Interview
1. Hey, super nice to have the chance to chat with you. First and foremost what got you into music?
Martin: Thank you for having us! I come from a musical family so I got into it at an early age. Started playing guitar when I was around 8 or 9 and produced my first song when I was 10. I still have that song; it's called Sunlight! Back then I was obsessed with dance music which was my first big music love. I just loved the experiential and melodic aspects of late 90s/early 00s trance, which also got me into darker music like goa and psy trance. Later I discovered orchestral movie soundtracks and metal music, and I was constantly working on music myself across many different genres.
Grace: Starting from when I was 3 years old, I was obsessed with the piano and would bang on my neighbor’s electric piano and just was really entranced by people playing it. I eventually started playing but had some traumatic early experiences with music at home, where I experienced a lot of violence early in my life, so it’s always bittersweet in that way. I sang in choirs and participated in international tours in high school and abruptly stopped after that until a few years ago. I had built a career and achieved success in the corporate world, but there was sort of a black hole in my heart. Kind of like “this can’t really be it” and a yearning to pursue music coupled with fear and a belief that it was too late. I ended up leaving the corporate career and then rebuilding my life from the ground up. I started singing, playing guitar, writing songs, producing, and started releasing music in 2021.
2. What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?
Martin: Honestly.. I don't care what anyone says: a really REALLY good vanilla beats all, especially with some fruit sorbet, yumm. But I love most ice cream. Except for chocolate ice cream. Doesn't even taste like chocolate? Chocolate chunks in ice cream is cool though.
Grace: Hm, I love Jeni’s Brown Butter Almond Brittle.
3. What do you think your role is in this world?
Martin: I've always known that I'm supposed to create. Music is a huge part of it and probably the best way for me to truly express myself through art, but I also love and love creating visual art and film. I think I am very tapped into my emotions and I'm able to channel that through music. Hopefully it can provide the feels to people who need it!
Grace: My role is to bring healing and connection to the world and to build and innovate. I currently do that through music, through my corporate work, through my organization and creative community PARASOL, as a board member of the nonprofit Save the Music, and as a mentor and coach to others. I hope that my impact over time only grows.
4. If you could go open a show for any artist who would it be?
Martin: Sting at Hollywood Bowl. I have no idea why but he's the first person that came to mind.
Grace: Maybe Tyler, The Creator or Taylor Swift
5. What’s your favorite 60’s album?
Martin: Pet Sounds 10000000000000%.
Grace: Joni Mitchell’s Blue. It’s 1971… If it has to be the 60s, I’ve always loved The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
6. What’s your favorite food?
Martin: Pizza and Korean, maybe as a combo even. Eh, maybe not. Pizza. But if the tomato sauce isn't on point then Korean.
Grace: Right now I’m on a strict clean eating kick. My go-to tends to be a Sweetgreen salad with blackened chicken, 4 orders of spicy broccoli, and spicy cashew dressing. Pizza or high-end sushi omakase are also so good…I miss it
7. When did you fall in love with rock music?
Martin: My hometown library had CDs that you could borrow and somehow I ended up with Rage Against The Machine - Evil Empire. They are still a huge influence in much of the music I make outside of Grace & Moji. That energy is just ingrained in me for life.
Grace: For me, it started with 90s rock like Nirvana, Green Day, Smashing Pumpkins, etc., but I also loved Rage Against The Machine!
8. Your latest song is “Monster”. Can you tell us more about the making of it and if there were any unusual things happening during the process?
Martin: It started off with a guitar riff on a voice note on my phone. That voice note is actually in the song as the main guitar that opens the song! It had such a cool texture so we just kept it, and we included my voice literally messing it up and starting over. The concept of "monster" actually came from us having an argument when we had been drinking, and the slumbering monster came out. We turned it into a song and the song almost wrote itself. It all came together in one day and the V1 export of the song sounds very similar to the released version.
9. What is your creative process like?
Martin: Our songs are always based on our lives and reality. We don't "come up" with the concepts, the concepts come to us through things we experience and face. We have both been on a journey of self-growth and healing for years and it has really given us an ability to express something true and authentic, completely filtered through our personalities and musical taste. When you allow your own experience to turn into music then there is almost unlimited inspiration, but you also need to let it breathe and for everything to unfold rather than pushing to make more songs. And sometimes if we started inspired but still get stuck, usually it means that the song wasn't ready to be fully born yet. In this case we always come back to it when something has happened in our lives, and we go "ohhh so THAT'S what was missing". It's a very strange process. Often there is some kind of guitar or piano part that I've recorded at some point on my phone, and then we match it with the concept. And then Grace tend to, what I call, "open the tap" and output a page full of pretty loose lyric ideas inspired by the track and concept. She's really amazing at this and it makes it easy for me to immediately get ideas for melodies and combining different lyrics. This process is quite different from how I write when I do sessions with other songwriters, which tends to be more focused on melody and then kind of fitting words into it, and then trying to get as clever as you possibly can with every single line. We tend to more just write what comes to us and allow it to be weird and quirky.
10. Do you agree with the Pigeon?
Martin: A bird whispered in my ear that it's unwise not to.
Grace: Pigeon power!
Review
"Monster" initially establishes its mysterious atmosphere through soft and relaxing guitar riffs (although it felt a bit disconcerting). Later the song adds psychedelic vocals that surf on these hypnotizing waves enhanced by sound effects. "Monster" ends in a rather intimate and sombre way with just the acoustic melody as a base, especially considering how refined and catchy the rest of the track is, despite being about a rather introspective and edgy subject. Last but not least, I'd also like to highlight the enchanted cinematic atmosphere of the music video, which uses symbols such as masks and lighting effects reminiscent of rituals.
The Pigeon added the new single to his Weekly Gems playlist on Spotify. You can check out the released music below. If you like what you hear, make sure to follow along so you can stay on top of future releases!
Discovered via http://musosoup.com
This coverage was created via Musosoup
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