Artist Of The Week #0067 - Isabelle Brown
This week’s Artist of the Week is Brighton’s Isabelle Brown, who’s EP ’03’ is out now via True Panther & AWAL/Kobalt. We had a chat with her about the release.
You wrote the songs for ‘Only Having a Laugh’ when you were 12, which is a really young age for such quality songs. What made you want to get into music?
I’ve always been surrounded by music, when I came home from school I’d always put on the music channel, my mum and I would always listen to music in the car and from a very young age I liked to imitate artists such as Tina Turner, Aretha Franklyn and Etta James.
In the songwriting process, do you think about how you want the instruments to sound or do you collaborate with other musicians for that aspect?
Initially I wrote lyrics and melodies to music produced by other people but as I’ve got older I’ve been more able to identify which instruments I want in a song and where and when I want them played.
Talk us through the making of the ‘Places’ video. It's great that your personality just shines throughout.
We decided we wanted a party because everybody loves a party, we knew my personality would come through if I was around my friends and family and some of the shots were outside Iceland because I like a bargain!
Can you tell us a bit more about the beautifully sombre ‘Outro’?
I asked my composer friend Benjamin Pearson for some music starting with rain and thunder because when you hear rain and thunder outside it can be quite soothing and relaxing. The cello is one of my favourite instruments so I asked him to include that and also the boy’s very talented so I knew whatever he came up with was going to be something fit! Once I’d heard it, I just fell in love with it and it was very easy to put the lyrics to it and sing.
People always say that you sound like an old soul trapped in a young body. Is this something that you aspired to achieve in your sound or is this just how you are?
Originally I aspired to sound like the people I liked listening to and they tended to be the r n b / soul artists from the 50s and 60s so I think’s what people are referring to when they say I sound like an old soul.
Who are the people that you feel most inspired by?
Personality wise, Gemma Collins!
There seems to be a new resurgence of acts into Neo-soul/Jazz. Who are some of your favourite musicians in the same scene as you?
I don want to put myself in a box when it comes to a ‘musical scene’ because today I might be Neo-soul and tomorrow I might be classical opera, you just don’t know!
Feature created by Tyler Damara Kelly