SOURCE – Waves, as an album title, suggests a pretty strong theme. Can you tell me more about the overarching story of this record?
Eilera (Vocals) – You are right. Waves are strong, wether they come from the Ocean, from a sound or from emotion. Waves are one of the strongest natural phenomenon and they are all around us.
I started focusing on them after I had arrived from a road trip along the Celtic Sea, a couple of summers ago. I was recovering from a burn out. I had felt pretty dead inside. You could say that my own waves were close to being flat… It is the contact with the waves of the sea that activated them again. I was slowly getting back to myself. My natural need for making songs and for singing were tickling me again.. So I started composing those songs, clumsily at first, on an acoustic guitar, just looking for the direction of the album. I decided that it would become the most acoustic/organic of my albums, in respect of the muse that had inspired it. I also decided that I would unite musicians and technicians from my past and from my present in it, from the two poles of my life, North and South, Finland and southern France. This is also probably a reason why this album sounds more centered, less extreme; more peaceful. Its very own nature is to help people find peace and feel organic life, through its music.
SOURCE – I’m sure a big life change like that made quite an impact on your music going forward. How did that influence this record?
Eilera (Vocals) – Everything you go through in life has an impact on your creative work. – I am not speaking of mass-produced, mechanical music now, but of soul-made music. I personally find it really interesting to use whatever new challenges my life has for me and turn them into songs. In this case, my life was presenting me with the challenge of turning a healing oceanic experience into an album. Production-wise, I had to find the way to create an Eilera album over an acoustic/Folk sound base, instead of an electric sound base, like it had usually been the case for me. Also, I had decided to leave more space to the musicians who played on the album. I did so by sending them demos of the songs, which I had recorded on the acoustic guitar and sung over, and by welcoming their own interpretations of these songs back and arrange them. I did not ask for many corrections. I was resolved to direct as little as possible, push away the limits of my mind and build over the musicians’ inputs. This whole process forced me to break some of my old working patterns and to try others. Consequently, as a musician and a producer, I unquestionably grew. I believe that in the future, I will use some of these newly-acquired tools and combine them with my old ones. My objective is not to change who I am as a songwriter, a producer or as a singer. Eilera shall remain Eilera, but she needs to grow and adapt, in order not to die.
SOURCE – Do you believe it’s always important to have that versatility on an album – because the dynamics allow the listener to not get as bored because of the differences?
Eilera (Vocals) – To me, each song has something to say. Each song carries its own story and it is the sum of each and every songs that constitutes the album. This is why there always is much dynamics inside my albums… There is nothing more boring to me than an album in which all the songs sound the same. It becomes parasite noise to my ears.
SOURCE – Do you have any fears about what the fan expectations are on a record versus how you satisfy yourselves as musicians?
Eilera (Vocals) – I know that I can never make every fan happy with a new album. But I think that the people who like Eilera enjoy above all the suprise factor that they find in each album. They know that I have a curious mind. I believe I would disappoint them if I suddenly started to make generic albums… However I am also aware that such an album as Waves may feel too gentle for those who expect metallic sounds from me. That’s ok. I just hope that they will give a try to Waves, listen to it with an open mind and an open soul, because Waves hides a lot more suprises under its surface than one may think. 🙂 .. It has even taken me by suprise before: One evening, I played the album to my uncle. He is a musician himself who enjoys beautiful music. We were at the heart of mountains, in a cosy cabin by the chimney fire. I thought that Waves would naturally fit in this cosy, peaceful evening atmosphere. Yet when the first songs played, filled with their oceanic, sparkling, deep energy, undulating and crashing in waves movements, the album suddenly did not sound so atmospheric anymore!
SOURCE – Does it make things harder to reach that next level of success and popularity?
Eilera (Vocals) – I don’t know what big popularity is like. I am still a pretty underground artist, doing her thing. To me, success is to make an album which I am proud of. Work together with the people I wish to work with. Play my songs live to crowds. It is to have people write to me or speak to me, saying that my music makes them feel good. This all feels like success to me. Now honestly, I would like to play on bigger stages, touch more people with my work. I would like to earn more money, so that I could invest myself into more projects and give more, like touring projects. I do carry this kind of ambition in me. Yet I was not born with gold in my pockets and I need work hard for everything I do and give. I have not met (yet) the right manager who could join forces with us to break further into the business world.
SOURCE – You have a video out for Sea Widow. Can you discuss some of the meaning behind the visuals?
Eilera (Vocals) – Sea Widow is a strong woman who has recently lost her husband to the sea. On the surface, she does not show much emotion but inside, she is going through a battle, to not let herself sink into despair. There is a parallel to be found between the woman and the sea. The sea in the video is showed moving with impressive and powerful waves under a dark sky. There is such a feeling of strength coming from it. The movements of the waves, in my opinion, bring back to the female world, with its curves, shapes and its mysteries. It is both attractive and frightening. All the same, the widow is attractive and frightening, from the strength and from the darkness she carries.
The widow and the sea in this music video are quite close. They share their lives. The woman has lived by the sea all her life and she has been the wife of a fisherman. But suddenly the equilibrium is broken, when the sea takes the life of the husband. He has a boat accident from which he never comes back. He is thus burried under the waves of the sea and becomes forever hers.
The relationship between the sea and the widow becomes one of conflict. The widow knows that if she sinks into despair, she will have lost everthing to the sea. So she fights it back, until the final confrontation between them at the end of the video… I won’t tell you now who wins it. You will have to watch the video.
SOURCE – How would you assess the band’s career over the past four years – and what do you see currently as the greatest challenges or obstacles to overcome to move up the ranks?
Eilera (Vocals) – There has been two albums created, recorded and released in the past four years – Face Your Demons and Waves. Face Your Demons was also a big step in terms of songwriting and in terms of recording method. It was the first album I made after Loïc Tézénas (my previous co-worker) and I had split up. It was the first album I entirely created in Finland. And finally, it was an album which was for the first time recorded live in studio.
We have played a few shows, wished we had played a lot more. There was also a successful crowdfunding campaign in support of Waves. As for the current obstacles and challenges, I would say: get to show what Eilera is worth on stage, when we get to play both songs from Waves and from the heavier albums. Once the virus times are over, this is what we shall focus on. Attracting and working with a good investor/manager would obviously also be a key asset.
SOURCE – Aside from the message of the album, is there an overarching message of Waves that you want people to know?
Eilera (Vocals) – Waves is a call to going back to essentials we need in order to feel good, healthy, happy, balanced. For me in this album, it was the energizing and liberating waves of the Ocean. For others it would be the forest. All in all, this closeness to nature is a crucial element, which I have developped in different ways thoughout my discography. I think that nowadays especially, with so many people locked down in their homes because of the Corona virus, this message can be received by many souls and give them the liberating and soothing feeling they need.
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