part. But it's really made a difference as far as people giving it a listen. The label is very small. It's just one guy who's got a full time job. He's basically given me a home for my record, which has been really helpful. It's given me a lot more visibility than I had with the last album, and I'm very grateful for that. I also think the other artists on the label are in the same vein as what I'm doing. So I feel honored to be on the label, and it's got a cool history. There are a lot of older artists on there who...maybe aren't necessarily known by a lot of people, but are critically respected. Artists like Tony Conrad, Rhys Chatham, and Jonathan Kane.

IYS: Yeah, there are a lot of pretty big names on there. I had no idea it was run by just one guy.

Chesley: It's distributed by Secretly Canadian, but yeah, he does pretty much everything else I think.

IYS: Just in the past year or so you have recorded with Russian Circles, Mono, and Broken Social Scene among others. Are these groups generally seeking you out to work with them, or how do these collaborations come about?

Chesley: Well, there are at least two really great studios in Chicago. There's Electrical Audio with Steve Albini, and Soma with John McEntire, and I know both of them. So, they ask me to come in – and a lot of times my friend Susan Voelz who's in Poi Dog Pondering, we'll do sessions together – so, often they'll just call us, because they know us and so I've gotten a chance to record with people like Mono. I I think they recorded at least three of their albums at Electrical. Then, Broken Social Scene was at John McEntire's studio, so I feel really fortunate, you know? The work I get recording with these rock groups is also what allows me to live without a full-time job, which is really great, giving me more time to work on my music and to tour.

IYS: I was just listening to the new Russian Circles album.

Chesley: Greg Norman, who engineered my album, recommended me to them. And they had seen me play actually. It's kind of a small...well not exactly small scene, but people know each other. It's nice, it's a cool scene there in Chicago.

IYS: In addition to recording with these disparate musicians, you have also been the composer-in-residence at the Mordine and Company Dance Theatre. How did you become involved with them?

Chesley: A friend of Shirley Mordine, who founded the dance center at Columbia, gave Shirley a demo from my first record and she liked it. So she asked if I would come up with music – for stuff she had already written actually. It was very different to come up with music for something visual, that I didn't totally understand [laughs]. It was very abstract modern dance. But I think it worked well together. It was a good experience for me. I got to do music that I wouldn't call Helen Money music. I could stretch out a little bit, which was nice. I think if I do something like that again, I'd like to write the music and then have someone do something to it. It was a lot of work to write to the choreography, and then they would change it, so I would have to adapt it. I don't think that's the usual way they do it.

IYS: This is backtracking a little bit, but your previous band, Verbow, had a much poppier, more accessible sound. What influenced you to pursue this different direction?

Chesley: I'm not really sure. Actually, that's a really good question. Well, in Verbow Jason wrote all the songs, so it was all his material. Yeah, I don't know why my stuff...I never really thought about that before. Maybe it's the nature of the cello...although I don't think that's it. You know, it's odd because I'm noticing, with this record, that the Metal crowd really...likes it. And, I didn't ever go to metal shows. I mean, I like that kind of music; I used to like Helmet and those bands, but I never would have set out to write metal music. Although, I don't know, it's a weird thing, I kind of feel like I have to embrace it in a way. I think that must be where I'm headed, but not intentionally.

IYS: Yeah, I read an interview you did with the Aquarian Weekly, and I found it particularly interesting that they featured your interview in their Metal column. I know you have recorded with several metal groups in the past, but how do you feel about having that label applied to your own music?

Chesley: Yeah, I mean, I'm flattered, because I really like music that is visceral, that you don't have to think about so much...music that just kind of hits you, that makes you feel something. I think that crowd feels the same way. They are very intelligent, very open minded, but they want to feel something and I think that's where I'm coming from too. When I was looking for a label I sent the album to a couple metal labels, but I didn't really pursue it very hard because I was thinking, for my next record does that mean I have to make a metal record? [laughs] But I don't know...I feel like that's where I'm headed somehow.

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In Tune is out now on Table of the Elements.