Introducing Interview: Wallis Bird

Following the acclaim of 2019’s poignant Woman, Irish born/Berlin based artist Wallis Bird has now released her seventh studio album, Hands. Showcasing Bird’s unique, vibrant brand of alt-pop – combining fizzing ’80s-inspired blissful soundscapes with an empowering energy and stirring sentiment -, it reflects heartfelt and resonant themes with a raw emotion, delivered through an uplifting, cinematic musicality.

We caught up with Bird to find out more about the album; her live shows; her thoughts on the music industry today, and more. Have a read, and make sure you take a listen to the stirring sounds of Hands at the earliest opportunity!

Hi Wallis Bird! Welcome to Get In Her Ears! Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hiya, I’m Wallis. I’m intelligent, funny, very handsome and talented. Most of all I’m humble. Everything else is wiki.

Are you able to tell us a bit about how and why you initially started creating music?
Before I could talk I was whistling, before I could stand I got my first guitar. I’ve been writing songs since before I knew what songs were, so it’s actually been something I’ve followed my whole life without question. I wrote my first song as a toddler and I distinctly remember the feeling of comfort and excitement it gave me to sing a lullaby or poem. At around eleven I realised that my friends were singing my songs and since then I suppose I’ve been writing with others in mind, to gather people socially or for posterity. I’ve realised in the last decade that my music is there to inspire, and encourage solutions and conversation through respect and patience and positivity.

We love your vibrant yet gritty pop-infused sounds, but who would you say are your main musical influences?
As a baby it was Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Sharon Shannon, Rory Gallagher, as a teen it was Tori Amos, Ani DiFranco, Fiona Apple. As an adult it was Björk, Radiohead, Villagers, classical. Nowadays I’m leaning towards jamming again and writing for comfort and collaboration.

You released your seventh album Hands earlier this year… Are you able to tell us a bit about it? Are there any particular themes that run throughout it?
Spiritual connection, asking for and offering help, the unknown future, exciting and terrifying new beginnings, giving up alcohol and going to therapy, adulting. Obsession and control, and taking care that it doesn’t own me. It’s in support of migrants and defiance of racism. Positivity and powerful vulnerability, and wanting to fucking sweat dance.


Being based in Berlin, do you get to see lots of live music? Would you say it’s recovered since the pandemic?
It finally has, but only in the last two months. Usually Berlin crowds are either tough as fuck, or wild and welcoming, but they seem to have lost their critical edge and are just extremely happy to see their favourite artist on stage again. It’s a golden age at the moment!

And what can fans expect from your live shows?
Tonnes of power. Power power power. I can’t ever tame it or hide it, it always comes out. Ugh!

How do you feel the industry is for new artists at the moment? And do you feel much has changed over the last few years in its treatment of female and queer/LGBTQ+  artists? 
I feel that new artists are defining the industry because there seemed to be no love for them, so they did it their way and are now defining the industry under their terms – it is revolutionary, and the labels are having to catch up. I love it. It has bred new and exciting artists who are fully aware of and in control of their worth and not taking any less than that – which hasn’t happened in my time on this earth. I’m all for it! In terms of queer artists, man I’m so excited at the normalised lyrics of same sex relationships in stories, something previously disguised and dangerous in my short lifetime. Across all genres, even the known homophobic genres like modern hip-hop or trap specifically, it’s just so powerful to see people laying their heart out in this vulnerable way. To be vulnerable takes the most strength, I love where the youth is going. Healing with abandon.

As we’re a new music focused site, are there any other upcoming artists you’re loving right now that you’d recommend, we check out?
Síomha just released her debut album, Infinite Space, made over two years with the people from Vulfpeck. Irish traditional mixed with NY ’80s pop jazz cats – it’s deep and relentless in its adventures. Caoi De Barra is my bandmate and she’s just released a beautiful EP called Thicket – think private R&B Jeff Buckley Sin-è sessions. And I can highly recommend Landers – hi-fi lo-tunes from atmospheric jazz nerds.

What does the rest of the year have in store for you?
A ton! I don’t know about you, but it’s as if life happened all at once again. I’m renovating a farm house I bought with five other people and I’m also going on a European tour with my band for three months from September on (tickets are at wallisbird.com/live) It’s all nice things!

Massive thanks to Wallis Bird for taking the time to answer our questions!

Hands, the latest album from Wallis Bird, is out now via Virgin Records / Mount Silver Records.

