Artist Of The Week #104 - Mountain Bird
This week’s Artist of the Week is Mountain Bird, who has just released his brand new EP ‘DearBrainLetMeSleep’ via Nettwerk Records. He took a moment to talk to us about insomnia, his time in Berlin and what the future holds in store for him.
Your EP is out now, and is called ‘DearBrainLetMeSleep’, can you tell us the inspiration behind the title?
The title refers to my long going insomnia, it's often during that time I get my best and worse ideas. A lot of the songs/melodies on the EP have my insomnia to thank! So I wanted to embrace it and pay tribute to it instead of seeing it as an obstacle. It all depends on which light you put obstacles in and it can transition into something for you to use.
The EP was written during a time when you were living in Berlin, which you have called a transitional period for yourself, can you tell us a bit more about that?
Yes, it was a time where I wrote about the last sorrows of my youth. Finally coming to peace with both depression, anxiety and insomnia. Taking care of it myself at a foreign place was for me something I needed to do to get the last pieces of emotonal armor in place. During that time I also started working more with my record label and thaught myself to keep all relations in place, looking after for myself and valuing self-care. It has been really hard on me, I get so so tired when I'm around people for long periods of time, so I learned to take use of all my "Bad" sides instead of falling victim for them.
I also started reading alot, lot's of psychology and philosophy to make me think even clearer and always have logic when my mind wander, which still happens everyday. I started enjoying myself and that's so important when you trying to build something just out of made up self-confidence.
The EP deals with parts of mental health that are quiet personal to you, how does it feel to put out music that is quite open to the world about such things?
Anyways, I've always been like this, It's nothing weird for me to talk open about these kind of stuff and I want to do it because I want everyone to do it. The worst thing about mental health is bad communication. We've lost so many lives because you just let it be. We need to speak open about this stuff because it affects everyone. We're emotional and social beings. So I will continue to speak as open as I possibly can in every single moment I get, because I know there's a lot of people feeling the same way or even more lost than I was. It's my way of saying, you're okay, I'm here, I hear you. It's so important to get heard as a human being and If I can make people that suffers from mental illnes feel more heard and less lonely then I'm beyond happy.
What would you say were the key musical influences for the EP?
Great question, I often don't have single musical influences since I always want to create something that feel fresh to me or different in some way. So to be honest there hasn't been any key musical influence more than the usual stuff I listen to! But I have to say i listened to a lot of Moby and the weeknd during that time period which is a funny duo! I often get in these deep holes that I want to know everything about an artist. Moby was one of them definitely. But other than that just my own chaotic head always inspires haha, there's no stop there!
Do you have a favorite lyric on the EP?
Hard one! Can I anwer every lyric? I just did, look at that. Since they all mean different things to me I don't want to put any lyric infront of the other. I always write about real stuff that happens in my life so that would be an impossible answer, I'll let that up to the listener that can create new memories with it :)
Now the EP is out, what next? What are your plans for the next few months?
We go hard right now! Lot's of great stuff coming up, I'm actually in the midst of finishing even more songs which we've just signed so there will be more music super soon! And I feel inspired and like i'm developing my song writing every minute now so there will be some true bangers on that one!
Hopefully we start playing more live! We want to wait for the right moment! But there will be some nice live-sessions coming out together with the EP as well! Let's GO!