CRANBERRY JOURNAL N.5

with AMBER NAVRAN & PATRICK SHIROISHI

I first met Patrick years ago through a mutual collaborator in music. Onstage, I often feel out of my depth, but Patrick brings comfort, a sense of permission, and a special kind of whimsy and spontaneity. 

He's encouraging and nonjudgmental, exactly what everyone needs in a collaborator. A multi-instrumentalist, composer, and poet based in Los Angeles, he's as at home in the contemporary classical space as he is onstage with The Armed, and he's one of the hardest working live players I know.

It was an absolute delight to meet his wife, Amber, recently. A singer, producer, woodwind player, and one third of the GRAMMY-nominated neo-soul trio Moonchild, she has sold out shows across 35 countries and toured and collaborated with artists like Stevie Wonder, Kamasi Washington, Jill Scott, and Rapsody. To echo Patrick's sentiments, she's an incredibly kind soul with the most effervescent laugh you'll ever hear.

The two have been together for about eight years and were friends for several years before that. Now they're preparing for what they call their best collaboration yet. Our conversation wandered through early saxophone obsessions, morning rituals, poetry, home, and becoming parents.

-Alyssa

Photography by Sara Byrne 

  • ON FINDING MUSIC


    AM - Can you each tell me a little bit about what you do for work and how you found your way to it?


    AN - I’m a musician. I sing and play saxophone and produce, and I started in middle school band.


    PS - My name is Patrick. I also play saxophone, and I started in high school band. I started piano when I was five, which was cool, but when I saw the saxophone, I was like, “Oh, look at this shiny thing with all these buttons. This is it.” 


    AM - What age was that, when you picked up the saxophone?


    PS - I was ten.


    AM - And what about you, Amber?


    AN - Twelve, I think.

  • ON DAILY RITUALS


    AM - What does a typical day look like for you both? Are there routines or rituals you have, especially in the morning?


    AN - I feel like the morning is the only time there is consistency. You have more of a routine than I do. 



    PS - I try to make coffee and then read for like 30 minutes to an hour before getting settled. I’m not a morning person, so it takes me a while to become real.


    We get to hang out and get coffee with other artist friends, or we’re recording, going to shows, playing shows in the evening.


    Sometimes Amber just wakes up and makes matcha and then starts working on a beat.


    AM - Oh, cool. You work in the morning?


    AN - It’s fun to start ideas in the morning. I  like to work first thing, and then do the other stuff at night.


    ON INSPIRATION


    AM - Where are you guys finding inspiration lately?


    AN - For me, it’s live shows. Going to see live music. The Jill Scott tour, the show was so inspiring. So good.


    PS - They got to open for Jill Scott too, which was sick.


    AM - So cool.


    PS - And Jill sang to the belly.


    AN - Crazy.


    PS - I’m finding a lot of inspiration in poetry. It’s kind of a new thing, just being obsessed with different writers and rereading stuff and figuring out what’s on the page and what is beyond the page.


    AM - Is there any writer in particular that you’re into right now?


    PS - Right now, Ocean Vuong always. There’s Kaveh Akbar, who I think is really special, and Richard Siken just put out this new collection and it’s crazy. He had a stroke, and this collection is just him becoming a person again.

  • ON HOME


    AM - What does home mean to you guys? 


    PS - (To Amber) Being with you.

    We travel a lot, and I think it’s a pro and a con of being musicians. But it’s nice. I think when we’re together we can build out a routine wherever we are and explore new stuff and create new memories from there.


    AN - Agreed. Same page.


    ON EACH OTHER


    AM - Is there anything you’ve learned from one another, creatively or otherwise, that has changed the way you move through the world? 


    PS - We've been together around eight years. It’s a long enough time where it’s almost everything. And we were friends for several years before that.


    Amber has a lot of patience and integrity and she’s super kind.


    You’re kinder than me. It helps me to step back and be like, all right, yes, I can also lead with my better foot forward.


    AN - I feel like the way you build community and put intention into your music is really, really special. And the way you’re collaborating with so many different people. You bring so many people together, and you’re always looking for a new, fresh path forward. That’s super inspiring.

ON WHAT’S PLAYING AT HOME

AM - What're you listening to right now?


AN - So, Busta Rhymes just put out an album with J Dilla, and they’re two of my favorites. I’ve been listening to that, and then Rapsody just put out an album, and she’s one of my favorites too. So those two albums have just been on repeat as we put the house together.

I’ve been trying to play basically Ummah, Dilla, and Q-Tip as much as possible, and I’m hoping that he comes out and is a drummer or is just really into that feel.


PS - Yeah. But we’ll see. Maybe he’ll go in the opposite direction and be like, “I actually hate this.”


AN - Totally! I just hope that when he hears it, it gives him a warm home feeling because that’s what he heard when he was being made.


ON THEIR NEXT CHAPTER


AM - I did want to ask you guys about becoming parents and this next chapter. How are you guys feeling? What’s the overarching energy of the moment?


PS - This is our best collaboration.


AN - Grateful. We tried for a long time, and we weren’t sure if it was going to happen for us. I’m just trying to be grateful for it.


It’s been a really chaotic time. We’ve been gone a lot, and a lot of stuff happened with our house, and everything’s breaking, but it’s been easier to be grounded and grateful and excited because we wanted this for so long. Now it’s finally coming.


We’re just excited and hopefully we can get a few more things done before he comes. But if not, that’s okay.


PS - Same. I mean, it’s something we’ve been trying for for so long. Through miscarriages and IVF, and to finally make this happen without IVF was kind of crazy.


It feels super, super lucky. Both of our parents are super excited, on both sides of our families. Our community is excited for us. So we feel the love for sure, you know? And I think that’s a great thing for a kid to come into, a place of love.


AN - It’s been really sweet being on tour, actually, because everybody, as soon as I started showing more, it was like everybody I talked to had stories and advice and was so excited. I was like, “Oh, this is beautiful.”


AM - Is there any bit of advice that’s stuck out to you?


AN - The most common advice was to savor every moment because it goes fast. Everyone was like, “It’s hard, and get ready not to sleep, but savor it because you’ll miss it one day.”


It flies by.


Big thank you to Amber & Patrick for sharing their thoughts here, follow them for updates on live shows and new music.