St. Lenox is Andrew Choi, a man who got his break in the music world as an award-winning teenage violinist. He quit Juilliard, got a Ph.D. in philosophy, and THEN became a singer-songwriter while studying to get a law degree in New York City. St. Lenox says that his accumulated life experiences served as a catalyst for writing his touchingly emotional album, Ten Songs About Memory and Hope. “I think people oftentimes start writing music too early in their careers, and it ends up actually stifling their artistic process, if that makes sense,” he says. Sure, a 12-year old might be able to play the Brahms violin concerto, but he won't really understand the subject matter that he's dealing with—“It will be the emotional subject matter of a 45-year old man reinterpreted through the eyes of a kid,” he says, adding, “The act of writing is more like shaping and focusing a lens or mirror, and projecting your lived experiences out onto the world for people to see.”

Hometown: Columbus, Ohio and Ames, Iowa
Current Residence: Brooklyn, New York

Why did you choose St. Lenox as your stage name?

It's a misreading of one of the subway stations in New York City.  148 St. - Lenox Terminal. It was during my first year of law school. That was a really stressful year for me.  I think when you're not doing so well, you're more inclined to read magical significance into your surroundings, and it just popped into my head for some reason. I wasn't even thinking about band names at the time. I lived up in Harlem my first year of law school, and occasionally I'd be on the train and fall asleep. If you do fall asleep, the train will come to a stop and you'll wake up there. I still pay my respects every now and again.

Growing up, who were your musical influences?

I'm a little bit of an odd duck. I didn't really start listening to modern pop and rock until I was 16 years old.  Until I was 16, my musical influences were Brahms, Prokofiev, Beethoven, Debussy—largely composers in the romantic era of classical music and into the early 20th century. 

By age 16, I had become really into R.E.M.  I have every one of their albums, including a lot of their b-sides, imports, and later collections. You will find a lot of R.E.M. references in Ten Songs About Memory and Hope. R.E.M. crafted their songs in a more purposeful way than other bands did (and now do).  Modern pop songwriting involves the use of a lot of filler orchestration, where that filler functions more to place a song into a "signature sound," or as a kind of ornamentation that keeps the listener's attention, because the song itself is lacking in melodic or conceptual hooks. Ornamentation and "signature sound" is an interesting project — and I venture into that territory sometimes — but it's not a songwriter's bread and butter, and it never should be.  R.E.M. was, I think, an early example of that songwriter's ethic for me.

If you could write music for a TV show which one would it be?

FLCL—it was a great Japanese anime from maybe 10 years ago.  But the show is a lot about using fantasy in such a way that acknowledges and respects the magical nature of ordinary life. I identify with that.  

Many of your songs are confessional. What's your song-writing process? Do you start with the music or lyrics first?

It depends. A lot of times I'll write up a portion with chords and melody, and put it on the mp3 player to play in the subway. Then I just kinda see what pops into my head.  Chords and melody create contexts from which you can interpret a variety of emotional situations. It takes time and patience—you write something, and then see how your brain interprets it as a part of your lived experience. Sometimes it will be a story about your mother. Maybe a memory about the trees in your birth place. Sometimes people try and force the chord and melody onto a subject that they want to talk about. I think the results can be clunky. You sit with the chords and melody for a while and wait for it.

What's your favorite song in Ten Songs About Memory and Hope and why?

Kinda depends on how I'm feeling, I guess. Lately, it's been "It's Better Than That." The song is about growing older and maintaining a sense of hopefulness for the future. I wrote it during law school, and law school life can be stressful. Sometimes you need a pick me up.

What are you listening to right now?

I  have a friend, Niall Connolly, who just released an album, so I've been listening to that. Someone gave me a CD of a band called Yabadum that I've found interesting. Aside from that, last album I listened to was by a band called Ghost Shirt—they're releasing an album called "After the Spark" that I got an early listen to.

What's one thing you want people to know about you?

I'm single. [Winks.]