FIVE FAVOURITES: JEANA

Emerging London-based artist JEANA – who originally made music in Bedford with her siblings – has spent the majority of 2019 working alongside Producer Ginger Snaps to create her smooth, indie pop sounds. Her latest single, ‘Nameless’ is a polished offering that explores the feelings of vulnerability and of power when a toxic relationship comes to an end, and showcases the nineteen year old’s ability to rise from these ashes in Phoenix-like fashion.

We think one of the best ways to get to know an artist is by asking what music inspired them to write in the first place. We caught up with JEANA to ask her about her “Five Favourites” – five albums that have influenced her song writing techniques. Check out her choices below, and scroll down to listen to her single ‘Nameless’ at the end of this post.

 

1. Amy Winehouse – Back to Black
Like a lot of people, this album was on repeat in my household for a few years when I was growing up as a child. We used to go to a bar on a beach in Spain, which always played this album & even though the bar has since shut we still refer to it as the Amy Winehouse beach. I love this album so much because I felt I could enjoy it as a child as well as enjoying it now as an adult for different reasons. The lyrics are so raw and are empowering I think. The memories are distant from when I first heard this album but I associate it with so many different good times, and i’m sure I can go back and relate to this album in more stages of my life to come.

2. Taylor Swift – Fearless
I found this album in 2011 as a young tweenager and I remember feeling like I had discovered the true meaning of music. I randomly found an iPod on a family holiday with only illegally downloaded Taylor Swift music on, Fearless being the only album. Of course, I rinsed all the songs and wanted to become Taylor Swift, this album actually encouraged me to start singing, pick up a guitar and started me writing (and I really did want to be Taylor Swift for a good 3 years!).

3. Catfish and the Bottlemen – The Balcony
At 14 years old I discovered Catfish and the Bottlemen, and wanted to be “Mrs Van McCann”. This album completely transitioned me from Taylor Swift’s biggest fan to the indie girl that started to go to gigs with her Sister. I’ve always loved indie music as it’s what I’ve been brought up on, but this is the first album I remember discovering myself, and loved like it was my own. It made me start to explore similar artists, and led me to the artists who influenced them.

4. Arcade Fire – Funeral
This album is one of my all time favourites, not only because its the soundtrack to my childhood but also because every song is a favourite. The songs are all such massive anthems and listening to it even though it was their debut, feels like a greatest hits collection. Seeing them live last year at Wembley arena just made me love them as a band even more. From the way they swap their instruments during their set, to the show being staged in a boxing ring – they bring such variety to a performance.

5. Ms. Lauryn Hill – The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
A truly beautiful album that I discovered through working with my producer Ginger Snaps. Listening to this was my first step away from my indie/pop roots, and influenced my sound more towards RnB. The songs are so raw and vulnerable, it made me feel more comfortable putting my own honest feelings into lyrics. It has so much going on musically with the combination of reggae/latin beats. Since discovering this album early last year I’ve been lucky enough to see Ms. Lauryn Hill twice – at the O2 arena and Boomtown Fair.

Thanks to JEANA for sharing her favourites with us. Follow her on Facebook for more updates.

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FIVE FAVOURITES: Sea Change

Norwegian newcomer Sea Change is skilled at crafting atmospheric, transformative, electronic sounds. She’s set to release her new album INSIDE on 15th November, and if recent singles ‘Stepping Out’ and ‘Flown’ are anything to go by, it’ll be filled with intriguing synth textures, longing vocals, and irresistible lo-fi beats. 

Sea Change (aka Ellen Sunde) wrote her new album after she relocated to Berlin, and during her many trips back and forth to LA; resulting in seven tracks that meander through intimate and stimulating personal territories.

We think one of the best ways to get to know an artist is by asking what music inspired them to write in the first place. We caught up with Ellen to ask her about her “Five Favourites” – five albums that have influenced her song writing techniques. Check out her choices below, and scroll down to listen to her latest track ‘Flown’ at the end of this post.

