Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how your childhood impacted your musical direction?
A: CESIE is my singer, songwriter project dedicated to writing melodic folk/rock tales with references to my personal life. As a child I grew up in Birmingham (UK) absorbing the British music scene, whilst quickly adapting to the local essence of being Brit. During school in the UK I developed creative discipline, which has been the biggest gift (alongside good manners) I’ve brought back to Denmark and activated in my adult life.
I was introduced to the value of culture very early on in life by my mother and auntie whom are both UK/DK artists. It is without doubt humans like them, whose’s perspective on life differ from the norm, that inspire me to keep directing my life towards music, art and connection.
Q: Can you describe the musical style of CESIE in three words?
A: creative, courageous and analogue
Q: How do you stay connected with your fans, and what role do they play in shaping your musical journey?
A: It’s early days of my music journey, however through So-Me I connect with most of my fans, as the cesie crowd seems to be pretty multicultural and international. Also after concerts it’s important to me to connect autentically with my fans and listen to their experience of the music. It is a gift for me to understand my music through different lenses.
Q: You have released your single, ‘Are You Near’. Is there a story behind it?
A: “Are You Near” is the first song I wrote for the forth-coming album. It was a yearning feeling that inspired the theme and a dream for this song would be if it could create a vulnerable space for people to seek memories of lost ones and ease into the thought of nature’s force being the voice or echo in response.
Q: What is your favorite verse from the song and why?
A: “I have heard your echo twice Far past the skies
Your touch through wind caresses my skin”
Written above is the 2nd verse of my song “Are You Near” and the 3rd sentence usually gives me a physical reaction of chills when I sing it live. Not because I dig myself, but because it triggers a shudder like the old saying when “someone is walking over your grave”. It’s not necessarily a favourite part, yet it’s more the words from the song with most impact on me.
Q: Can you walk us through the creative process of producing the song, “Are You Near”?
A: The song was recorded as a one-take setup with my band in Århus, Denmark. We recorded all the instruments in one large room, with one overhead mic and close-up mics placed with inspiration from the 60’s, by our sound-engineer Jeppe Kristoffersen. On the track I wanted to sense the room in which the song was recorded and hear the sound of our facial expression/the melodic chemistry when playing the song.
We then chose the one-take recording with the most shared energy regardless of mistakes, and took it back to the studio in Copenhagen, where I’ve been working on the whole forth-coming album with my producer Valentin Kruse.
Our process in the studio with this track was to add the last touches of real sounds from nature, to undermine the connection between humans and the force of nature.
Q: What has been the most memorable concert or performance for CESIE so far?
A: I can’t single a concert out however my preferable crowd is the intimate crowd. I like it when I can sing to faces that are visible to me. It feels vulnerable and keeps me grounded and on edge at the same time.
Q: Reflecting on your body of work, each song holding its unique significance, could you share a particular track that stands out to you personally? What makes that specific tune special, and why does it hold a place of pride in your musical journey?
A: The title of the forth-coming album is “The Relation” and the key song from the record is in my opinion a song called “Kind Of Kind”.
It presents human similarity rather than man-made differences. The song evolved from a period of studying Dalai Lama and human core values/basic needs to survive. I wanted to write a song/hymn for the people to feel connected between geografical borders, gender, sexual orientation, generational gaps and instead acknowledge the component of the body being equally alike and the psyche being worthy of conscious attention. I believe existence has become way more complicated than ever intended, so therefore “Kind Of Kind” was written as an invitation to connect with our human kind.
Q: Exploring the diverse creative processes within the music industry is always fascinating. Could you provide insight into your unique approach to crafting music? From the initial spark of an idea to the finished song, how do you navigate the creative journey and bring its musical concepts to life?
A: Quality over quantity is a first for me. I can’t force songs to be created, for the sake of it. I need to feel a purpose or a strong feeling about something, before it can be channelled into a song. Usually I feel emotionally overloaded if I haven’t written a song in a while. When I open up to that creative outlet I stay dedicated to working on the idea until the potential is found or not. I usually record full sessions of generating ideas melodically and lyrically at the same time and go back and listen to it over and over again. I then catch on to the strong elements from the recording that I wish to keep and then repeat the process until I have a finished song. When I really have something vital on my mind eager to get out, the song writing process is usually shorter because I’m more clarified about the direction, theme, feeling of the song.
