Amanda Easton talks about her new “Polaroids & Postcards” EP
-- Christmas Eve, 2019 --
-- Christmas Eve, 2019 --
Peter: First of all, thank you for bringing me out of retirement to review this release! Second of all, congratulations! I said it best when I said, this is an amazing record!
Amanda: Thanks so much! It’s great hearing a review from someone who has known me from the beginning – there’s more context in what you’re saying and hopefully you’ve seen improvement along the way!
P: I wouldn’t say improvement; I would call it change. And for the better! But I just have a few questions to put to you about the new record. I know you had a site on the “Dark Web” where subscribers to your email list could download each of the tracks over a five day period, or elect to buy the record instead. What gave you that idea?
A: I think the world has become more about immersive experiences. People want more than just ‘things’ nowadays and the internet has given us the tools to create multimedia experiences out of our music. There is a movement I’ve been noticing, particularly among US-based indie artists, where they are doing this type of thing and so I’ve been watching and learning and decided to try a version of my own for this new launch. I think the traditional way of releasing music: trying to get on the radio, in the press and in the record stores; is less relevant nowadays, particularly to indies where the millions of dollars needed to make that happen effectively is not available to us! But we have the tools now to bypass many of these gatekeepers and reach potential fans directly. But I think to interest new people in music they’ve never heard of, you need to stand out and offer more than just the songs. Giving people more access to what the artist is thinking and how they are creating the art – in this case music – is one way to do that. People can go press a button on a music streaming service and hear anything they want, but the danger is they will click away 3 and half minutes later and never revisit. If you’ve managed to create a meaningful connection with the person, because they now know the story behind the song, you’ve potentially made a long term fan. I would rather have 2000 real fans than a million streams.
P: Personal connection is very important, but so is what those more established artists have. And I can only hope to have this sort of connection with an artist whose work I have been following for so long. And I’m glad of the opportunity to ask you a few questions that this amazing record brought to my mind in the hope that the viewers at home can strengthen their connection with you as an artist. First of all, I’ve noticed, after reviewing your last three releases now, that there is a distinctive Eastern flavour to your music.
A: I lived in Japan for 2 years, singing 6 nights a week with a cover band. I'm obsessed with the place and its culture and revisit every couple of years.
P: You revisit musically, and artistically. Have you been able to physically revisit?
A: Yes I actually revisit physically every 2 years or so. I have family in Europe and so often stop over in Asia on the way – so any excuse to go back to Japan! I still have lots of friends there too so I feel like the Japanese connection is an ongoing one even if I’m not there.
P: In the cover-art for “Polaroids and Postcards”, I picked up some other kitsch that could also be related to this obsession. The imagery for your Bowie tribute, for example, for all the world looked like you were holding a radio mic. But through your subscriber-only pages, we see that it was actually a ray-gun which I would date back to perhaps Flash Gordon, Captain Proton, or even some Japanese science fiction from the 60s or 70s.
A: I’ve always been into scifi – the more schlocky the better! I loved Doctor Who and Star Trek as a kid and prefer them both when the special effects were less fancy than today’s. When I lived in Japan, I discovered how big a role scifi played in their pop culture so, of course, that made me love Japan even more. All the kitchiness of their pop culture is attractive to me – the colour, vibrancy, cuteness and theatre of it all. Japan is such a mix of its traditional heritage and its cutting-edge modernness and so you still see vintage scifi imagery – like Godzilla – in current artforms. I just love that!
P: And the science-fiction feel to the record extends to the sounds you’ve created. Do you listen to much vintage synth music or is it just something that you found in your Nord and wanted to share with us?