 

1. PJ Harvey – Is This Desire / 4-Track Demos
Discovering PJ Harvey at 16 made my whole world turn around. Before that, I loved music and I knew that I needed to do music myself, but I’d never heard anything by a female voice or musician that I loved with all my heart (how sad is that !?). But then I discovered PJ Harvey and the way she sang and made her music was so gut wrenching and vulnerable and beautiful and horrible at the same time; I realized that I don’t have to sing in a pretty voice to make music. When I heard Is This Desire, it was like – yes – this is the music I’m gonna make. Everything kind of fell into place when I discovered her. She taught me that being raw and honest is what makes amazing art. She has a special place in my heart.

2. Sidsel Endresen & Bugge Wesseltoft – Duplex Ride / Out There. In There.
At 18 I started to discover more and more experimental music and in Norway. There’s an amazing improv and jazz scene. I discovered Sidsel Endresen which is an experimental jazz singer. I think the way she uses silence and minimalism in her music is incredible. She is an amazing improviser, it’s super intuitive. In her music there’s nothing of that showing off-virtuosity you can often find in jazz music, but it’s actually something that comes from her heart. And I think she also taught me to not give a crap about what other people think, and to do your own thing. Her lyrics are also utterly beautiful.

3. Arthur Russell – World Of Echo
Arthur Russel makes the perfect blend of club music/disco/experimental and vulnerability. He has something that I can’t explain. His music and lyricism is so naive and beautiful in it’s simplicity, and I love that it’s electronic music but it has this off-kilter and strange vibe. It sounds like he is improvising and jamming by himself in his living room, and it’s so rare to listen to electronic music that is so unperfected. His songs don’t really have one proper studio version, they have about 10 different ones that make his artistry so utterly interesting. He has a mixture of authority, intuition and vulnerability in his music that I will always strive after, ‘cos its so explosive in an artist. I recently heard that he will be releasing a new mix of unreleased songs/demos on the 15th of November (the same day I’m releasing my record!) and I can’t wait to listen.

4. Noise/Improv/Lasse Marhaug/Noxakt/Kevin Drumm
I need to put in this on the list but it’s more of a state of mind/genre than albums or tracks. Most of this music I’ve experienced live. When I moved to Oslo at 19 I started to go to improv and noise concerts. Oslo has an amazing experimental scene and it was really cool to be able to go to so many shows that were so well curated. There’s a rawness and punk atmosphere to this music that I love, and to be able to just close my eyes and dive into a world of raw sound is incredible. This was also at the same time I started making music myself. When I started playing live I usually had parts in the live sets that were ambient and drone like (it’s surprisingly hard to make something that actually sounds good). This music is best to experience live. I think it awakes something primal in me, and I’m really happy I went through this musical phase cos it taught me so much about what music can be and that it has no limits!

5. Fever Ray – Plunge
I’m such a huge fan of Fever Ray, it’s kind of embarrassing. When she all of the sudden dropped PLUNGE in 2017 I was listening to the record over and over for days. I can’t remember last time I had this obsession with a record, since I was in my teens I guess, and that is the most amazing feeling. I love what she’s challenging both musically and lyrically. There was a music journalist that wrote that this record was like jumping into cold water, and I really love that allegory. This record hit me in the chest and I think it came at a time in my life when I really needed it and it also influenced my newest record a lot. I love how she blends club music, pop music and listening music and makes her own breed of art with her explosive visual narrative. She is a HUGE inspiration!

I saw her live recently and she had a seven piece band with only female musicians, and I remember how shocked I was with how shocked I was. How have I never seen that before!? And that made me realize that hell, from now on I’m only gonna have female musicians on stage. Her first record was amazing and Its still a piece of art that stands steady as a rock, and I find myself going back to it over and over again.

Thanks to Ellen for sharing her favourites with us.

Follow Sea Change on Facebook for more updates.

Photo Credit: Fotini Chora

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Introducing Interview: MIPSO

Having played shows extensively across the world, North Carolina band Mipso have recently released their latest album Edges Run. 

Taken from the album, new single ‘People Change’ is a beautifully poignant offering. Reflecting on themes of loss, it oozes a twinkling charm, flowing folk-fused melodies and lush harmonies.

