In Conversation With #109 - Winona Oak
Swedish alt-pop artist Winona Oak has just released her new EP - ‘SHE’ - which is a collection of tracks that show off her true singing talents. With the ability to beautifully haunt your ears with her fragile but yet emotional vocals. She took a moment to talk to us about poetry, her hometown of Solleron and how this EP came together.
Hey Winona, how are you? So EP ‘SHE’ is out now, how does it feel to have it out there in the world? During a strange time for the creative industry.
Hi there, I’m pretty good. How about you? Aggh it feels so surreal to finally share this EP with the world. I’m sooooo excited but at the same time it’s a bit strange being creative in such uncertain and rough times. Nobody really knows what the future holds and that’s scary, but I think that creating art is one of the most beautiful ways to vent your feelings and thoughts. All the songs on the ‘SHE’ EP were written before corona happened, but I still feel like they speak to the world situation that we’re in right now. I really hope that someone out there will find comfort and love in my music.
Does the title hold a meaning to you?
The ‘SHE’ EP is named after my track ‘SHE’. I think it tells you a lot about the femininity and boldness that this EP contains.
How does this EP differ to your debut ‘Closure’, that came out earlier this year? What are the key themes and influences on this EP?
As a result of being older and wiser while creating this EP, I feel like ‘SHE’ is braver and not afraid to speak her mind. It’s a collection of songs that talks about different subjects that are important to me - mental health, equality, spirituality etc. I feel like ‘SHE’ is the big sister to ‘Closure’.
You grew up as a trained horse acrobat, and come from quite a musical family - what are your earliest musical memories?
Yeah, I kind of grew up on a horseback. I did lots of different things like dressage, horse jumping and vaulting - which is gymnastics and dance on horseback. But it sounds way cooler to say that I was a “horse acrobat” hah. I think one of my earliest musical memories was when my grandma sang a Swedish song to me by a magic river in the woods. It was a warm summer day and I could hear the birds sing along with the rippling water.
From a young age, you have always written poetry - do you have any favourite poets?
Tomas Tranströmer, Patti Smith and Leonard Cohen.
You come from a place called Solleron, otherwise known as the Island of the Sun - what is this place like?
It’s a beautiful island in the middle of the Nordic forests in Sweden. One if my favourite places on earth - very cold and dark during the winter but oh so beautiful. When you’re growing up in such a small place like this there’s a lot of time to build your own fantasy world. As a child I loved to be one with the nature where there’s no limitations and no one telling you how things should or shouldn’t be like. I barely had any TV channels growing up so I would just spend most of my time reading books and writing stories. I’m really grateful for that. I think those years of having the freedom to explore and not having to worry about what people were gonna think of me (aka social media); that spirit is still part of my creativity today.
Do you have a favourite lyric on the EP? If so, which one and why?
I can’t choose a favourite. All the songs are so different it’s almost impossible to compare them. Do you have a favourite lyric that speaks to you?
You can Listen to Winona Oak’s ‘SHE’ EP here https://winonaoak.lnk.to/sheep