Mon. March 25

     Last call! Thalia Zedek has been a very cool part of the Boston music scene for more than three decades, via the bands Dangerous Birds, Uzi, Live Skull, Come and now her solo work. Actually, her latest solo effort, “Via,” is with band, so it’s properly the Thalia Zedek band. She’s got a Monday residency going on at T.T. the Bear’s Place – four March dates in a row. The hook is she’ll play each of her four solo albums in a row with different (and very strong) opening bands doing the same (that is, playing the entirety of a record.) “It’s kind of like a double feature,” Zedek said, when we spoke recently. She’s doing “Trust Not Those In Whom Without Some Touch of Madness” March 11, (with Willard Grant Conspiracy playing “Paper Covers Stone,” March 18 it’s “Liars and Prayers” with her ex-Come guitar mate Chris Brokaw playing “Incredible Love,” and March 25 she plays the new one, “Via,” with Brokeback playing “Brokeback and the Black Rock.” Zedek has long fused noisy rock and blues, calm and storm type of stuff. We talked about the how “Via” came about and the gigs. Her band: Mel Lederman on piano, Winston Braman on bass, David Michael Curry on viola and Dave Norton. (Zedek would seem to like drummers named Dave.)

JSInk: There seems to be a great arc to “Via.” The songs connected, they flow into and out of each other perfectly and closes with this big band. Do you see an arc as well?

Zedek:  There is in a way. The record is almost two separate stages, not really separate but two different ones. One set of songs I wrote with Daniel [Coughlin, who was also in Come} and he was playing drums with my long time. They were written after “Liars and Prayer,” on tour a year later and we had about half of those songs. He ended up leaving the band and the other half we wrote them after playing with our new drummer [Son Volt’s] Dave Bryson and we worked with him for almost two years. We didn’t play out that much; it was mostly writing and fooling around. They were pretty young songs. And I thought we could record a record. That gave us a kick in the butt. There is sort of an arc to it. Not so much the order. But do they all work together? I think they do actually work together.

People download songs now and don’t tend to buy albums as a whole. I was talking to Peter Wolf about his last record and he said, though he understood that but he conceived albums as full-length works, with a definite progression from song to song. How about you? Has the iTunes world changed how you work?

I still think in terms of albums. I know people don’t always listen to music that way but most of my interactions … I know people buy things on line but when I play a show, I’m selling records so I experience that people-buying-records part of it although I’m sure it’s not the biggest part. I don’t really think about it. You have to feel right about it.

Where are you coming from on this record? To me, if feels both familiar and as if you’re striking out in new directions.

Going into it, I was it’s hard to say, It was written at two different times. I don’t really think a lot about that kind of stuff. I never sit down and say I want to write this kind of record or that kind of record. Sometimes, I think I want to do something different. With this I was into writing songs, it came maybe for a playing alone place rather than jamming, at least the first part I wasn’t really thinking about making a record. As I started playing them out, I started realizing it made sense - oh this is a record. I found out Dave was going Buenos Aires to moving in a month so that inspired me to finish it. Dave Norton is the drummer now, who played in Victory at Sea.

“Walk Away,” which starts the record, is a beautiful song and with its ghost imagery it took me back to the song you wrote with Lou Miami years ago, “I Live with Ghosts.” It’s a much different song obviously … perky new wave then and this not.

Oh wow!  I never did think of that song, ‘cause actually Lou wrote the lyrics to that, I wrote the music so maybe it didn’t remind me of it.

This residency at TTs, it’s become pretty popular to do as well as the let’s-play-the-whole-record one-at-a-time thing. What’s your approach?

Well, it was definitely my idea. I was advised against it, but I look at it as a retrospective residency and a record release party in one thing. I hadn’t been playing out a lot lately so I felt like wanted a way – it had been a long time since the last record came out and I wanted to bring everyone up to speed, to kind of connect. I just didn’t want to say “I haven’t put a record out in five years and now I’m putting out a record.” So what? I wanted to re-engage with the whole Boston music scene and clubs and I thought this would be a way. I listened to the first record “Been Here and Gone” and I listened to it on my iPod and said, “Man, this is a really cool record.” I hadn’t gone back to it. I did it over ten years ago. Five years is a long time between records. I could get my friends to do the same thing.

