Q: Hey, can you tell us a bit about where you come from, and what made you want to start a career in music?
A: I have definitely always been drawn to music but was pretty private about singing and playing in front of people and it wasn’t until the pandemic that I really started to write and create my own music. I was working in the film industry before as a cinematographer and director doing music videos, and then I had a year where I struggled with my health. I stopped working in film and moved home with my parents. That time taught me a lot and by the time my health got better about a year later, I had a renewed sense of what brought me joy, and that was definitely music. The pandemic was just starting and I found myself with free time and a lot of big feelings to process so music became my outlet. I wrote and made music for a couple years, while also working at a school in my hometown in social emotional learning for teens. I then decided to take the leap in 2022 when I got signed to my management that I was going to move back to LA and do this full time.
Q: And what other artists have you found yourself listening to lately?
A: Oh man, I’m always all over the place. I’ve been into Bollywood music recently. There’s some really cool stuff happening there with pop production I’ve found. Also this Scottish piper named Brìghde Chaimbeul. Her melodies take me somewhere else. Think bagpipes meets synth music. Very cool.
Q: Who were your first and strongest musical influences?
A: Radiohead was the reason I fell in love with music. I found them in my angsty years around age 14 and I am ashamed to say I downloaded all their albums off limewire. I listened to them on repeat for years. I’ve also always been a huge fan of David Byrne and The Talking Heads. Anyone that is about bending genres and making weird shit is usually what makes me feel something.
Q: What was the inspiration behind the creation of “One Step Away Is Too Far”?
A: This EP is definitely a reflection of the growth I’ve been edging towards for the past few years. It’s about feeling like I don’t fit into the confines of how we are taught to love and questioning the societal expectations surrounding it. It’s about self reflection and accountability, and trying to overcome my avoidant tendencies while also learning to trust myself.
Q: Can you share some insights into the songwriting and production process for the EP?
A: These songs all came together pretty quickly when I wrote them, but it took a while for them to come out. The first song “See This Through” I wrote at the start of the pandemic while sitting at my childhood piano at my parents house. It came together in a few minutes and honestly wrote itself, and it was the same for “Make It On My Own.” I brought both those songs to my friend and talented producer, Tim Carr. We worked on them in his studio in the Tujunga mountains and saw something cool start to develop in our work together. Friday the 13th I made with my friend Charlotte in her basement—we wrote it for fun while hanging one day and forgot about it, and thankfully our label pushed us to release it. We then brought in Tim Carr to add some guitar parts to bring it all together. I wrote “Where You Are” in a session with Charli Adams and David Burris and we brought in Tim Carr to add some pretty guitar and final touches to the song. That is the final song off the EP and definitely feels the most personal as it’s the story of my hometown love.
Q: Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfilment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more?
A: That’s a good question, I honestly haven’t really thought of it that way. I feel like creating is the main thing I love, and so I’m happy getting to work through life events with writing and making music. It’s kind of like free therapy, haha. Beyond that I feel like it’s pretty out of my control. I get to put my heart into something and make it into something for other people, and if they feel something from it then that’s enough for me.
Q: Could you describe your creative processes? How do you usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song?
A: Ideas really come from a lot of different places for me. This sounds a little nutty but I get a lot of inspiration from dreams. I will get melodies or lyrics stuck in my head while I’m sleeping and if I wake up and I can catch them I’ll make a voice memo with the idea. Then from there I will shape the rest of the song. Beyond that, most of the time it’s just me at a piano or guitar zoning out and a few minutes later a song is there. It usually doesn’t even really feel like mine, just something that came through my lens and now exists in a tangible way.
Q: What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
A: I think the hardest thing I’ve been through when It comes to music is actually the reason I am in the industry now. When I was 23 I lost my voice for a year due to medical reasons. I couldn’t speak or sing, or even make noise with my voice, and I was struggling really hard. I turned so deeply inward and shut down in a lot of ways. I’m already a pretty introverted and quiet person, so it definitely wasn’t good for my mental health to have even less connection. We didn’t know if I would ever get my voice back, and I am a pretty spiritual person so at some point I just resigned to the universe’s plan. I just kept asking what am I meant to learn? There had to be a lesson. The thing I kept feeling was how deeply I missed singing. I never had the courage to go after music or be public with it, but I vowed if I ever got my voice back I would use it. So a year later my voice slowly began to return and that’s when I committed to music. So really the hardest thing I’ve been through with music was losing my ability to make it, and that’s the reason I am here now.
Q: On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
A: I think overcoming my fear of performing has definitely been a big one. There’s so much linked to my anxiety there—fear of being seen, fear of making mistakes, fear of failure. Everything rooted in fear that has held me back from music for so long. Learning to sing and perform in front of people has taught me a lot about being more open and letting go. That it’s okay to let other people see you, even if you fuck up. After my second show, someone came up to me and she put her hand on her heart and said “I just want you to know that I really felt you while you were performing. I really feel your heart. So thanks for showing us that.” I was like oh, this is why I do this. Because music for me has always been my door to feeling and processing, to cathartic release, and I want to be a part of something that brings people closer to their hearts.
