Inspired #373 - Gita Buhari
Trip-hop soul duo Gita Buhari have just released their new EP ‘Blood Lily’, along with latest single ‘Black Water’.
The new single, which is pulled directly from their forthcoming EP ‘Bloody Lily’, continues in their idiosyncratic blend of trip-hop, soul, shoegaze and electronica. Whilst their previous single ‘I Used To Blame Others’ is a wistful and radiant journey through learning to accept oneself, ‘Black Water’ tilts to the other end of the spectrum with gut-punching bass, driving drums which are lifted by Gita’s soothing vocal.
With darker inclinations and heavier sounds balanced with quiet and dreamy moments of otherworldly solace, ‘Black Water' embodies the characteristics we can expect to hear from the rest of the band’s EP.
They took a moment to talk to us about the inspirations behind their music.
Who are your top three musical inspirations and why?
Lyrically Gita derives a lot of inspiration from artists like Laura Marling, Arlo Parks and Eefje de Visser. The main reason being that their lyrics have an honest fragility that transcends genre and focuses on storytelling. Musically I'm inspired by a vast range of musicians among others King Krule, Portishead and Madlib. But honestly it's incredibly difficult for me to answer this question without naming 30+ names. But 3 names that directly inspired the writing process of the EP are the ones I just named. The main reason being that all three of these artists/bands incorporate a diverse pallet of influences and sounds to create a cohesive blend that makes their own sound so distinct.
Is there a certain film that inspires you and why?
A Filmmaker I've watched and admired a lot is Andrei Tarkovsky. The main reason is his way of playing with images and themes to create visual poetry. If I had to name one film by him it would be Stalker.
What city do you find the most inspiring and why?
With the danger of coming over as cliche I would have to say my current hometown of Rotterdam. There is a lot of diversity and ruggedness that I really appreciate and helped form our sound and being.
Who is the most inspiring person to you and why?
The first person that comes to mind is my grandfather from my Dutch side. He was the only other creative in the entire family and was a painter, sculptor and illustrator. Being an artist in the poverty stricken 1950’s after the war must have been incredibly challenging. Even though I don't have any active memories of him because he passed away when I was 5 I’ve always been incredibly inspired by his life story and his work.
What were your inspirations when writing your new track?
When writing this track I was listening to a lot of Slowdive and Mazzy Star, so I was really into the dreamy vocal sound. I wanted to combine this dreaminess with a more in your face type percussion/synth sound and try to push the limits of creative cohesion.
How would you like to inspire people?
Honestly it would already be awesome if listening to these tracks would inspire someone to pick up an instrument and write their own music!