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Introducing Interview: Raindear

Having previously charmed our ears with the ethereal grace of 2019’s album Skies To My Name, Swedish artist Raindear has returned with an emotive new single. Reflecting on the theme of self-renewal, ‘Howl’ flows with a swirling majestic splendour, as Raindear’s rich, soulful vocals soar alongside glitchy hooks with a driving, impassioned energy.

To celebrate the release of the new single, we caught up with Raindear to find out what inspires her, her honest opinion on the music industry today and her plans for the next few months. Have a read, and the watch the beautiful new live video for ‘Howl’ at the bottom of this feature!

Hi Raindear! Welcome to Get In Her Ears! Can you tell us a bit about yourself? 
I’m a Swedish artist and producer mostly known for making monumental and majestic art pop. I’m a sucker for beautiful and unique melodies, and I also love tasty things and to take a little swim. 

Are you able to tell us a bit about how and why you initially started creating music? 
I have always created things. I guess it’s just a natural instinct for people like me. Some people need to create or else they will not feel that anything is meaningful at all. I was also born in a family of professional musicians, so making music was just a normal thing that everyone did. I never had to “discover” it on my own and for that I’m very grateful. 

I love your glitchy, soulful sounds, but who would you say are your main musical influences?
Thank you! That’s a tricky one. I guess Kate Bush would be one of my main ones through the years. I’ve always listened to her, long before she went viral recently. I’ve also grown up with jazz and impressionism (classical music), so I love that too. Other than that I think influences work in mysterious ways. I get influenced by pretty much everything around me – everything I experience goes through my filter and some things stick with me better than other things. I think when music is your whole life it’s hard to pick specific influences since you get influenced every day by just staying alive; you interpret everything you experience through your musical lens and it’s always possible to make something out of it because art is life and life is art. 

You’ve recently released your latest single ‘Howl’. Are you able to tell us a bit about the single? Are there any particular themes running throughout it?
It’s about massive subconscious feelings that every now and then explode out of my chest. I’ve struggled with many kinds of emotions the last couple of years – ‘Howl’ came out of that and made me feel better briefly. 

How do you feel the industry is for new artists at the moment? And do you feel much has changed over the last few years in its treatment of female and queer/LGBTQ+  artists?
I’ve tried to stay positive for so long but I don’t want to fake it anymore, now I want to be real for once. This industry is just incredibly unreasonable, I actually wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. And don’t even get me started on how the industry looks specifically for female and queer/LGBTQ+ artists. Sometimes labels etc pretend that they care about equality, but they definitely don’t. At least not the ones that sit on the money. They care about money and nothing else. Sorry for not bringing too much hope to the table…!

You’re now based in Stockholm – how is the music scene there? Do you feel that the live music community there has fully recovered since the pandemic? 
I think the Stockholm scene is very boring and mostly focused on mainstream pop. I don’t know if the live music scene is fully recovered. In some ways I feel like it is recovered – at least people are excited and out to gigs again. At the same time, the whole system is so broken and the noise is insane. It’s probably harder for the independent ones to get back into some some kind of normality right now. 

And what can fans expect from a Raindear live show? 
Heavy and colourful stuff in every possible way!

As we’re a new music focused site, are there any other upcoming artists or bands you’re loving right now that you’d recommend we check out?
My friend Bonander is insanely talented and makes very cool music. 

What does the rest of the year have in store for Raindear?
I’m performing at Rough Trade East on August 31st – come!! I’m also releasing a second single in August. And performing in Montreal in Canada October.

Massive thanks to Raindear for answering our questions! Watch the beautiful new live video for ‘Howl’ here:

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INTERVIEW: Ghum

Having been firm favourites here at GIHE for a number of years, wowing us with their immersive live performances and captivating post-punk musicality, London band GHUM have now released their much-awaited debut album, Bitter. Oozing a gritty, swirling energy as front person Laura’s vocals soar throughout, each track carries the band’s trademark ethereal allure and dark, hypnotic splendour, showcasing their ability to consistently hone their sound and bewitch listeners worldwide.

To celebrate the release of the album, we caught up with Laura, Jojo, Marina and Vicki to find out more about Bitter; what inspires them; their thoughts on the industry today; their plans for the year, and more. Have a read below and make sure you immerse your ears in the new album as soon as possible!

Hey Ghum! For those who aren’t familiar, can you tell us a bit about yourselves and how you all got together to start creating music as Ghum? 
We met because Marina, our bassist, put an ad online looking for female musicians to form a band because she thought playing with other women would be more fun. She knew Laura from a previous jam with other people and asked if she was still looking for a band. “I loved her voice and vibe so much, and was really happy she said yes.” Jojo responded to the ad saying she loved The Cure and Warpaint and I said: “You’re in, bitch”. Vicki came along soon after that and boom: Ghum was formed. 