The last gig on the 21^st you’re playing the new record. Are you going to play any of the new tracks during other gigs?

Nope. It’s a Monday night and no one wants to stay out too late. It’s going to be straight on.

“Via” is where your heart is now. It’s interesting you’d spend that amount of time on the older material.

Maybe it’s because Come’s “11:11” is being re-issued by Matador [in May] so maybe I’ve been looking back a little bit. I think I felt like I needed to get people a chance to know me again. I was feeling disconnected from stuff. It puts things in context, gives a little context.

Dipping into the past, do you have quick takes on bands you have been in back to Dangerous Birds, Uzi, Live Skull, Come … What’s that trajectory? Is there a thread there to your solo work?

I think there’s something of a thread there. Dangerous Birds was like coming from an old-school punk type place, even if you couldn’t see it that much, almost like 60s type pop stuff. When we broke up, I was more into bands like Birthday Party and I wanted to go in a more abrasive direction. Live Skull followed along in that vein. Come was more like looking back on my influences – Stones, the Only Ones – where I come from. And with the solo stuff initially it was a reaction to being in a loud band and having to scream. It was intense in a quiet way, not because the volume was loud. Not that that’s the only reason that Come was intense, but I wanted to work in something more subtle with more shadings. That blew up and now I’m with a five-piece which is the biggest group I’ve had.

Your relationship between melody and noise, where are you now?

I would have to say, I’ve been writing a lot since “Via,” ‘cause that was done the beginning of the summer and the second part the end of September, so it’s been a while. I’m really psyched about the new stuff and if I do extra songs, it’ll be new songs. They’re maybe in a less noisy, bluesy direction, but there are times I’m more interested in focusing on the song itself, the melody in the song, the chords in the song and there are times I want to get further away from structure. I think it’s more that than the melody/noise thing.

It’s that Yo La Tengo to Neil Young idea, indulging in different ends at different times. You’re in that place.

Thank you. Good company.

I get a happy/sad mix from much of your music, not 100 percent either way. You’re not a let the good times roll gal and neither are you doom and gloom.

I definitely get these reviews of this “angst-filled stuff,” but in reviewing these songs and looking at the lyrics, it’s actually not true. They’re not actually sad or depressing. They’re pretty … almost more impressionistic. That’s what I go for, a mood where you’re feeling disconnected. The people that I write about feel disconnected. Sometimes that can be a good way to feel, almost. I don’t know if I’m making any sense.

I think so. It suggests life is not black and white, lots of gray areas. It can be difficult to create that in music.

Yeah.

Your career, are you satisfied with where you are, where you’ve gotten?

Yeah I am. I’ve been incredibly lucky. There’s so many talented and creative people out there that never got to do. Would I have liked to have sold more records and play to bigger audiences? I would, but I realize how lucky I’ve been. Right now I’m doing so much music all the time. There are times when I haven’t done as much. I can’t say I’ve worked at it as hard as I do at other times. Sometimes, other stuff happens. I didn’t choose to go the route of touring and playing 300 days a year. Chris Brokaw is out there constantly touring and recording. I’m more wait for inspiration. If you’re on the margins of whatever the hot thing going on is, it can be really difficult psychically. If I’m playing to packed houses every night, I’d probably tour a lot more. I’m picky about when and where I do it.  I think the playing and creating is enough for me sometimes. As long as I’m playing music and feel like I’m growing I’m OK with that. Right now, I’m hoping to get out and play as much as possible. I’m hoping this would spark some interest and it seems to have done that.

Starts at 9. Tix: $12.

10 Brookline St., Cambridge, 617-492-0082 www.ttthebears.com