Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how your childhood impacted your musical direction?
A: Hi, I’m Cori Nora, a singer, songwriter and multiinstrumentalist and I just released my debut album called “Flowers And Fences” that I recorded and produced in close collaboration with my brother Christoph Huber. Early childhood memories include my brother too of course. Our father is a pianist who plays improvised music and jazz, we used to jam and invent musical theaters at home all the time when we were little. Turning into an adult wasn’t something I was looking forward to as a child. So I guess there is still a part of me that does things quite child-like. There was no such thing as ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ music, this sense of openness and curiosity probably impacted me a lot and keeps me going still today.
Q: How are you planning on growing your fan base and sharing your music with the world? What message do you have for anyone who is about to discover Cori Nora?
A: Playing live in every possible place that suits our music, from north to south to west to east. The message behind the album title ‘Flowers And Fences’ is also what I believe in in music and life – it’s about coming together, holding space for each other, listening, sharing, overcome the fences that separate us from each other and from ourselves in order to create the future we want.
Q: Who is the most inspiring artist for you right now? And where do you find inspiration for making music?
A: I find inspiration everywhere, lots when I’m on the move, at strain stations, on a bus, where strangers meet and unplanned situations happen. The sound of a door can inspire me, a poem can, a concert by another artist, birds in the morning, cats at night, writers like Audre Lorde, Julia Weber, Virginia Woolf, Siri Hustdvetd, musicians like Rozi Plain, Arca, Bjork, Lomelda and many more.
Q: Can you tell us about the inspiration behind your new album?
A: I wanted to make a record that speaks my truth, that reflects my view of the world. Hence the decision to make a solo project with my name on it. I feel that the female gaze is underrepresented in lots of art and music. Very much is still seen from a male gaze. The way we’re culturally conditioned. I want to offer an alternative to that and to help change this narrative. Flowers And Fences is about finding your own place in the world, about letting go, allowing for change to happen, basically to be free and whoever you’d wish to be, blooming without Fences.
Q: What was the creative process like for writing and producing it?
A: We went to different places from a little cottage in the alps, to my place in E5 London, to my brother’s studio in Basel, to an old overgrown villa in Berlin to write and record all the material on the record. It was an ongoing process and is the fruit of close collaboration with my brother Christoph Huber who’s on the album and in the live band (he plays many instruments, mainly the sax). He coproduced the record with me from start. So did Nick Furrer, the drummer in our band. The initial idea to write the full music for a record came
Q: How does it differ from your previous music in terms of style and sound?
A: A lot. I didn’t use to have a project under my own name, it was mostly collaborative band projects. But I somehow felt the need to do this now. I have a strong background in jazz and improvised music and you might still hear hints of this in my music now, but not as much as it used to be a few years ago. Stylewise I’m not doing compromises anymore and allow myself every form of expression or sound that I feel like, to me this is the freedom of music. I also embrace the band spirit and that every individual is contributing to and shaping the band sound with their own style.
Q: Were there any specific musical influences that played a role in shaping the sound?
A: I got a banjo in New York by Mike Ramsey at the start of 2019 and an old Hohner Pianet T in Rugby outside of London later that year, both these two instruments have a very unique sound and were close companions over the process of writing the songs. Even though in the end you only hear the banjo in one Song (Force Quit). I listened a lot to Lomelda, Rozi Plain, Goat Girl, Sharon Van Etten, Moses Sumney and Radiohead (always) when making this album.
Q: Who is your dream artist to collaborate with? (dead or alive)
A: My grandmother. RIP. She was an incredible singer, she had this vibrating clear and bright, shining voice. I always had the feeling when she was singing she was happy and at peace with herself. I would have loved to write and record a song together with her.
Q: What is your advice for people interested in pursuing music as a career or for those trying to enter the industry?
A: I’m not sure I’d consider myself in position to give advice? Maybe know yourself and listen to your gut feeling. You are always right. If something feels good, go all in. If it doesn’t, leave it and walk away. Your energy and your time are the most precious components in creating. They belong to you only. Preserve them well and protect them from toxic environments.
Q: If you could go back in time and give a younger you some words of wisdom, what would they be?
A: Don’t care too much what others tell you about how you should sound / look / be like. Especially as a woman in a predominantly male music environment. Find your own voice. Connect with others that you feel safe and comfortable with. We can create our own vision of the world. Our own sound.
