Barbara Panther
Barbara Panther releases of self titled debut album later this month as she brings her own eclectic mix of songs to audiences.
I caught up with her to talk about the album, influences on her music and what lies ahead for this new artist.
- You release you self titled debut album later this month so what can we expect from the record?
I think that you can expect a collection of songs written over time, songs in which I think I describe impressions and observations.
- The album is unlike anything that I have heard so far this year so how would you describe your style of music - it is very different to anything that is around at the moment?
Well that’s good (laughs). How would I describe my music? Well I would say that it is music that is not afraid to search into the unknown. I think it’s eclectic, honest, and well probably unique if you haven’t heard it (laughs).
I like to call it modern baroque music, I like baroque music a lot, it means that it is a lot of elements and is very colourful, and obviously it’s electronic.
- You mention that your music is truly a mix of styles, was that a conscious decision on your part to not be labelled or branded within just one genre?
It was definitely not a conscious decision I think it was very instinctive, as I said before it is very honest, when I start writing a song I don’t that it has to be with a bass and all that stuff.
To be honest it’s very instinctive and the songs that you hear are the first songs that I wrote in my life.
This was about me getting to know the machines that I worked with, which was just a simple A-track a tram computer and a keyboard, and it was me exploring and getting to know how to make music - or how to make something decent that I liked to hear or something that feels right to me; so it definitely wasn’t a conscious decision.
It was very instinctive, like a child - you give a toy to a child there’s no instructions and they just figure there way around it.
- Who or what are major influences on your music? You were born in Rwanda, raised in Brussels and now live in Berlin has that been an influence?
I don’t think that there are native influences in my work, like you said it’s like nothing you have heard before so you can’t ’you live in Berlin and this sound like something from Berlin.’
So it’s not a place that influences my music - I don’t think they you hear anything African in it or you don’t hear anything from Belgium of Bangladesh.
What inspired me is I have travelled a lot in my life, I have lived in a lot of places, and I personally think that you are like a chameleon, you adapt to a place, so through your feeling and emotions you adapt to places.
But to be honest this album is not me travelling in places but me travelling in myself and me seeing things with my own eyes and understanding things with my own eyes, feelings and with my own mind and I think that is more what influenced the album.
- The album was produced by Matthew Herbert so how did that collaboration come along? And how did you find working with him?
Working with him was very organic and it was a very fast process because I had already wrote all the music - so it was not like we had to start from scratch.
He basically wanted to mix the album because he said that everything was so fine and he liked it he didn’t want to mess with it too much.
We met in London and we talked about what kind of album I wanted to make and how I wanted it to sound and once we had decided on that we met in his studio.
Basically it was very organic and the guy knows his stuff and is very skilled - he had a vision and the fact that I was giving him so much material made it easy for him to work with that.
- Moonlight People is the first single off the album so why did you pick that song to introduce us to the rest of the record?
First of all I released an EP - which was a completely different song called Empire; that was a very eclectic piece of music - and this is kind of the opposite, it’s repetitive.
Why that song? First of all I like it so much. Moonlight People I love the title because it talks to the imagination and it honours the moon, which influences us all. But it’s very very beautiful song.
- As I said you grew up in Brussels but now live in Berlin so how have you found the music scene in the German capital?
When I arrived in Berlin the first thing I heard was grime, and I had never never heard that while I was in Brussels, so I was pretty impressed by the bass lines and the deepness of it all - and that was pretty inspiring to be honest.
Then of course you have the techno, which came up in the nineties after the wall came down, and that is still around which I think it the trademark of the Berlin music scene.
There is also a lot of pop and rock music as well as electro so it’s very diverse and people are always trying out something new and some thing different.
Berlin is open for an experiment and it’s a good place for trying out your own taste, style and your own colours - it’s a good place because they leave you alone and you have your own space and time sees to be running a bit different.
- Finally what's next for you?
I hope to be touring with this album as it’s on stage where everything makes sense and where you can communicate a piece of work. Yesterday an idea came to me for my second album, not the concept but I know what it’s about, so I just need to sit down and do it.
I want to go to the mountains, I think maybe Spain, to be surrounded by music and nature and write my second album.
Single Moonlight People is out now
Album Barbara Panther is released 16th May
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Barbara Panther releases of self titled debut album later this month as she brings her own eclectic mix of songs to audiences.
I caught up with her to talk about the album, influences on her music and what lies ahead for this new artist.
- You release you self titled debut album later this month so what can we expect from the record?
I think that you can expect a collection of songs written over time, songs in which I think I describe impressions and observations.
- The album is unlike anything that I have heard so far this year so how would you describe your style of music - it is very different to anything that is around at the moment?
Well that’s good (laughs). How would I describe my music? Well I would say that it is music that is not afraid to search into the unknown. I think it’s eclectic, honest, and well probably unique if you haven’t heard it (laughs).
I like to call it modern baroque music, I like baroque music a lot, it means that it is a lot of elements and is very colourful, and obviously it’s electronic.
- You mention that your music is truly a mix of styles, was that a conscious decision on your part to not be labelled or branded within just one genre?
It was definitely not a conscious decision I think it was very instinctive, as I said before it is very honest, when I start writing a song I don’t that it has to be with a bass and all that stuff.
To be honest it’s very instinctive and the songs that you hear are the first songs that I wrote in my life.
This was about me getting to know the machines that I worked with, which was just a simple A-track a tram computer and a keyboard, and it was me exploring and getting to know how to make music - or how to make something decent that I liked to hear or something that feels right to me; so it definitely wasn’t a conscious decision.
It was very instinctive, like a child - you give a toy to a child there’s no instructions and they just figure there way around it.
- Who or what are major influences on your music? You were born in Rwanda, raised in Brussels and now live in Berlin has that been an influence?
I don’t think that there are native influences in my work, like you said it’s like nothing you have heard before so you can’t ’you live in Berlin and this sound like something from Berlin.’
So it’s not a place that influences my music - I don’t think they you hear anything African in it or you don’t hear anything from Belgium of Bangladesh.
What inspired me is I have travelled a lot in my life, I have lived in a lot of places, and I personally think that you are like a chameleon, you adapt to a place, so through your feeling and emotions you adapt to places.
But to be honest this album is not me travelling in places but me travelling in myself and me seeing things with my own eyes and understanding things with my own eyes, feelings and with my own mind and I think that is more what influenced the album.
- The album was produced by Matthew Herbert so how did that collaboration come along? And how did you find working with him?
Working with him was very organic and it was a very fast process because I had already wrote all the music - so it was not like we had to start from scratch.
He basically wanted to mix the album because he said that everything was so fine and he liked it he didn’t want to mess with it too much.
We met in London and we talked about what kind of album I wanted to make and how I wanted it to sound and once we had decided on that we met in his studio.
Basically it was very organic and the guy knows his stuff and is very skilled - he had a vision and the fact that I was giving him so much material made it easy for him to work with that.
- Moonlight People is the first single off the album so why did you pick that song to introduce us to the rest of the record?
First of all I released an EP - which was a completely different song called Empire; that was a very eclectic piece of music - and this is kind of the opposite, it’s repetitive.