We caught up with Libby from the band to find out more…

Hi Mipso, welcome to Get In Her Ears! Can you tell us a bit about the band?
We are a group of four college friends from North Carolina, along with our wayward Wisconsonite drummer Yan. We play about 150 shows a year across the United States and the planet Earth. 

How did you initially all get together and start creating music?
We met when we were about eighteen and looking forward to bright futures in politics, science, academia, etc. Instead, we began playing weekend gigs at local bars and eventually decided to do it full time. Harmony singing was one of the first things we really liked doing together. We also all enjoyed songwriting and song arranging, so we tried to make a band where everyone could contribute to the creation of songs. 

Your new video for ‘People Change’ is out now – can you tell us what it’s all about?
The video is intentionally open-ended in terms of its narrative. In a general sense, it’s about looking back on a relationship of some kind that has ended, quietly rather than with a bang. We wanted a series of images that would evoke that particular dull heartache of nostalgia — the smoky haze that’s left over after the flames of love and rupture have burned away. Jacob had the original song idea about a friend he grew apart from after college, but we wanted the video to be vaguer, because I think one of the strengths of that song is how it feels relevant to range of types of relationships. It has some vivid specificity – “that night in Carrboro”, “I hate when people bring me flowers”, etc – but it calls to mind all the forms that follow that type of memory. Jake McBride’s video takes your mind into all those corners. 

You’ve been compared to the likes of Local Natives and Fleet Foxes, but who would you say are your main musical influences?
I’m very bad at these kinds of questions. The thing is that we all listen to different music, so our influences are more of a melting pot than a single through-line. We were born in the early ’90s, so we had Destiny’s Child, Blink 182 and Third Eye Blind in our ears during some very formative years. Joseph grew up listening to his dad’s Bob Marley and James Taylor records, Jacob got into jam bands via String Cheese Incident, Wood picked up a lot of jazz love from his dad, several of us sang in church choir. I have spent some time trying to play old time and Celtic fiddle, and as a band we have definitely studied harmony singing and arrangements for acoustic instruments via old bluegrass records. These days some artists at the intersection of our music appreciation Venn diagram are Buck Meek, Phish, Joni Mitchell, Wilco, Sandro Perri, Bedouine. 

How is your local music scene? Do you go to see lots of live music?
Our local music scene is so wonderful it has made it virtually impossible for me to leave this area, even though I’ve been here for about a million years and sometimes I’m so sick of it thatt I don’t want to leave my house. Most of my hometown friends play music around here, and most of my music friends who live elsewhere play here on their tours. I do see a lot of live music, even though sometimes my instincts tell me to stay away from music venues after I get home from tour where I feel like I’ve spent several lifetimes in music venues. Generally though, if I can get over that mental block, I enjoy pretty much every show I go to. And then I get a lot of FOMO when we’re out on the road and I miss the great stuff that comes through; just this past week, Les Filles de Illighadad, who are an incredible Tuareg band from Niger, were here playing a free show in a park in downtown Durham. The week before that we had a great festival called Hopscotch in Raleigh, and I was luckily home to see some of my old favourites like Dirty Projectors and newer favorites like Mega Bog, not to mention an 8-hour series of purely improvisational sets in one of my favourite venues, Neptune’s, which is down in a basement with red lighting and no stage. 

As we’re a new music focused site, are there any new/upcoming bands or artists you’d recommend we check out?
I don’t totally know what falls into that category (like remember when the Grammys gave best new artist to Arcade Fire?), but I will take a swing: I really love the debut record by my friend Molly Sarlé, who is also a member of Mountain Man. It’s produced by Sam Evian, whose music I also recommend very hard if you haven’t heard it. Emma Louise’s ‘Lilac Everything’ is a gut punch. T. Gold, some more pals from around here, have the perfect soundtrack for your lazy morning or your late-night porch sit. And probably a bunch of artists I will remember as soon as I finish this!

