Julia Biel
Julia Biel is back with her brand new single We Watch The Stars and there is a new album around the corner.
We caught up with the singer/songwriter to chat about the new track, the change in sound and what lies ahead.
- We Watch The Stars is your new single - what can listeners expect?
Well.. I wrote it late at night.. I wanted an intimate, moody vibe and I fell into that pattern of working which really suited the material.
I'd say it’s quite moody - it’s about what it means to be a human-being on the planet really and about finding a soulmate who can get you on a deep level.
- The track is co-produced by Idris Rahman so how did that collaboration come about?
I've known Idris for what seems like forever! In a good way... we have always made music together in various bands and situations - he was actually involved in my last album playing various instruments and assisting me in producing that. This time round, we switched things up a bit and we worked on things in a much more collaborative way.
- How do you find working with him? And what do you think he brings to your music?
He definitely gets what I am trying to do better than anybody else and he understands what I am aiming for musically; which is not always easy to do when you are talking about music because you are talking about a sound you want to go for but that sound could be created in many different ways.
For example, if I said to you ‘I want to make this track sound psychedelic’ you could do that in lots of different ways by using lots of different effects and playing different instruments.
But with Idris all that was easy, he understood what I was saying, even when I would say weird stuff like 'it's supposed to sound like the horizon is melting' that kind of thing and he really understands all of my influences, so we went from there.
He's an amazing musician with a producer's ear and always understanding of how little things are affecting the whole thing which is what you need because little things majorly affect the whole thing.
- How have you found the response to the track so far?
It is going down really well! I have been quite overwhelmed actually. It is quite a departure from an album that I brought out a few years ago as this is a much bolder sound than that was. It is much darker and deeper in its ambitions, I suppose.
It was a little bit nail-biting wondering how people would receive it but everybody who was into the old music seems to have received it really well. I think that it is also reaching out to more people as well and that is amazing. So yeah it has been really good so far.
- We Watch The Stars is the first release of your new material and there is an album in the pipeline. So what can we expect from the new material? -you have mentioned already that it is very different from your first album, Not Alone?
It is quite different yeah. Many of the songs on 'Not Alone' were written in collaboration with my guitarist friend, Jonny Phillips, but on this album I have written the songs myself. So the album coming is more personal, and deeper and darker in its ambitions.
- How much did you enjoy the solo writing experience - some artists prefer writing on their own and don’t like collaborating while others prefer to write with someone else?
After 'Not Alone', I was happy to write on my own as I really wanted to hear my own musical voice and to get to know what it was in its purest form. Not that I hadn't found my own voice before - just that I could hear it louder this time.
You get more into the recesses of your own mind when you write alone and find out a few more things about yourself, what you want to say, what you are into and what you like.
I think that having made this album will be a good thing to have done to then go on and collaborate again with other people.
- So how do you feel that your writing style has developed from your debut album to this?
I think the melodies have become much more conversational, the lyrics as well, and that is something that I wanted it to be - it feels like that works with the intimate atmosphere I wanted to create.
Apart from that, everyone else will have to be the judge! But I do feel like I have evolved since the last album and my song-writing has evolved with me.
- Your debut album Not Alone was more of an acoustic record but this time around you have gone for a fuller production in terms of sound so how have you found working with a bolder sound?
Really liberating! Great to have been able to spend time experimenting - the evolution from the last album was a little bit complicated because on the previous album I was mainly all about the singing and on this album I am doing much more playing as well so in that sense it feels like my debut album.
- Your music has something of a jazz flavour and feel to it - where did your love of this music style start?
Yeah I think my music has flavours of a lot of different things blended up in a special brew - I heard a song by Cassandra Wilson in my late teens, just randomly on the radio and was amazed, I'd just never heard anything like it.
A few years later and someone eventually played me some Billie Holiday and Nina Simone - when I heard them I felt a natural affinity with the sound world and the way they put their characters into their voices and identified that that was something I also wanted to be able to do.
Since then, I've always tried to put myself into my voice and to put as much character and feeling into the singing as I could.
- How is your music going down overseas? - does it seem to be doing as well as it is here?
Yeah great! Not everyone may understand all the words but everyone gets music if they feel it.
It's so great how social networking now means anyone from anywhere can get in touch and I'm so happy to be feeling lots of love from people all over the place - I'm waiting to hear on some upcoming tour dates abroad, hoping I can play live for some of them but for now looking forward to what's definite and coming up next.
- Finally what is next for you going through 2013?
I have got some remixes coming of this track coming soon and I have a few nice dates in the UK coming up and I think there may be some dates abroad in the pipeline. I just want to keep building and slowly introducing people to the new stuff.
Julia will be playing the How the Light Gets In Festival on 25th May. You can download her track 'We Watch The Stars' for free via her website http://www.juliabiel.com or listen to the track on SoundCloud here http://snd.sc/ZKf8lC