We’re huge fans of your swirling, ethereal allure and post-punk energy, but who would you say are your main musical influences? 
Bit of Cure, bit of Pixies, bit of Joy Division and Warpaint…

You’ve just released your debut album, Bitter, which is super exciting! Are you able to tell us a bit about it? Are there any particular themes running throughout it?
Bitter is our debut album and we wanted to establish and cement our sound with this record. This time we knew what we were looking for when songwriting, and searched for it. The themes vary but the songs are about people and conversations that have maybe a bitter end – reflections on people that left a mark, and just a release of feelings that needed an escape.

And how would you say this album differs or moves on from your previous releases? 
We have consolidated our sound (for now) after The Coldest Fire EP we released in 2019, we found something that really agreed with all of us – we wanted to explore this sound and make it punchier. It feels like the culmination of an era, what we wanted to reach until now. This is us.

You’ve been wowing crowds with your immersive live shows for some time now, including support slots with the likes of Dream Wife and L.A Witch (and headlining for us at the Finsbury!), but is there a particular gig you’ve played that stands out as a highlight for you? 
We have just finished a supporting tour with Choir Boy and Soft Kill. We played in Paris at the Petit Bain and we really enjoyed that one. The French crowd was awesome and the venue was a dream – it was in the middle of our first European tour, so it was quite special to play to such a different crowd and get such a good response.

I’ve always loved seeing you live, and seem to become hypnotised by your majestic splendour! But how would you describe the Ghum live experience to those who’ve not had the pleasure yet? 
Thank you! We live our shows in our skin, we try to transmit the emotions in the songs and give a performance where we tell a story. We are loud and quiet, and we love low lights and smoke machines. We love a good mosh pit and dance party too.

How do you feel the industry is for new artists at the moment? And do you feel much has changed over the last few years in its treatment of female and queer/LGBTQ+ artists?
The industry is changing slowly and improving with this, but there is still a lot to improve on. Lack of representation and sexism is still a massive problem in this industry; on and off stage. For example a lack of female, non-binary, trans and queer/LGBTQ+ tour managers or drivers, or sound engineers, or gig promoters, or lighting designers. Fortunately, there are collectives such as 3T which is a training course for underrepresented gender/ethnic groups in touring and live music – something we want to see more of! At any given point, we try to always work with women across the board for our shows or tours, and to give opportunities to women to work in a safe working environment is also important. It’s still very much a “boys club” or “man’s world” in the music industry, especially when you step outside of the DIY scene – which we’re very fortunate to have started from. But it’s evident there’s still a great deal of improvement that could be done and we hope we can help with this, along with many other artists, fighting for more change.

And with you all being from different parts of the world, how would you say the music scene here differs from the places you grew up? 
It’s totally different! There are underground alternative scenes everywhere of course, but London has such an extensive circuit of venues of all sizes and a lot of respect for bands that are starting out; there is a big history of alternative music from this neck of the woods and it feels like people are more tolerant. I’ll say the alternative scene is even more alternative in places like Spain and Brazil where society is not as open minded – it’s way harder to find places to play, and the resources are more limited. But there is a lot of DIY ethos and community support.

As we’re a new music focused site, are there any other upcoming artists or bands you’re loving right now that you’d recommend we check out?
We really like NewDad, Hussy, Fraulein, Bdrmm, Montaña (Spain)…

And, finally, in addition to the album release, what does the rest of the year have in store for Ghum…?
We have lots of plans. We have a few shows and festivals coming up. We are especially excited for our upcoming show at Rough Trade East on 4th July where we are gonna be celebrating our album launch and signing some vinyls for the first time. We are finally playing in Spain (where our vocalist Laura is from) at the end of August at Canelaparty in Malaga and we are very happy about that too. We will be announcing a UK tour in autumn and we are writing new songs, so we hope to keep on releasing new material. Lots of work and lots of gigs!

Huge thanks to Ghum for answering our questions!

Bitter, the debut album from Ghum, is out now via Everything Sucks. Buy here.

Photo Credit: Paul Phung

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Introducing Interview: Lena Hessels

Having previously been featured on Spotify’s New Music Friday NL, Dutch artist Lena Hessels is now set to release her new EP, then when will it, next month. Taken from the EP, latest single ‘fast lights‘ shimmers with an exquisite twinkling allure. As a majestic, haunting atmosphere is created, Hessels’ celestial vocals soar with an emotion-rich splendour.

To celebrate the release of ‘fast lights’, we caught up with Lena to find out more about what inspires her, live music and what the future holds… Have a read, and make sure you take a listen to the luscious ‘fast lights’!

Hi Lena, welcome to Get In Her Ears! Can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi Get In Her Ears! Thanks for having me! I’m Lena Hessels, I’m 21 and I make abstract pop music. Oh, and I’m from Holland.

How did you initially start creating music?
Well, my dad is a guitarist in a band called The Ex, and the house I grew up in was a place where a lot of befriended musicians would stay if they were on tour in Holland. So, growing up I was surrounded by a lot of different music and people. My mom always tells me that I was singing before I could speak, and I believe her! I was always singing, all the fucking time. I loved it, still do! I was very fascinated by all these older people I saw who were playing shows. I knew then that that was what I wanted, so every chance I got I performed songs for people! Then, when I was about six I got a little mp3 recorder from my parents. I started recording all these very long story songs on that. I actually found a couple of them last year on my mom’s old computer, and one of them was also the inspiration for my previous single ‘crown’. Pretty cool, I think. But the first song I actually recorded with instruments and stuff was when I was eight – it was called ‘Dubbel Drop’ (dubbel licorice): my favourite Dutch candy. A couple years later I discovered Taylor Swift – a true pop-star! Pop music was something I discovered then and felt that was what I wanted. I started playing guitar and got obsessed with writing songs. Now we’re here!

Your new single ‘fast lights’ is out now – can you tell us what it’s all about?
Lyrically this song is about having a fun weekend with your friends at a festival. Throughout the song, the festival comes to an end and as you reach the outro, you’re in the car driving home and reflecting on the weekend – your life, growing up and how that all works. I think I’ve been thinking about that a lot recently. It’s not a sad song in any way, more like a moment of thought.

You’ve been compared to the likes of FKA Twigs and James Blake, but who would you say are your main musical influences?
I love both FKA Twigs and James Blake very much! For me it all started with Taylor Swift, so she’ll always be an inspiration. Her music is great, also her career and how she works the industry is super interesting to me. I also really look up to ROSALIA and Sevdaliza. I love artists who experiment and mix different styles of music and really make their sound their own.

How is your local music scene? Do you go to see lots of live music?
I am based in Amsterdam right now. There is a very rich indie band scene here, which is a lot of fun! I feel like everybody is very supportive of each other’s music here, which is really cool. I really enjoy going to gigs, it’s one of my favourite things to do; it’s so inspiring and interesting to see people perform. And we do have some nice venues here, and touring is slowly starting up again, so there are a lot of cool gigs to look forward to. I haven’t really found the pop/electronic music scene yet here in Amsterdam, that is something I hope to find soon!

And what can fans expect from your live shows?
I hope to give a high energy show. Together with Cris Mollee, I’ve made this sick light installation. When I perform I’m alone on stage, so I really wanted something to complement the music and myself. I think it works really well. I have only played a couple of shows, but I really hope to play more. My main goal right now is to go on tour – performing is one of my favourite things to do! It makes me feel so happy and full, I hope people watching the show also feel that.

As we’re a new music focused site, are there any new/upcoming bands or artists you’d recommend we check out?
First there is Personal Trainer – they are a great band! The front person lives above me, haha. So definitely check them out! And Raven Artson is really cool – I saw him preform a couple of weeks ago, that was great!

And how do you feel the music industry is for new bands at the moment – would you say it’s difficult to get noticed?
Yes, I feel that since covid the music industry is even more saturated than before. There is just so much music out there. But if you make good music people will find you even if it takes some time, I know that. To get noticed in a different country is even more abstract because you don’t know the environment as well as in your own country. I would love to get played in the UK and play shows there! So, I’m really happy with this interview.

Finally, what does the rest of 2022 have in store for Lena Hessels?
There is a lot more music coming! This year I’m releasing three EPs in total – I’m really looking forward to it! I am probably going to be working on a lot more music. I really hope to grow as an artist and performer, and I want to learn and get better at my craft. My biggest goal for this year is definitely to play a lot of shows, and I really hope to play my first UK shows – so if you have any gigs for me, let me know, I’ll be there!

Massive thanks to Lena Hessels for answering our questions!

The second in a series of three EPs that Hessels plans to release, then when will it is due out on 13th July, and is produced by Tender Blom (guitarist of Pip Blom).

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