On top of shunning major record labels and coming out as bisexual in 2010, Vanessa Carlton is proving once again that she’s actually a pretty radical woman in the music industry. I mean, she had a baby and refused to quit making music. Oh, and she’s bringing her 11-month old daughter on tour with her.

But besides having a kid, Carlton has done a lot in 14 years. She experimented with peyote in Mexico. She spoke openly about her ectopic pregnancy. She married Deer Tick’s John McCauley and left New York City for a rural home in Nashville. And with her latest release, Liberman, Carlton has made a record that emanates a sound that she finally feels completely comfortable with.

But for Carlton, the music making process hasn’t always been this way. Being signed to A&M Records in 2001 (at age 19) made for a short road to stardom. After making the decision to leave the overbearing major labels, and after a decade spent trying to step out from under the shadow cast by “A Thousand Miles”, Carlton’s musical evolution has been anything but easy. The songs on Liberman, however, don’t take Carlton out of that shadow. They shine an entirely different light on the musician altogether.

Before embarking on the first leg of this tour, Carlton took a moment to talk with us about her new album, using music as medicine, and having no regrets.

Allston Pudding: You said in an interview that Liberman is supposed to kind of feel like a dream— you nod off, and ten songs later you wake up. Were dreams an big influence on this record?

Vanessa Carlton: I think a dreamlike state, like mediative… when your brain just falls into that really easy… like, that’s the music I wanted. To help someone get into that mood. That was the purpose of it. I mean, it wasn’t really inspired from any dreams I had, no.

AP: Ok. What was it about that dreamlike state made you want your record to sound like that?

VC: I wanted to make something really peaceful. I wanted to make a record that you could put on in the background. Ideas to help people through turmoil in their lives. Music can be like medicine, in my opinion. I wanted it to feel like that, y’know? Something that’s beautiful. What’s not personal to me, but something that would make a brain kind of calm down, is really what I wanted to create sonically, for sure.

AP: Definitely. And I think that really comes through on your new record.

VC: Great! Thank you.

AP: I also noticed some repeated imagery, specifically shamans and ancient, landscaped themes. I was wondering if you could talk about that or the other imagery on your new record?

VC: I was reading some native American mythology; reading about tribes. I was also reading Rebecca Solenit’s Field Guide to Getting Lost, which is very much about becoming your own shaman. It’s how you take a very traumatic experience in your life and try to gain wisdom, rather than let it kind of shape you into something that’s much more of a victim of your strength. You become almost like a shaman yourself, and you’re able to have a lot of perspective. I think a lot of that comes from pain in your life, and then you figure it out and you move forward. So I think that was a theme that made a lot of sense for this record.

AP: Is the song “House of Seven Swords”  a tarot card reference?

VC: Yeah. I have that tarot card in my desk. I don’t know anything about tarot, but I thought the artwork was beautiful, so I looked it up. I love the sentiment it has, which was we’re all basically swords, we all have different sides to our swords. We choose which side we want to be. And a couple were signs for courage. I mean, there’s many different interpretations to the card,  but— sorry, my daughter is about to go down for a nap—

AP: That’s ok.

VC: So, it was the only song on the record that came together all at the same time, the music and the lyrics.

AP: Yeah. I don’t know too much about tarot cards, but “House of Seven Swords” was so familiar to me, so just I had to look it up. My best friend does tarot readings, and I’m into astrology, and I’ve always really admired artwork for tarot.

VC: Yeah, they’re beautiful. That’s really why I was drawn to it. It looked like a fan of swords.

AP: So you were 22 when your record Be Not Nobody came out. Can you talk a little bit about being a young woman in the music industry; being thrown into stardom? How did your relationship to music change as a result of that?

VC: It was a lot. It was weird. There were also some amazing things. But I was just young and I had to figure things out on my own, for sure. I made a lot of mistakes, and I also made a lot of art and design again. I was a little young to be signed, in my opinion. But at the same time, how can I regret… I wouldn’t turn back time.

I went through a very, y’know, went through my evolution of kind of… a lot of artists don’t get signed until they’re in their mid or late twenties, and they’ve already formulated their sound a little better. So I think, in that sense, it was tricky. I certainly have been through very unusual circumstances, and I’ve been able to kind of absorb that stuff in my life in a way thats useful, for sure, and not crazy. Im very grateful for the position I’m in now.

AP: “A Thousand Miles” and “White Houses” came out right before the music industry made some huge shifts, as far as who pays for music anymore. I was wondering if that had an influence on the way you make music?

VC: No, I think what affected my process was that I started to explore any outside pressure on my work. So I left the major labels. It wasn’t working for me. And that’s when things really started to feel right.

AP: What kind of music influenced you when you were writing this new record? And what kind of music are you into, in general?

VC: I was listening to a lot of different stuff, like Phillip Glass and Air. I think, a lot of stuff that’s almost… I would call it seance-type things. Really moving and with interesting arrangements. Sonically, very beautiful. I have a little playlist going. Also, y’know, some dance music. Not EDM, but artfully made songs that have his and lows, dynamic-wise. I really wanted this record to feel pretty even, y’know?

I’m sorry, I have to go put this baby down. It might get loud. Want to try one more question?

AP: Sure! Do you have any other creative outlets besides the music that you’re doing, and what’s next for you?

VC: I love design. I like interior design a lot. I’m on the road at the moment, so what’s next is really just touring and figuring out how to balance it all. I have a daughter, as you can hear, so I’ve got to figure out how to tour with a baby. Basically I’m doing that, and making the shows really great. So far its been really cool, and the shows and the record are what’s important. And people have been receptive to me growing up, which I still appreciate.

Vanessa Carlton will be playing Brighton Music Hall tonight, 12/7, with Joshua Hyslop. The show is sold out.