kd lang's Recollections on SameSame.com.au

People have been asking kd lang for years and she has finally acquiesced, releasing a best of album after 25 years of recording.

“I’m starting with the Aussies,” says kd excitedly of launching the record here first. And after? She’s focusing on her next record, playing Scrabble on her iPhone, and hoping to tour Australia again in 2011.

“I’m addicted,” says kd. I tell her I’m more of a chess person and that some men are addicted to another application on their iPhones entirely.

She chuckles knowingly, “you should got get an iPhone.” For the chess, of course.

Recollection, Lang’s sixteenth record in a long career that spans a country music beginning, pop, and numerous high profile collaborations, also represents her long, productive relationship with Warner Bros, says the singer.

“Once we figured out that was the way we were gonna structure it,” says kd of basing the record on her releases through Warner Brothers, “it was pretty easy.”

On her last album, kd played a number of roles – producer, writer, singer – but she says this record was much more laid back and a pleasant trip down memory lane. “I just kind of went over each album and kind of picked the song that best represented that album release,” she says.

When asked about her career highlights, kd cites Roy Orbison as being a “big one”. ”[Also] my work with Owen Bradley, [and] Ingenue. My work with Tony Bennett [too]... the rest is just kind of touring.”

But the machine never stops. kd is happy to talk about her current retrospective record and its highlights, although, she doesn’t have favourites. “Oh, that’s an impossible question!” she says when I ask for her favourite track on the 2-disc release. It’s hard to argue. 25 years is a lot of music.

It’s also obvious, though, that this interview is one of the few things she’s getting out of the way so she can get back her desk – to write more songs. When I jokingly refer to kd as a musical machine, she says: “Well, it’s my job! No, I’m really gonna focus on writing in a couple of weeks, sort of hunker down and get a new record out,” says kd of her future plans. Any hints about what we can expect?

“It’s hard to articulate,” says the softly spoken Canadian, “and I’m not sure that I even want to. But I feel a great deal of energy towards [the new record]. I feel like I’ve got a lot of songs in me, And I’ve got a couple new collaborator friends that I’m excited about getting to work with.”

Now 49, Lang seems more relaxed in her approach to the world. Gone are the days of posing in drag and being shaved by Cindy Crawford, as she said, she’s more interested in playing Scrabble and just concentrating on her music.

“I have no real plans at the moment,” says Lang, “I’m helping the San Francisco Symphony make a little money. And it’s always nice to go to San Fran,” says the singer about the one benefit gig she has on the horizon.

Well-known for her Buddhist beliefs, kd provided high-profile face to the pro-Tibet protests in Australia in the lead up to the Beijing 2008 Olympics. And the singer still seems remarkably zen.

“I find inspiration in my dogs,” Lang is also a well-known animal lover. “There’s football players. Old ladies crossing the street. I mean, inspiration is really something that you can’t even harness and it comes at you when it comes at you. It can come from anywhere and I think that’s the beauty of it,” says Lang.

But does mega-city Los Angeles, Lang’s adopted home town, a far cry from Alberta, Canada, really gel with her Buddhist practice?

“Oh, yeah. It’s basically a perfect place to practice,” says Lang assuredly, “because there’s lots of things to meditate on.

“I just think that anywhere you go, there you are, as the saying goes. It doesn’t matter where you are, it’s your mind, your mind is the thing that is the monkey jumping around in trees. It doesn’t matter where you are, you can be in the quietest most remote place on earth and your mind is still busy.”

And Lang definitely sounds like someone who has learned the art of calming their mind down. “I’m just kind of focusing on being an out example and living my life as gracefully as I can,” says Lang before I bid her farewell. “Oh, and tell everyone to buy the record,” she adds. Check.

Watch kd Lang perform Crying, live in Sydney: