mental health – Page 7 – Get In Her Ears

Having just released her stunning new single ‘After River’, Scottish artist Megan Airlie tackles the issue of mental health with her sweeping, emotion-strewn vocals and twinkling, finger-picked melodies.

We caught up with Megan to find out more about her journey with music…

Hi Megan, welcome to Get In Her Ears! Can you tell us a bit about who you are and what you do?
I grew up in Glasgow which has a pretty predominant and flourishing music scene. You do need to go on the hunt though to find music that isn’t, as a friend calls it, “skinny white boy guitar bands”, but there is definitely a wide variety of great music happening here. I’m currently only performing solo around Glasgow, my voice and my guitar. Soon I would like to build up to being in a band again on my terms. But I write all my own tunes and pull a lot of influence from the ‘40s-‘60s

What initially inspired you to start creating music?
I would never tell anyone as a child, for fear of embarrassment, but I’ve always wanted to perform in some way. I looked up to my aunt a lot who was in a band in the ’90s and I thought that was the coolest thing ever, so I taught myself how to sing and play but didn’t really write anything until I was 17.

Who would you say have been your main musical influences?
Jeff Buckley, Fiona Apple, Judy Garland, Aretha Franklin and Etta James were always the people I would aspire to perform like. I take a lot of influence from the ’60s folk scene as well.

We love your beautiful new single ‘After River’. Can you tell us a bit about what inspired you to write it?
I had not sat down to write or felt the need to write in a long time before ‘After River’. It came out during a very dark period and when my mental health was at its worst, so I thought best to hold myself up as much as a could and release something out of me that needed to be said. I find it easier to talk about things through writing it down and putting it to a melody than just saying to folk “I feel terrible”. I don’t think I could have written about anything else at that time.

Do you feel the music industry could be doing more to support mental health issues?
Totally. But every industry could be. I actually feel more unity and support when it comes to mental health discussion in the music scene than anywhere else. There is a lot more understanding I find. But we should always be attentive and we should always open up a dialogue about it.

And what advice would you give to other musicians struggling with their own mental health?
When in doubt, write it down. Get it out and take time to process. Everything slows down a little when you put pen to paper.

And what does the rest of 2018 have in store for Megan Airlie?
I’m currently preparing for future single releases to come out in the next couple of months, and getting back into recording soon with Scott Flanagan who recorded my single ‘After River’. A lot of exciting stuff!

Huge thanks to Megan for answering our questions!

‘After River’ is out now Bloc Music Records.

Teaming up with charities to raise awareness of pressing issues is not a new concept for the Bloom Twins. 2015 saw the twins joining forces with UNICEF, covering John Lennon’s iconic ‘Imagine’, in a campaign for children’s rights across the globe. And Bloom Twins are once again combining action with harmonies with their latest single ‘Talk To Me’, in which they raise awareness of the importance of talking about mental health – an issue which has affected them both personally.

Nicky Lee-Delisle caught up with the Bloom Twins to find out more about the latest single, and their experiences of mental health issues.

“We wrote ‘Talk To Me’ four years ago” the twins tell me. “One of our friends died from anorexia… Her grandmother died and she was the closest person to her. At some point she stopped talking to anybody and letting anyone in. Passing away from Anorexia was the consequence of not talking to people, and that is what the song is about. The whole idea is focused on talking to people and letting people in.”

The video for ‘Talk To Me’ is a harrowing race against time in an engulfing city landscape, reminding the viewer to take direct action in reaching out to those who need it before it is too late – “We tried to think about it, about what our friend was going through”, Bloom Twins explain. The lyrics are a genuine, heartfelt plea to open up about any troubles ‘Talk to me and speak your mind / I’ll stand beside you’. Songs are a powerful medium in conveying messages, with Anna and Sonia determined to use their platform to create positive change: “The song is about what we went through during that time, and urging those in similar positions to just to let it all out. Talk to people…”

Another platform for change that the twins speak passionately about is the poisoned chalice which is social media. “We wanted to make a change, we didn’t want to make it just about the music. We want to be a part of things which we are thinking about. Something we are striving to deliver. Right now everyone is so into Instagram – how you look and where you go. It’s not about what you’re doing anymore”, Sonia muses, “What I don’t like about social media is that people compare one another, but then we go against that. I find it stupid that people make jokes about others (on social media). Maybe that’s why people have issues talking about mental illness”. However, the Bloom Twins hope that their single will go some way in turning the negative side of social media on its head via their hashtag campaign #holdyourfriend. “That’s why we started talking to strangers (via social media) saying ‘do you want to be a part of it?’. I know it seems like we’re just promoting ourselves, but I was surprised how many people wanted to take part.”

Reaching out via social media is one way of being there for those who are in dark places, but what about those who we encounter in our day to day lives…? “I would say treat them normally”, Anna advices. “Don’t be like ‘oh that person is depressed, I need to be super-nice to them’ – never act too obviously that they are depressed.”

“I would spend more time with that person” adds Sonia. “Then at a point where that person would feel more comfortable with me I would say something like – ‘you know what, I’m going through bad times too!’”

The music industry itself is notorious for taking its toll on the mental health of those involved, and as much as popular culture feeds off the concept of the ‘tortured poet’ musicians are three times more likely to suffer from depression or anxiety than any other profession. The Bloom Twins moved over to London from their homeland of Ukraine at the young age of just seventeen in order to pursue their career in music, so what advice do they have in negotiating such a cut-throat industry? “It is very normal within any creative industry to feel down and feel like you’re not needed from the beginning. You feel like everybody is telling you ‘no’. You need to believe in yourself and it’s fine to feel down. Write a song whenever anything happens, let it out.” Although journeying through the music industry can be gruelling, the music which has been created as the end product can go far in the healing process for anyone who suffers from mental health issues. “Music holds a special place for us, listening to our favourite songs provides an escape. People tend to close inside of them off, and the only thing they can do is plug in those guys (mimes putting on headphones).”

Catch Bloom Twins live at Nambucca on 16th February for The N7 Sessions. And on 17th May at Camden Assembly for MaDa Music Entertainment.

Nicky Lee-Delisle
@Nicky__Lee

Tag: mental health

Introducing Interview: Megan Airlie

Interview: Bloom Twins