Liz Hogg is a Brooklyn-based classical and electric guitarist, composer and songwriter. Last year, she released her beautifully crafted album Goodbye World Hello Something; an incredible showcase for her savant-like guitar playing and detailed songwriting.
One of the stand-out tracks from the collection is “Curl” – a three minute mix of Brian Wilson-esque baroque composition and production, blended with a melange of guitar styles. Hogg took sometime to discuss the process of writing the song with me, as well as what 2026 has in store for her.
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THE INDY REVIEW: For those just being introduced to you, how did you first get started playing music? What were some of your early inspirations?
LIZ HOGG: When I was in 3rd grade, I joined afterschool band class and played clarinet. I was not that good at it, but learned treble clef quickly and really wanted to be good and generally liked the whole experience. I asked my parents for a guitar for Christmas either that year or the next and they granted my wish. The guitar came with lessons from a neighborhood teacher who knew the daytime music teacher at my school. His wife gave piano lessons and so I added that shortly thereafter. The next year, I added drum lessons. I continued with guitar, piano and drum lessons throughout middle school. Once I got to high school, I decided to just live life, have fun and let loose and quit all my lessons (slightly to my regret now), but did start learning sitar senior year and into college. Throughout all of high school though I continued playing guitar and writing songs in various bands. When I got to college, I decided to go the classical guitar route. From there, I’ve continued with both styles. My early inspirations were The Beatles, The Beach Boys, and when By The Way came out, I loved the guitar playing and became obsessed with all of his work, especially the solo albums. His debut album which I heard when I was 13, cemented my heart’s desire to go down the musician path for good.
IR: How long did it take you to find your voice and style as a guitarist, singer and songwriter?
LH: I would say it’s an evolving process, and each time I embark on an album, I refine that process and go deeper. I would say it wasn’t until this album that I really did, but then again, I sort of felt that way with my first album, though granted, not quite as much. I think the singing and songwriting elements are what have evolved the most lately.
IR: The song “Curl” from your new album Goodbye World Hello Something really drew me in. The guitar melody is so interesting, with its elements of Asian scales and what sounds like some baroque melodies. How did the composition of the track come together?
LH: It began with something I often find myself noodling with: playing a repeated idea with a changing bass. This happened to be a c# minor chord in 9th position that I basically arpeggiated but with some upper embellishments. I just heard what could work as a baseline under it, and that was the impetus of the song. Being that it was a recent album, and what I think is a great one, I looked to the Strokes’ New Abnormal for ideas on arrangements, song forms, overall density, etc. and at that point in my process, I had fixated on “Why Are Sundays So Depressing”, which begins with two guitar riffs, the 2nd with a delayed, fairly groovy entry. I said: that’s what this song could use. And that became the crux of the song for me. I got excited about what I came up with for the complimentary riff, and from there, decided the song should be very riff-y and the more “showy” song on the album so to speak, in terms of licks and riffs, also for bass.
IR: I also loved the vocal layering you did here, adding the backing vocal chorus over your lead melody – it reminded me of classic 60’s girl groups and the Beach Boys. Has learning how to arrange vocal parts like these been easier or more challenging than the instrumental sections of a song like “Curl”?
LH: Thanks; I love all that music very much and definitely wanted to incorporate a lot more vocal layering on this album. I’d say it’s slightly easier to arrange vocals, because they’re just not as complex as instrumental parts.
IR: The lyrics of the song have a psychedelic element to them (“The curl in your brain, the curl in your hair. It’s leading somewhere”). Can you discuss what inspired the song’s lyrics?
LH: The lyrics were inspired by a real-life person I first met in 2021. Though they listened and liked the album, he still doesn’t know the song’s about him unless he’s reading this right now. As I was writing it, other curls got involved. Frank refers to Frank Sinatra, a sort of inside joke with myself.
IR: The video for the track was an interesting mix of surreal imagery and a NY narrative of a man clearly on a drug trip. How does it relate to the song in your eyes, and how did the treatment for it develop?
LH: I had nothing to do with the video and did not know there were drugs in it till it came out lol, which I don’t really approve of but that’s ok. I gave Geoffrey Duncanson free reign. I started off by sending him a laundry list of music video ideas I’ve compiled over the years. While we both agreed on many of them, with my absence, and lack of great internet (living on a ship for a good chunk of 2025), we ended up settling on “snakes.” Real or fake, not sure, but snakes was one of my ideas. When I saw it for the first time completed, I realized there were no snakes, so I’ll have to revisit that idea later. As far as how it relates to the song, I think many different routes for a music video can work for the same song and it didn’t call for any super specific imagery to my mind. That being said, the animal costumes and surreal imagery fit well with the guitar solo. I always appreciate footage of where I live and always have lived, since that forms a core component of my overall identity, so I liked the NYC footage he used as well. There is also a tinge of resignation, regret and weariness in the song and the lyrics that I think comes off in the lead actor’s performance.
IR: With your album coming out this last November, what does 2026 have in store for you?
LH: I plan to do one more cruise contract for around 5 months, plus another tour supporting the album in the fall. And depending on how all that goes, maybe getting started on the next album towards the end of this year.
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Listen to “Curl” in our A Single Sit-Down Playlist, and if you enjoy, check out the full album here.
The Indy Review 