We had the chance to catch up with the Scandinavian sustainable artist, GAEYA. She tells us about her journey into the music world and all of her musical and earthly influences. She talks about her upcoming music, her new podcast and how she’s been keeping busy during lockdown.
Beyond the Stage: How did you get started in music?
GAEYA: I’ve started working with music at a very early age and worked on defining my craft by creating music in many different genres. Finally, a few years ago I saw that I could merge my deep passion for nature with music and from there I started to explore my way towards what is now GAEYA.
BTS: How would you describe your music to someone who hasn’t heard it before?
G: I would say that it’s an emotional and new way of thinking. We are weaving together natural and ancient elements with modern synth landscapes. Trying to pull energy from the deep earth into a neverending universe. The lyrics are mainly about the deeper connection between oneself and the earth. I create my music to inspire people to trust their gut feeling and follow their hearts.
BTS: Who are some of your influences, musically and non-musically?
G: Oh, this is an interesting one! What most inspires me is the sound between nature and humans and their interlacing interactions. I’ve learned a lot from this and it still inspires me. I also love to study the personalities of people. When people explore themselves or the possibilities they have to share what is dear to them, that really triggers me. Musically, my inspirations are far and wide. I explore music from all around the world. I LOVE Mongolian throat singing. It’s mystic yet so powerful, and full of ancient knowledge that is passed on through generations. (Slowly practicing so I too could do it one day.)
Talking contemporary, I think Sting and Peter Gabriel more or less have always been around to give some influence. I would also say that when there is emotion, that really inspires me. It doesn’t really matter so much with music.
BTS: What’s your recording process like?
G: We are quite down to Earth, I would say haha. Anders Rane (Producer and Live Musician) spend time looking for the right sounds through masses of gear in Anders’ studio, Vintage Loft Studio. The Studio itself is an incredible piece of art and inspiring to work in. When we go in there it can be when we feel the urge and the inspiration to create. The homely feel of the studio make’s it an extremely comfortable environment to make music in. So much so that I’m usually in there in my PJs during my vocal takes. So every recording process will be different. But most of the time we jam something on one of the synths or the piano and from there we start to build the song. We also love to use analog equipment, tape delay, tape machines, spring reverb and of course analog synthesisers to give that extra life to a song. Pretty clever vintage recording techniques.
Anders (producer): It depends but we usually frame the song with a guide vocal and an acoustic piano so we’ll know what bpm to go for and how long the song will be. From there I start searching for sounds by tweaking synths, trying samples or playing real instruments. The baseline comes in early in the process after a key instrument that has some kind of pattern or hook.
BTS: You dropped your debut single, “Contact” this year. What was the writing process like for that track?
G: My producer Anders and I, sat down by an old beautiful Schimmel upright piano that had so much vibrance to it that this song almost came right out through the piano by itself. Anders came up with this stunning piano arrangement and from there it was quite easy to let the melody and lyrics flow on top. We also had our lovely friends Sam and Luci Williams from Florida put their magic in there to finish it off. The rest is history.
BTS: Do you have a favorite line from the track?
G: For me, the earth singing in the middle (after the second chorus) is absolutely my favorite part. Not only because I felt free to fully break loose in the natural force and just let the voice flow, but also because without words sometimes sounds bring deeper meaning than language can do and the listener can use that to find the meaning special to them, without it being considered wrong or right.
BTS: Can we expect more music soon?
G: Absolutely! First up, we have the second single from my debut EP dropping in a few weeks. Shortly after that, there will be an acoustic rendition of that song also. The next single changes direction slightly, a song that I love to shake my hips to in the kitchen –you’ll know what I mean when it’s released, haha.
BTS: What have you been doing to pass the time in quarantine?
G: I’ve been spending a lot of time working on this project. I’m a bit happy in a way that we had to slow down on performing this springtime because that gave us more time to work on writing and recording instead. Which made it possible for us to start sharing our music now this autumn. I’ve also created a podcast called tellUs. The first three episodes are now up on all major podcast outlets (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor, etc.) as well as on YouTube and Instagram. Each episode we discuss hot topics within the world of sustainability, with guests joining the show who are experts in their respective fields.
BTS: Anything else exciting coming up?
G: Along with the singles and the coming EP Awakening, we are also releasing acoustic versions of the songs on a second EP Awakening: Reborn so with every new release you can be sure to find an acoustic version to follow.
See the music video for GAEYA’s debut single, “Contact” below.
Check out tellUS, GAEYA’s sustainable podcast below.
Keep up with GAEYA on social media:
Instagram | Twitter | YouTube
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