A: Goldfrapp is one of my favourite music groups ever and they use a lot of vintage synths, so that would be my main influence. That’s actually why I bought the Nord in the first place – it’s what they use! I’m not an expert in ‘sounds’. I play around on my Nord and get something that I Iike for my demos but I need to give credit to my producers (Mavoi for track 5; and for tracks 1,2 3 and 6 a guy who enigmatically wants to be known as ‘Wow and Warmth’) for coming up with the end results. Of course I am executive producer so they get a lot of guidance from me but they are the master at translating the ideas from my demos (and my head!) into what you end up hearing. ‘Wow and Warmth’ always says to me: “It’s good you know exactly what you want” – which I think might be his polite way of saying I’m a bit bossy, but I do have a very fixed idea of the sounds I want but not always the skill at creating them.
P: And how good is it that you have found someone who can do that for you! Definitely a keeper! Now, the credits on the sleeve liner for the record show only three musicians; that you did everythingexcept the bass guitar and cello. Yet you’ve managed to capture the sound of a whole band line-up on the title track!
A: Thank you – again I have to give credit to the producers. There are no additional live musicians or live musical instruments being played on that track. Sounds have been created/layered and built up from synths and samples. It’s weird that I perform live with amazing musicians all the time but in my recording world there is something I really love about synthesized sounds! Yes, track 5 ‘Polaroids & Postcards’ does sound more live than the others but really that is just some of the samples that were chosen – and of course that is a different producer than most of the tracks, so that may have been his influence at play there. I did film some of the live recording sessions so you will see that pop up in some music video but they probably won’t be recreated in a live context – more a unique coming together that happened just for a particular song recording.
P: Speaking of videos, can we expect any more?
A: Yes, there are two released at this point. There is ‘I Saw the Message’ and also ‘Polaroids & Postcards’. ‘I Saw the Message’ is based around a retro computer screen – the old black screen with green writing, which spells out some of the lyrics. I showed the first rough cut to my email list but the finished version is here: https://youtu.be/e8KKK4upOOc. I’ve also released an anime video for ‘Polaroids & Postcards’ here: https://youtu.be/sMjr0B9V3oY. I have shot the green screen component of ‘Man Who Fell to Earth’ (I am an alien) and that is going to be edited in to an existing (public domain of course) vintage Japanese sci-fi movie to create a music video – so that one will probably be next. I also have some footage from the recording sessions of ‘Letter to a Small Boy’ and being a more organic song, that will have a more natural music video too. There will probably be a video for every song eventually – I love working with video but it’s very time consuming since I like to do most of the editing myself, so I tend to release them quite a bit after the actual songs!
P: And, from the eye of a music collector since the mid 1970s that notices small and probably insignificant things like catalog number and liner notes, this is EP3 of 3(1. Blue; 2. Disco; 3. Postcards). Is this a hint at perhaps there is a full album coming? A best-of? A box-set? Yes, we can access them online as they were released, but is there enough interest to be able to provide those who want one with a hard-copy of everything in the same place?
A: Love that you noticed that! No, no best-of planned, but a full length album planned for end of next year. We’re half done already!
P: Can you tell us what we can expect? New stuff, previous releases?
A: All brand new but direction-wise in the same ball park as ‘Polaroids & Postcards’, at least in part. P&Pis a very emotional and nostalgic collection of songs and so are some from the album, but I will also have a bit more attitude and fun on some of the new stuff.
P: Amanda, you must be so proud of this new record! I have never had a reaction to a release as I did with this! I should expect that you’re going to be taking it to the people as much as possible?
A: Thank you! I find it so hard to judge my own work – I’ve always been proud of everything I’ve done at the timebut the world doesn’t always like it! And of course looking back sometimes I agree with the world too! I do love this record and the signs are that there are quite a few others that agree so if that’s the case I will continue to promote it!
P: Thank you for your time, today. I really hope to be able to see you live very, very soon! I haven’t seen you since the release of Skinat Fox Studios back in the 90s.
A: Wowee I was such a babe in the woods then! I feel more at home with everything now – I feel like I have found my place more musically. Yes I hope to see you at a gig soon! Thanks so much for staying interested in what I’m doing!
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