VV Brown - 'Samson'

dontdiedontkillanyon
dontdiedontkillanyon Members Posts: 10,172 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited May 2013 in R&B & Alternatives
VV Brown - 'Samson'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKy4hkFCVWI

It’s been nearly four years since VV Brown released her debut album, the enigmatic ‘Travelling Like The Light’ that launched her career. But following a slew of good reviews, and a status as a burgeoning fashion icon, VV all but disappeared from the public eye. Now she’s back, (slightly) older and wiser, with an edgier look and sound, and a different approach to the fame game. As well as premiering her comeback single, ‘Samson’ on Hunger TV, we catch up with VV to find out how her second time around will be different.

THE NEW VIDEO IS A HUGE DEPARTURE FROM YOUR PREVIOUS SOUND – WHY DID YOU FEEL THE NEED TO CHANGE UP YOUR SOUND?

“We have to dare to be ourselves, however frightening or strange that self may prove to be.” May Sorton

I feel like I’ve grown so much as a women and an artist. Maturity has been a huge catalyst. I wrote my first record in 2007. I was growing up whilst I was touring. Your album is a snap shot of a time in your life and you have to carry that sonic photograph with you as you change. I was carrying this for four years. When it was time to do the next album, I was a different person. It was an organic natural state of growth and change for me. I guess it seems drastic to the those who may only know me in cycles. My friends and family listened to the record and saw the development and the relationship with the music as quite an evolutionary natural process. They saw and spoke to me every day so it didn’t seem like such a change to them and myself. Its been a while since the last record and my tastes have most definitely developed. Since diving into the fashion community and working with some amazing artists I learnt a lot more about a purer and creative way to express yourself and was compelled by the convictions of people remaining so true to there vision that there was no room for doubt. I didn’t feel I needed to change I just did. It was a so exciting to learn again and I through myself into going to exhibitions, reading books, watching film and just diving into all forms of art and culture to be inspired.

TELL US WHAT YOU’VE BEEN UP TO SINCE YOUR LAST ALBUM WAS RELEASED IN 2009?

“The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it: so fine that we are often on the line and do not know it.” Elberd Hubbard

We toured America for a year with Little Dragon and travelled to over 30 states. We ended up selling over half a million records which was amazing and strange at the same time. I didn’t want to be excited by the statistics but when it happened I couldn’t help but feel like we had achieved something, I guess we did. We were making real sales, real people. We also toured Europe and went number 1 in France and Paris became home very quickly. I finally settled back in London in 2011 and set up my own fashion business vvvintage.com which is now sustaining itself as an ethical e commerce and became really inspired by the ethics in fashion and how they effect our environment. After feeling like I had exhausted the alternative projects I felt it was time to write a new record. I felt desperate and worried enough to feel real emotions again and with the taste of business I set up my own label YOY records. I have a weird sadistic attraction to the chaos within the way I feel to fuel some kind of writing process. When things are going the way I hope I can’t write. Now I wasn’t on a major label I could be afraid again

V-V-BLACK-AND-WHITE-LORES-518x631.jpg

HOW HAVE YOU GROWN MUSICALLY?

“It is good to feel lost… because it proves you have a navigational sense of where “Home” is. You know that a place that feels like being found exists. And maybe your current location isn’t that place but, Hallelujah, that unsettled, uneasy feeling of lost-ness just brought you closer to it.” Erika Harris,

I think my tastes have matured and have become more alternative. I use to listen to a song and think how can this be a “hit record” but now I listen to a record and it’s all about how it makes me feel. It doesn’t have to be consumed with the idea of its catchy or specifically categorised for a particular radio station. I think I was so consumed in the business of things I had forgotten what it felt like to just listen. I never thought I’d get into experimental electronic music but it hit me pretty intensely. I watched a documentary about the history of electronic music and it blew my mind how spectacular the creative process is in regards to the way we can manipulate sound through physical objects and electricity. Creative physics.

WHAT’S DIFFERENT NOW?

“I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity.” Albert Einstein

The new sound is way more experimental and electronic. I have been listening to The Knife and Bjork, Grace Jones, James Blake, Sigur Ros, Little Dragon, The Invisible… There is a sense of risk with a possible lack of no commercial gain. It’s just all about the music. I don’t know what’s going to happen. I know that this new sound will take time as people will probably wonder what the hell I am doing with a intense sense of cynicism, some won’t really give a ? , some may like it. I’m not sure. I have a real sense of reality about the build and journey and really hope I don’t alienate the fans that are already on board. I hope the walk with me and my reinvention. I really wanted the record to be three dimensional and to not be just about a voice or a face but about a sound, and the sonic side of the record having just as much of an identity as the songwriting. We analysed a million different reverb sounds and instruments and ways to create specific textures. We have also made a 15 minute short film with the record and its really important for me to let people know that this album is about the relationship with music and film. I want to bring all these things together so it feels like an experience.

Comments

  • dontdiedontkillanyon
    dontdiedontkillanyon Members Posts: 10,172 ✭✭✭✭✭

    WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE CURRENT MUSIC SCENE – HOW HAS IT DEVELOPED AND CHANGED SINCE YOU LAST RELEASED AN ALBUM?

    It’s exciting. I feel the UK scene has always produced an array of interesting artists. James Blake is one of my absolute favourites. He truly is a genius to me. His album is the only album for a while that has forced me to listen to it as a full body of work. One song needs the other. That really inspired me to try and do the same, especially in this iTunes generation.

    WHICH FELLOW MUSICIANS INSPIRE YOU?

    I love Bjork. She is everything. Innovative, unpretentious, pure, beautiful, feminine, bold, challenging, creative, timeless, deep, fun, iconic.

    YOU MENTIONED YOUR FASHION LINE – HOW IMPORTANT IS FASHION TO YOUR OVERALL PERSONA? AND HOW HAS YOUR LOOK EVOLVED IN THE PAST FEW YEARS?

    Fashion is how I express myself visually. It’s not important but I enjoy it. This project is more about the music. I’m not on any of the art work and I only feature in the film for 10 seconds as a Geisha. I want to shed the gimmicks and the colourful smiles and people finally here just the music. I think my Fashion sense has become more about simplicity. Yohji Yamamoto and Cos are my favourites alongside vvvintage.com of course. All the designers we work with are incredible. I think this is also apart of my maturity. It’s a constant state of learning isn’t it? Learning who you are. It’s such a colourful rich journey.

    WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM YOU THIS YEAR?

    Music, film, touring, peace, love, reality, friends, life, learning. Becoming a more whole being I guess. I have realised since my brother and friends have started having kids that life is about appeciating the deeper things. To be happy and keep learning is such a beautiful thing.

    EOiZwWPPycIdZwhb76iny9cvlkVADTfI0rBi-Jn6oKg-518x690.jpg

    http://www.hungertv.com/feature/exclusive-vv-brown-samson/