The Making of the EP Across the Water - Part 5

ACROSS THE WATER

 

https://triinu.bandcamp.com/track/across-the-water (with lyrics)

  

It seems like a long time ago already, but we had a great time playing at l'International! Big thanks again to all of those who came out to see us! 
Next week we will be playing in Bordeaux, at La Voûte. Looking very much forward to it: my first time in that city + will be sharing the stage with my friend Allan who I haven't seen for ages!! Go check out his music too: 
https://aupaysdesmatinscalmes.bandcamp.com/ 

Here we go for the last entry about the recordings of the title track of the EP Across the Water.

 


This is a song born from a little love story in a city where you can hear a lot of cries of seagulls. (For French-speakers, you can read a little interview here  http://www.soul-kitchen.fr/79963-across-the-universe-triinu )
  

This is also one of those songs that took a long time to grow. I wrote the lyrics around 5 years ago, but didn't know what to do with them at the time. Luckily, around the end of 2016, I accidentally found them again in my drawers and they caught my eye. By then, I had started writing music with alternative tunings, and this definitely worked well on the song. So, I tuned my guitar down to CGCGGC and got this riff down.



It was after we finished recording Love Moves Lightly, that Juliette suggested we'd give a try on this track. We started with guitar takes at home (some of which were still done with my old Squier Telecaster), layered them up and spent quite a lot of time developing the sound with my reverb and overdrive pedals.  

I've been heavily influenced by blues since early age and this was really the perfect song to let that shine. It almost demanded the use of the bottleneck and it was the first time I got to put that in use. I also improvised those same seagulls cries we were talking about earlier with the slide on the choruses. J then put her tambourine skills in use and all in all, it was so much fun!

the vocal booth

Then it was time for the vocal takes. J got the key for the studio in the conservatory and in we went. As it was the first time we recorded together, it took quite a long time to get the vocals right. I tried all types of different things to really get the emotion out. Little techniques like whispering through the whole song, then screaming out the whole song, talk the song through in Estonian, sing the song in Estonian, sing over some favorite and energy demanding songs.. I really wanted to push myself, be as honest as possible and leave something of myself on this track. In the end we were both really happy with the result and felt super excited for others to hear it.


I guess you could say I'm a late bloomer, cause it took me about 10 years to get the first EP out ! 😄 But hey, better late than never, and most importantly, I am really proud with the result. Of course I want to thank everyone involved, and so many were.. And a special thanks to all of those who have already purchased a CD from me or downloaded it on the internet 💗. By the way, now you can also buy the CD on Bandcamp, go check it out ! 

Hope to see you soon at a gig!

1) Bordeaux gig next Thursday if you're around :
https://www.facebook.com/events/260528571467206/ 

2) 5th Oct at Centre Tchèque for Parisians :
https://www.facebook.com/events/698962030469986/   



A link to buy and listen the full EP here (4€):
https://triinu.bandcamp.com/album/across-the-water

The Making of the EP Across the Water - Part 4

 

 

BERLIN

 

Before finishing with the Making of the EP series, I'd like to say a few words about the photo on the cover of the album. This brings me to my one month residency in Berlin, in the summer of 2017.
 

 © Elvira Akzigitova

In the spring of that same year I got to visit Berlin for the very first time. I went with friends and we stayed for a couple of days. The vibe of the city was thrilling. After a succesful open mic at Madame Claude, I had made a decision to go back for a longer time as soon as possible.

 

To my luck, a few months later, I got invited back to play a gig at Home Bar. I grabbed the chance, got everything organized and at 6:30 am on the 27th of July, I was boarding my plane to Berlin.

As it turned out, there was another Estonian playing at the same night as me (which has never happened before or since !). I got to meet Kaarel and his wife Elvira who is a photographer. We became great friends and kept in touch. Later on, when I talked about finding a visual for the CD, Elvira had this photograph taken in Iceland. It couldn't have been a better match to suit the the lyrics and the mood of the music on the album. She's an amazing artist and I'll add a link here so you can explore more of her works: https://www.instagram.com/chelovekvsobake/

Altogether, I stayed in Berlin for a month. It had been a long time since I found myself in a foreign city again - it felt new, exciting and liberating. I first stayed in Kreuzberg, then Friedrichshain. I took long walks around these neighbourhoods and learned a tiny bit of German, but most of my time I spent writing. It turned out to be a very introverted period. With a lot of time in my hands and enough space, I digged deep into the meanings of songs. It wasn't all easy, but after Berlin, I felt stronger and more determined than before. Later, back in Paris, I was more than ever motivated to finish the recordings and get them out.

