Illustrator In Residence: Natasha Natarajan – ‘Women That Changed My World’ (Part 1)

Natasha Natarajan is a British-Indian visual artist funding her autobiographical comic strip ‘FML Comics’ and zine habit through Graphic/Web Design, Illustration, Arts Administration, Education and a career that basically makes no sense on a CV. Natasha holds a BA in Indian History and has worked in the arts in Copenhagen and Scotland. She has recently moved home to London where she is whole-heartedly winging it. 

In the first of this new two-part series, Natasha shares some of the women in music who have changed her world; telling us what they mean to her, and sharing a unique original illustration.

Women That Changed My World

When I love something it generates a lot of energy in me. In the past I’ve unhelpfully unleashed this energy on various people in my life. But drawing has become a wholesome and productive way for me to deal with it; it feels like a labour of love when I draw someone that’s important to me. I started drawing musicians in 2017 – I listen to their music and draw. As much as possible I try to find a photograph of them playing, rather than a press shot, because I think it’s important to me they’re doing what I love them for. I am so inspired and encouraged by the work of other artists. I hope you enjoy these renditions of the women I have loved!

AGAMA
“My music brings together people who occupy different spaces and belong to different tribes. It’s such a mash-up of genres. We all have a strong need for belonging, and once you find your tribe it can be so easy to become trapped in an echo chamber of beliefs and experiences that match your own and then everyone who is not like you becomes alien.”

Natasha says:
I love AGAMA’s lyrics. Her words are so insightful and tender. Each track could stand alone as a glorious poem. It’s a blessing that we can listen to her sing the words herself because her voice adds a whole other force of energy. She can whisper to you and roar in the same breath, but always with a rawness that feels human. The four tracks that make up her EP deserve listening front to back loud, on good headphones and alone.

Find out more: Twitter / Spotify

Rokia Traoré
“Having been exposed to Europe from a young age I have never seen it as ‘superior’, I have always just seen it as an equal place to Mali. I had enough context to understand the way in which Africa is depicted to the world. The value of life should not need to be tied to money. In Africa, people may have less money but there is value in finding joy in the everyday. There is a different philosophy, a different way of seeing life in Africa.”
– Speaking in brightonfestival.org

Natasha says:
I love the sparse rhythmic beauty of ‘Zen’ and so many of Rokia’s compositions. Each track takes me on a mini journey. Her voice and the instrumentation feel so nude and I’m drawn to her subtle grooves. My heart dances and my shoulders wiggle along. I love nothing more than dancing alone to Rokia on repeat in the kitchen.

Find out more: Instagram / Spotify

Fatoumata Diawara
“We have to keep singing. Women need more motivation. We need to wake up women’s consciences and say, ‘Don’t give up. Continue.’ In Mali, my generation looks at me, at every action I do. I’m like a little example for them, for women. When I’m in Bamako, many girls come to me and say they’re very happy for everything I’m doing. I can tell them what I want through my music.”
– Speaking in The Independent, 2013

Natasha says:
Fatoumata’s music has always been a soothing presence in my life. When I discovered that the lyrics were about her experience as a Malian woman, her sound acquired a new melancholic beauty and I found great respect for the powerful way she communicates her message. I can listen to her first album, Fatou, anywhere, anytime and with anyone.

Find out more: Twitter / Spotify

Dobet Gnahoré
“With a sweet melody, the message comes across simply and reaches people more easily, and the emotion remains. With the African languages that I sing, there are not many people who can understand (them all)… But emotion transcends borders, and it remains written inside the listener’s body.”
– Speaking in The Chicago Tribune, 2015

Natasha says:
Her song ‘Palea‘ has brought me to happy tears many a time, even though I had no idea what she was talking about. She’s right when she says a sweet melody can carry an emotional message. And she does it so beautifully. She does truly amazing things with her voice filling her tracks with so much energy. She’s also an amazing dancer! I am forever stalking her on Instagram and plundering YouTube for live performances.

Find out more: Instagram / Spotify

Huge thanks to Natasha for her inspiring words and truly beautiful illustrations! Keep your eyes peeled for Part 2 of her ‘Women That Changed My World’ feature next week.

Find out more about Natasha Natarajan at her website and Instagram page (and her comic Instagram page too). 

