PREMIERE: La Lune – ‘Love/Sick’

Brighton song-writer La Lune has released her ear-melting new single ‘Love/Sick’, which you can listen to below. We’ve been keeping track of this elusive newcomer since she shared her debut EP Bliss with us in February, and her latest offering is equally as dreamy.

La Lune’s material is mainly autobiographical, but on ‘Love/Sick’ she approached songwriting from a different angle. “I was giving a friend of mine some advice, as they were having relationship-troubles,” La Lune explains. “They said to me, ‘we’ve got a lot to undo’ and that phrase really stuck with me and inspired the chorus of the song (we often joke that I should give them lyric credits). I think ‘Love/Sick’ sounds a bit different to what I’ve released before, which was my intention. I wanted the subject matter to be kind of sad, but to juxtapose this with a relatively upbeat song. I really like it when songs do that.”

Inspired by the likes of The Japanese House, Lorde, James Blake & Bon Iver, La Lune has been creating her own music for just over a year. ‘Love/Sick’ marks a more “summery” direction for the songwriter, but her sharp production skills ensure she’s still creating her trademark understated, cleanly produced sounds.

Listen to ‘Love/Sick’ below and follow La Lune on Facebook for more updates.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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LISTEN: Hanne Leland – ‘Stay’

Husky, melancholic vocals against a soft piano line form the foundations of Norwegian born singer-songwriter Hanne Leland’s latest single ‘Stay’.

So far within her musical journey, Hanne Leland has taken a daring leap from the world of country music to her own style of electro-pop in addition to being the support act for the legendary All Saints on their comeback tour. Produced by Jim Eliot – who was behind Ellie Goulding’s ‘Anything Could Happen’ – ‘Stay’ is a passionate plea to love. The emotion is strong within Leland’s soaring vocals, as a tinge of electronica underpins the poignant pop soundscape. Hanne Leland expands: “…the recording process was really emotional as the song is very personal to me”.

It is this raw expression that establishes Leland’s mark upon the pop scene and makes ‘Stay’ a track which deems us eager to hear more from the London-based singer.

 

Nicky Lee Delisle
@Nicky___Lee

Photo Credit: Mariann Vik

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Interview: FemRock

Here at GIHE HQ we’re currently counting down the days to FemRock‘s DIY not-for-profit gig night in Brighton on 30th June. Kindred spirits of ours, they are all about putting girls to the front and promoting women in music. We caught up with FemRock to get the low down on what to expect this year, the meaning behind their manifesto and the artists they’re loving right now.

Hi FemRock!  Congratulations on your second annual female-fronted festival! FemRock is a PR company, so can you tell us a bit about how you began?  What inspired you to setup FemRock?
Thank you so much! So, FemRock began in February 2013 in response to a lack of women’s representation in the music scene. I’d grown up with a passion for going to live shows and eventually noticed a real lack of line ups that involved women, let alone bands that were fronted by women and especially bands fronted by women being higher on the line-up than an opening slot. I was sick and tired, and questioned why there was such a lack of diversity in these line-ups. At first I thought that maybe women weren’t as involved in music as men were, due to the sexist nature of the music industry, but soon discovered that it went deeper than that; women were involved in music but all male and male-fronted bands were prioritised. So, when I moved to Brighton I decided to create what I believed the music scene’s I had been involved in before were lacking. Thus FemRock was born!

And what kicked things off for the FemRock Fest last year?
By the time we decided to create FemRock Fest we had been running for 4 years. It was around this time that the lack of diversity in festival line-ups was in the spotlight, and I’d built up a strong team around me to run FemRock together. So rather than waiting for existing festivals to correct this problem, we decided to create our own festival with a line-up that showed just how many amazing bands had women members and frontwomen!

As part of the FemRock Manifesto you make an emphasis on being feminist, d.i.y. and unapologetically political – can you expand on these for us and what they mean to you?
Feminism runs through everything we do, as individuals and as a team running FemRock. It felt important to state that explicitly in our manifesto – not only are we creating spaces for women to make and share music, we’re also placing that within the broader world of activism and the significance of lifting up the voices of women and other oppressed groups. We invite feminist groups to display flyers and petitions at our events, and work alongside local campaigns whenever possible. At our festival we always fundraise for relevant causes and provide spaces for organisations to display their information and talk to attendees. We don’t shy away from our politics, and we work hard to ensure that an accepting and loving culture is created at FemRock for people of all identities while recognising that we are all learning and growing. We don’t tolerate hatred and harassment, and we hope that our girls to the front ethos helps to create a night where everyone feels safe, heard and can have a great time too.

Here at GIHE we have massive respect for all those D.I.Y. artists out there, so it’s great to see an organisation supporting them by putting so many of them on your line up!  A couple of our favs are on there – in particular Charmpit, Militant Girlfriend and The Baby Seals – how did you go about picking the bands for the final line up?
It was a combination of us approaching bands we’ve watched and admired from afar and inviting back bands who are FemRock favourites that we’ve worked with in the past. A festival is a great way of bringing together all those bands together to create one stellar line-up and we’re so excited to have them all on one line-up – we feel so spoiled to have them all!