And how do you feel the music industry is for new bands at the moment – would you say it’s difficult to get noticed?
Probably not much more difficult than it was in 1969 or whatever. Or, who knows? Certainly not me. It feels difficult to get noticed these days just as a human being, and it feels like getting noticed is at a premium. Basically everybody knows what it’s like to want more likes on your picture and simultaneously feel like an absolute piece of trash for wanting that. At least these days you don’t have to wait for a big radio DJ on his high horse to pick your record out of the stack. It does seem more difficult now to get people to listen to your music without first hearing some story about you via social media. They’re like, you want me to LISTEN to this record before I even know where you were born and how many times you’ve been to rehab and how your band name is an anagram of your bank robber uncle’s middle name??

Finally, what does the rest of 2019 have in store for Mipso?
We’re finishing a new record next month. Then this Europe tour is sort of the capstone on 2019 for us. I’ve never been to about 75% of the countries we’re playing, so I’m excited to at least wave to the scenery as we drive by. 

Big thanks to Libby for answering our questions! 

‘People Change’ is taken from Mipso’s recently released album Edges Run. Catch Mipso live in the UK this month:

26th October – Broadcast, Glasgow
27th October – Castle Hotel, Manchester
28th October – Thousand Island, London

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FIVE FAVOURITES: SHHE

Sparse, searching, and sincere; Scottish-Portuguese artist and producer Su Shaw – aka SHHE – creates captivating electronic sounds based around the concepts of identity, empathy, and intense personal change. She recently released her debut self-titled album via One Little Indian Records, and it’s an understated, yet dramatic gem that lingers in the memory long after the first listen.

We think one of the best ways to get to know an artist is by asking what music inspired them to write in the first place. We caught up with Su to ask her about her “Five Favourites” – five tracks that have influenced her song writing techniques. Check out her choices below, and scroll down to listen to her debut album at the end of this post.

1. Jenny Hval – ‘Conceptual Romance’
Jenny Hval is not just one thing, she is many things. If you are not already familiar with some of those things, take a five minute intermission and read her recent ‘Hi I’m Jenny Hval and you can ask me anything’ interview on Reddit. ‘Conceptual Romance’ from Blood Bitch was the first track I heard, but all of her projects are worthy of your eyes/ears/time. My girlfriend and I went to see her a few years ago, and it was one of my favourite gigs. Half-way through she admitted that most of the set had been improvised because the airline had lost their instruments the day before.

When I listened to ‘Lions’ for the first time [from her recent album The Practice Of Love] it made me want to cry and go for a very fast run. Those are strange things to feel simultaneously. She is open and honest and writes about the things that other people don’t write about, and I have a dream that one day we will be great friends.

2. Land of Talk – ‘Some Are Lakes’
I was 20 when I heard Land of Talk for the first time. I can’t tell you where or how I made the discovery, but I listened to this album [of the same name] on repeat that whole year. I was in a bunch of bands at school, I was always the only girl. At a school with more than 100 other people in my year, that always made me kind of sad. I didn’t pick up an electric guitar until I was 17, even then I never had confidence to play it on stage. I was the singer. Liz Powell did both. I wish we’d gone to school together.

3. Boards of Canada – ‘Music is Math’
‘Music is Math’ is taken from the Boards of Canada album, Geogaddi. It was released in 2002. I did not find Boards of Canada until they released Tomorrow’s Harvest in 2013. No one has found them since. In fact, no one knows much about them. It’s a useful reminder, at a time when everyone is obsessed with knowing everything, that the music is the only thing we need. If you’re not satisfied by that, there’s patterns and messages and codes that they’ve hidden throughout their albums to keep you busy. I like listening to Boards of Canada when I’m feeling confused and I need a break.

4. Jon Hopkins – ‘Luminous Beings’
The first time I saw Jon perform was in a village hall at a festival called Homegame in Fife. It was the most relaxed I’ve ever felt in a room packed full of people. There’s a great Song Exploder interview with Jon where he talks about some of the influences behind ‘Luminous Beings’ – meditation and altered states and psychedelics and ice baths. His Asleep Versions album is also a special record and has been the soundtrack to many late night/early morning drives.

5. Caterina Barbieri – ‘SOTRS’
Patterns of Consciousness is one of my favourite albums from the last few years. ‘SOTRS’ is perfect for riding a bike with no hands, if you’re able to do that somewhere safely.

Thank you to Su for sharing her favourites with us. Follow SHHE on Facebook for more updates.

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