Madame Claude in Berlin
photo : Pamela Peepson

 

It was a bit unexpected, but I also felt a closeness to Estonia in Berlin. Something about the culture and people there, made me miss the nature and language at home. As a result of all these emotions and introspection, I wrote the song Drifting. Looking forward to record it one day as well.

Oh, Sailor,

I'm drifting

on a broken-down raft.

Oh, Sailor!

"Where's my gypsy man?"

 I think I heard a woman laugh..

Oh, Sailor!

I'm licking wounds,

to leave no trail behind!

I saw the Moon go blind

and God

was killing time..

Drifting, I go

I go drifting

Oh, Sailor,

I heard the clouds crash!

when I took this Devil

out for a dance..

Drifting, I go

I go drifting

Back from the festivals, we are now preparing to play the gig tomorrow at L'International. This will be the first we have CD's to sell in Paris ! Hope to see many of you there!

Here's the link for the event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1463654943769350/

A little sneak peak on Instagram from home rehearsals 😉 https://www.instagram.com/triinumusic/

Stay tuned for the entry about the recording of the title song !

Take care !

Triinu

A link to buy and listen the full EP here (4€):
https://triinu.bandcamp.com/album/across-the-water

The Making of the EP Across the Water - Part 3

 

 

LOVE MOVES LIGHTLY

 

https://triinu.bandcamp.com/track/love-moves-lightly (with lyrics!)

EP internet release party

Gambetta Club, April 26, 2018
©Marie-Madeleine Scaglia

Love Moves Lightly was the very first song we recorded and arranged for the EP. It started on March 17, 2017. 


I had just gone back solo and this pushed me to record alone as well. I had been listening to Cat Power's The Covers Record, and was wondering, if I could do the same: record in a really sparse setting, just myself and a guitar?
At the time, I had no other options anyways, so I took the bull by its horns and a train to Pontoise, to record with Mathieu at the Musique du Monde Actuel Studios. (Now it's called 60Bis Studios https://www.60bis-studios.com/ )

The setting up was very easy, me being alone with an acoustic guitar. I had taken three songs with me, two of them brand new. The first one was No Goodbyes. I did the slowest version ever of the song, but it didn't really work very well...
The two others were In the Garden (hopefully this song will revive soon!) and Love Moves Lightly. Immediately, I felt the most comfortable and confident with the latter. I don't think I did more than two or three takes.

At home, I let Juliette JS hear the session. Like myself, she was also most inspired by Love Moves Lightly. This is what really brought us to the idea of making an EP together and our longwaited collaboration started! 

We added some basses on synth, reversed the intro and rerecorded the guitar parts for the outro at our "home studio". Other than that, we used the original takes of the vocals and guitar, done at Musique du Monde Actuel.  

The writing of the song was a bit different for me as well. I was really looking for a new style of songwriting and singing. So, I decided to give it a shot at writing on the piano for the first time! 
I started by giving myself a sort of exercise: create a tune on the keys using only a certain 4 notes. Very quickly and naturally, it led to the melody of Love Moves Lightly. 
For the lyrics, I went through my notebooks again. For some reason, I had been quite obsessed with combining the ideas of gambling and angels. Maybe it's the imagery or something in the resonance of these words that inspired me.

When I had finished the writing, I took Love Moves Lightly to my singing teacher. I wanted to use my voice differently too, but hadn't really found a way to interpret it well on my own. We worked on it a bit, and finally, it's this song that made me use my head voice for the very first time! From there on, I had a whole new palette to work with vocally.


So, have a listen, share with a friend and don't forget we have this summer's last festivals coming up the next two week-ends! Here are the links for the events on facebook:

Saturday, August 25 in Flexanville (60km from Paris) : 
https://www.facebook.com/events/1808608336109328/

Saturday, September 1 in Quingey (25km from Besançon) : 
https://www.facebook.com/FestivalBULE/

Looking forward to discover these new places 😊


Catch you soon!
Triinu

A link to buy and listen the full EP here (4€):
https://triinu.bandcamp.com/album/across-the-water