Introducing #116 - Her Songs
Let us introduce you to Her Songs, who have just released their new single ‘I Wonder’, the second single to be taken from their new EP ‘Toronto Vol 1’. With band members scattered across the world in places like Denmark, England, New Zealand and the USA, they took a moment to talk to us about how this all works.
Your new track ‘I Wonder’ is out now, can you tell us what the song is about?
During the two weeks we spent together writing the EP, the topic of climate change kept coming up over the dinner table and someone mentioned that a growing number of young teens are already experiencing climate anxiety. From there it only felt natural to write a song from the perspective of youth in the future, asking us what it was like to have the luxurious life that we have now
The band owes their origins to social media, can you tell us the story behind that?
Yes, I think Marie (UK) and Dani (US) sort of “discovered” each other on Instagram through a mutual love for each other’s music and started talking about writing a song together. From there it went from “we should meet up”, to “let’s invite songwriting friends”, to “why not make it a week-long retreat” and it snowballed into what it is now. Instagram is an awesome tool for connecting musicians world-wide.
You all live in different parts of the world, how does that work when writing and recording music?
We all meet up in a new city for a week or two every summer! We find a big air bnb and book flights and get it all done together as quickly as possible. Everything is written and recorded on site. The hard part is when we all go back home and have to organise mixing, promo and release schedules etc.
Due to your different locations, how does a song idea start and finish?
We make sure we’re all in the same place once a year, it would be almost impossible to write long distance with five different songwriters! Once we’re together it usually starts off with establishing a mood and listening to our favourite music over breakfast. Someone will start making a beat while someone else sets up rough chords. Everyone throws in lyric & melody ideas. Then we split up into groups to track vocals and refine the production until we have a song.
What would you say are the key musical influences for the band?
We all listen to a lot of rnb and neo soul, but there’s also a heavy folk and singer/songwriter influence in there too. A few names that come to mind are Madison Ryann Ward, Emily King, Lianne La Havas and Music Soulchild.
This is the second single from your new EP ‘Toronto Vol.1’, how does it differ from your debut EP?
The debut EP was awesome because we started making it within hours of meeting each other for the first time in a new city. So the output was very fresh, keen and raw. That year we had Maddie Jay (CA) with us who came through with a really fresh production style. With the new EP, we had a bit more history and experience behind us so the new music feels a little more refined. We also had a new member Emmavie who brought a heavy London rnb sound that shows through on a lot of the tracks.
Now the track is out there, what next?
We are really hoping for this song to make a statement on the current climate crisis and act as a way for the younger generation to feel understood and listened to. Then, we’ll be looking forward to releasing six more tracks from our time in Toronto