I’ve listened to several of your albums, seen some of your performances online and can honestly say you have one of the most beautiful, unique voices I’ve ever heard. How did you “find” your voice? Are there any particular vocalists who have influenced your practice?
I started to sing when I moved overseas (Netherlands/Germany) in 2018 to study a masters in solo double bass, which is actually what led me to ‘find’ my voice. As I became obsessed with overtones on the bass, I realised that their higher range and timbre matched my vocal register, and this led me to start experimenting with the bass and voice as a singular sound source. Since then, I have delved much deeper into the expressiveness of my individual voice across various projects – MEATSHELL, The Odd River, and a duo with Finnish vocalist Selma Savolainen to name a few. I keep discovering new possibilities through collaboration and storytelling.
Vocalists who have undoubtedly influenced me include Meredith Monk, Jenny Hval and Björk … but most significantly is Selma Savolainen who is a close friend and collaborator in Finland. The way Selma uses her voice consistently surprises me and is so deeply human.
There are too many more to name, so I’ll stop there!
The theme of vegetables seems to come up a lot in your music (understandably, we can’t live without them). Can you give us a bit of insight into this?
My first vegetable composition dates back to 2012, but I started to (properly) compose vegetable music during my masters studies overseas between 2018-20. During this time, I was learning a myriad of complicated extended techniques on the double bass – and as I applied these to a series of solo compositions, I felt compelled to match each new sound to a vegetable. By doing this, each technique became less daunting, and more playful. Following the culmination of this (my debut solo album ‘Vegetable Bass’), the theme continued – most recently across my latest album ‘The Odd River’, which features a soundtrack to a film about genetically modified vegetables.
But mostly, I just think vegetables are so beautiful… they are little works of edible art. There is not enough music dedicated to them, in my opinion!
I’ve read in few of your other interviews that your favourite solo double bass song is “Grants Pass” by Barre Phillips. What is it in particular that is so special about this composition for you?
Barre Phillips is an absolute pioneer of the solo double bass, and ‘Grants Pass’ is a stunning track from his iconic album ‘Call Me When You Get There’ (1984). This piece features layers of slowly shifting chords, gradually blossoming into a beautiful melody. When I first listened to this, I was surprised that a double bass could even sound like that – and this is something that excites me. I’m quite often trying ‘not’ to sound like a double bass.
Also – Phillips’ attention to texture and timbre is something that drew me in. I’ve always been interested in texture, and this piece will forever be a game-changer for my practice moving forward.
You’re a double bassist, vocalist and composer. I’m really interested in how you manage all those roles on stage in a solo performance. What can we expect from your performance on the 6th of July (without giving away all the magic!)?
I like to compose in miniature songs, and treat these as fleeting moments that can shift and change across their many lives. This allows me to surprise myself with where each of these ideas can go, and not to feel stuck in the way that they are performed. My roles as vocalist and bassist have become quite intertwined across the years, but I am also enjoying exploring each one as its own sound source – it keeps things varied and multifaceted for me. The performance at Nexus on 6th of July will feature many of these fleeting moments, a portion of new material I’ve recently been working on, and quite possibly some reimagined older material. Expect to see me navigate ways of playing the bass in a very non-bass-like way!