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Track Of The Day: ECKOES – ‘The Light’

Having performed at the likes of Glastonbury and All Points East, and now signed to Goldie MBE’s new record label, London based artist ECKOES has now shared her latest single ‘The Light’

‘The Light’ is a delight in contradiction – crunchy and aggressive 8-bit style drum beats break against ECKOES’s smooth, fragile voice. Strobing synths and twinkling guitars lull you into a state of hypnosis only to be interrupted by a crashing cacophony, bringing to mind spaceships dropping from the sky in the classic video game Space Invaders. This is what it feels like to have your life fall apart. “I wrote this at a time when my life as I knew it had imploded…” says ECKOES of ‘The Light’; her constant refrain, “I wait”, evokes that feeling of not knowing where to go, waiting for a sign from the heavens, in this truly captivating soundscape. 

The single’s accompanying video is set on the edge of the world whilst dancer and choreographer Liza Van Der Smissen moves through ‘The Light’ in a beautifully choreographed contemporary dance piece as ECKOES, dressed in black veils, stands stoically as a haunting figure in the background. 

‘The Light’ is available to stream now on Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon Music. 

Aisha Kasmir
@aisha_vocal

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EP: Why Bonnie – ‘Voice Box’

Releasing music during a pandemic creates something of a paradox – sure, people are starved for entertainment, and perfectly primed to listen to music on a stream, but launch gigs are cancelled and record shops are closed. Sympathy has to go out to Get in Her Ears faves Why Bonnie then, who’ve just signed to Fat Possum and who have just released their new EP, with a now cancelled show in New York previously part of their plans. That being said, if you absolutely have to stay indoors – or, in a garden, at best – across a sunny Easter weekend, you could do worse than have Voice Box on repeat.

Opener ‘Bury Me’ leads with an acoustic strum into mid-tempo, ’90s tinged, dream pop that’s got a Mazzy Star vocal scattered over a Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain Pavement backing. That acoustic flavour is continued in later track ‘Jetplane’, but there it’s also drenched with synths. Closer ‘No Caves’, meanwhile, is four-to-the-floor indie-rock until its guitar spirals and noodles flare into garage.

Previous single, ‘Athlete’ is a standout here, not least as it sits right in the middle of the track listing and opens with a highly inappropriate cough, right in the listener’s direction. Suitably, it’s a lot gruffer than the rest of the EP, with its itchy violins, emerging into an alt-rock stomper.

But it’s the title track that shines most here. An epic five minutes, with a chorus that’s really a middle eight, acting like a breaking off from the early uncertainty of a synth-infused hazy landscape into something with more urgency, replete with a closing guitar outro shimmer. As an introduction to the band, the tune is perfect – and that’s without mentioning the perfume infomercial style video, which the band describe as a “Carpenters-inspired dream world”.  All in all, title-track ‘Voice Box’ is the closest the EP comes to the sound of dream-pop royalty, a la Cocteau Twins – and there’s no higher praise.

Of the EP, and its title, lead singer Blair explains: “It encapsulates a disconnect between my inner and outer world, and not being able to express myself authentically because of that. But, ultimately knowing I will crash and burn if I don’t.”

Given the recent days of self-isolation, and those still ahead of us, perhaps that gap between our inner and outer worlds has become more physical than psychic – but the frustration, the need for communication and contact, and the desire for expression are just the same.  With its waves of light mirroring those of the blossoming spring weather, perhaps Why Bonnie have inadvertently made the perfect music for spending time indoors.

Voice Box is out now via Fat Possum Records.

John McGovern
@etinsuburbiaego

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Track Of The Day: Gulls – ‘SHAME SHAME SHAME’

Following the punk rock energy of last single ‘Shop’, Brighton trio Gulls have now shared another infectious, raging banger.

Propelled by thrashing beats and a driving, riotous force, ‘SHAME SHAME SHAME’ could not have come to our ears at a better time. A spot on social commentary, rallying against Fascists and the insidious alt-right, it oozes a frenzied impassioned energy that we need now more than ever, asserting that we will not tolerate intolerance.

With the seething power of Rhi Kavok’s gritty lyricism backed by frenzied riffs and the soaring backing vocals of Boe Higgs, it’s a perfect slice of angst-driven punk; a truly necessary listen right now. A time when we all need to find comfort in rage – a time when we need to come together through music and unite against the increasingly scary people who seem to be in positions of power.

Watch the new video for ‘SHAME SHAME SHAME’ now:

Mari Lane
@marimindles

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