Listening to music and the different possible ways to do it wasn't something I gave much thought into. I didn't think that there would be ways to make the act of listening more punchy and interesting. That was until I stumbled upon Someone, a Kubrickian musician that combines pop and psychedelic to have upbeat and relatable modern-day-ballads. Sound and vision, active listening, augmented reality, usage of art to enhance the listening experience... Her music provides quite reformist notions.
With Someone, there is never a dull moment whether it's a song more vocal-oriented like Forget Forgive or instrument driven like You Live In My Phone. Each song has it's own atmosphere and energy but mostly, it makes you feel as if you're floating in space carelessly while these tunes accompany you as you make your way through galaxies. This effect is constructed by the gauzy and otherworldly sounds, that remind me of Cocteau Twins/Robin Guthrie guitar sounds in some songs. It works really well with the space-inspired artwork and the lyrics. Sometimes the lyrics might get heavy, but the dynamic and progressive sounds never fail to provide a fun listening experience.
Another and personally, the most creative notion she included in her music is the possibility of participating. With her new EP, ORBIT Someone brings sound and vision together with her self-produced artworks. A total of five, one for each song. Here is the fun part: When you download her custom app to your smart device, each of the five songs becomes a cosmic portal, allowing you to experience her music from an artistic perspective. This is particularly interesting since no other EP has such a feature that combines visual art with music.
I'll let her explain:
How would you describe your music to a person who has never heard it?
I call it psychedelic indie-pop. Indie-pop because I like to stay left of center in the pop sound-world, and psychedelic because I like strange, quirky sounds that transport you to alternative universes. Or just make you giggle.
One of the most remarkable things about your music is the fact that you offer listeners a dynamic experience with your self-made artworks that comes to life. What inspired you to come up with such an idea?
My goal is always to combine sound with vision, to create an all-round artistic output. And with this release, I wanted to make something that - in our over-saturated age of Spotify skipping - would make the experience of new music and active one, instead of a passive one. Something really engaging. At first I was thinking about animation mapping, but then I met the boys at Ramjam UK, who are software developers, and things started to fall into place. They suggested turning the artworks I make into Augmented Reality triggers that would support the music, and together we developed an app that does just that! So now, when you order the upcoming vinyl ORBIT II, you will receive five artwork cards. Each one is linked to a song off the record. When you look at one of these artworks through your phone with our (free!) app installed, it will come to life on your screen in Augmented Reality, and the matching song will begin to play. The art is interactive, so you can play around with the abstract elements, rearranging and creating, while the song lyrics appear floating around the frame in mid-air!
Music and art are always somewhat connected to one and other. In terms of colors and the feeling it evokes, your artwork feels like Stanley Kubrick’s « A Space Odyssey » with a psychedelic twist. What artists/works/movies inspired your art?
That’s a huge compliment, and right on the nose. I am hugely influenced by cinema, ranging from The Coen Brothers (Big Lebowski, Fargo) to Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia), and absolutely Kubrick. I collaborate a lot with filmmaker David Spearing (we just released a new video “You Live In My Phone”, in which you can definitely feel some Kubrick homages!) who is also a Stanley-fan. (..a Fanley?) Art-wise I also very much love geometric, abstract art. Especially the Bauhaus movement, Juan Gris and cubist Picasso rock my world. And yes, space. I love space.
You are an artist besides your music identity. How do you think art and music complement and feed one and other?
It comes from a very organic place for me - when I write music I see images. And when I see images, I hear sound. To me, the two are absolutely fused at the core. I have a passion for both, not only as a creator, but as a viewer/listener.
In a musical approach, what do you think ORBIT offers to listeners that weren’t necessarily present in your previous works?
The upcoming vinyl, ORBIT II, is my first full-length. It combines old material with four brand-new songs. To me they shape a full story and match each other in message and vibe. This cohesiveness is something I’ve definitely been focussed on developing recently. That, and the subject matter is more streamlined: you’d find it hard to avoid the references to our climate crisis, the uncertain times we’re living in and how that makes me feel. I pour my heart and my soul into my songs lyrically, and musically I strive to bolster, to create something that might give a positive, invigorating twist to some otherwise heavy subject matter. I like to stimulate optimism. In others, as well as in myself.
Unfortunately we are experiencing a time unlike other which is ruled by mass panic and fear because of COVID-19. How did this health crisis affect you and your plans as a musician?
I am one of the lucky ones, I feel. I was not working towards a full festival summer or spring tour. However, my album release did get postponed from April 22nd to June 20th (hopefully this will still be able to go ahead, we will see.) But the uncertainty as to when this will blow over is the biggest snag. It has become very hard to plan ahead, to create blueprints for releases and shows, because nobody knows if and when these could go through. And financially, this is very scary for everyone in the music industry. Everyone is losing precious funds.
Hopefully, after getting through this pandemic together, what is next for you?
So, album release on June 20th (fingers crossed!) and then a nice remix and re-worked release in the summer. Then a few nice shows in the autumn (including one in Set, London, on the 14th of October which I’m very much looking forward to). And all this while I build towards... another album?! Exciting times!
If you want to buy the artwork from her EP, click here
Here is Someone's Spotify
and here is her Instagram
Artwork: Breanna Keane