How do you all feel about the general lack of female headliners at a lot of big festivals at the moment?  
I don’t think there’s any excuse for the lack of diversity or lack of adequate representation on big festival line-ups and I don’t think it’s good enough to make a promise of correcting this by 2020, as many festivals have pledged, when there are so many talented bands involving women out there right now and who have been there for a long time, and simply gone unnoticed. We have a long way to go, but hopefully we’ll get there soon.

The festival is not just about music either is it?  You’ve got 2 vegan food stalls and a feminist marketplace – can you tell us a bit more about that? 
We’re very fortunate to have Cactus Kitchen Gals and Vegasmic catering our festival! Cactus Kitchen Gals do super tasty vegan junk food which is the perfect festival-fuel! Vegasmic will be selling delicious vegan sweets and treats! Our feminist marketplace was a huge hit last year so we decided to do it all over again! The marketplace is held in the courtyard of the venue and is made up of stallholders selling artwork, illustrations and creations and community organisations and activist groups. We also have DJ sets outside throughout the day to give a real festival vibe.

Finally, as we’re a new music focused site, are there any particular new bands or artists you’d recommend we check out?
Some of our favourite bands that you’ve not already mentioned include Sit Down (YES! We LOVE them!), who are a Brighton-based garage-punk two piece whose frontwoman is also their drummer, she is a force to be reckoned with! We’re also HUGE fans of The Nyx, The Menstrual Cramps, Bloom, Jellie Rolls, The Great Malarkey and CLT DRP among SO many more. We could keep going forever…

Huge thanks to FemRock for answering our questions! 

Femrock’s second annual female-fronted festival returns to Brighton on Saturday 30th June at The Green Door Store. There’ll 10 female-fronted bands, 2 vegan food stalls, a Feminist Marketplace full of creatives and activists and outdoor DJ sets throughout the day. Ticket info here.

Full FemRock line-up:

The Baby Seals
Sit Down
Militant Girlfriend
Bitch Theme
Hussy
Charmpit
Hexmaze
Suburban Death Twitch
Gullsband
Quim Smashers

 

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Introducing Interview: Nausica

Since forming in 2013, Nausica have continued to work from their home countries of both Germany and the Netherlands, writing and producing their own material.

Skilled in creating ethereal, mesmerising soundscapes, Nausica have just released their new single ‘Black & White’. We caught up with them to find out more…

Hi Nausica, welcome to Get In Her Ears! Can you tell us a bit about the band?
We’re a Dutch-German band, located in both Holland and Berlin and we’re working towards our first full length album, first releasing some singles like this one, ‘Black & White’.

How did you initially get together and start creating music?
We met in Holland. Actually our guitarist and our lead singer were the first ones to make music together, later our drummer Jannis Knüpfer joined, and then bass player Pim Walter. So, basically we started in 2013.

Your new single ‘Black & White’ is out now – can you tell us what it’s all about? Are there any themes running throughout the single?
The title Black & White is based on the lyrics “It’s black & white, boy, the air we breathe” and describes symbolically two different mindsets in form of an ongoing flashback. Conscious choices made with clear memories in contradiction to the typical grey area, where everything you feel and do seems blurry. The chorus could be described as the deep powerful and colourful outpouring of emotions, almost losing the feeling for reality.

You’ve been compared to the likes of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Warpaint, but who would you say are your main musical influences?
We listen to a lot of different stuff, but some all time favorites are Future Islands, Warpaint, Foals, PJ Harvey, Talking Heads and Michael Jackson.

How is your local music scene? Do you go to see lots of live music?
We are spread over two countries, though we met in Arnhem (Holland), so I think our local scene has always been Europe. We’re not bound to one place. So, of course we see and meet a lot of other bands, but mostly we are going to concerts where we already know someone. I think it’s a very normal habit for musicians.

And what can fans expect from your live shows?
People mostly describe it as very energetic and expressive. I’d add that we have fantastic songs!

As we’re a new music focused site, are there any new/upcoming bands or artists you’d recommend we check out?
Two bands that we’re big fans of, who also happen to be friends of ours, are Parfum Brutal from Berlin, and Ode to the Quiet, from Holland.

And how do you feel the music industry is for new bands at the moment – would you say it’s difficult to get noticed?
Hmmm. Actually it’s changing so fast all the time, especially in the social media world, which has got extremely important over the years to reach your audience. I would say that’s the most difficult thing for us to understand – how it works to get noticed.

Finally, what does the rest of 2018 have in store for Nausica?
We will release 1-2 new music videos/singles and plans are going towards a full length album, but that depends on a lot of factors, for instance – if we will release it DIY or with a label. We’re still playing some shows in Holland this summer, and hopefully more around Europe soon!

‘Black & White’, the new single from Nausica, is out now.

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