Louise Havel recently spoke to Music Promotions about the places she has travelled, Touring, What makes a good song for her, the new EP and much more, the full interview is below and don’t forget to give her a follow and stream her music on all the usual platforms.
Louise Havell Q&A
1. At what age did you begin singing?
Mmm, I remember teaching my friends the songs I’d written, on the walk to school. So I don’t know when I started singing exactly but songwriting began around aged 10.
2. How long did you spend teaching yourself Guitar and Piano etc?
Ha! I learnt ‘Wild Thing’ on the guitar from my mate at school, and from there I started writing my own songs. I can still play the first one I wrote, it wasn’t that bad actually!
3. From a songwriters point of view, what makes a good song? One that makes you feel. – Happy, sad, joyful, just something that connects you to a part of yourself.
How do you know which songs will make the final cut? It’s generally the ones which write themselves, which flow. The one’s I have to return to and re-work, they tend to get left behind.
Do you have a process with songwriting? Sometimes I walk or cycle, and a song may appear in my head. So I get that down on my phone so that I have the nugget to work with later.
Other times I’m sat at the piano, a melody comes into my head, or a set of chords will sound right – they will be expressing something I’m feeling. And from that I will play the progression repeatedly, getting into the emotion and forming the song and structure from there.
Where have been some of your favourite places to write songs?
Often if I’m travelling, it could just be a trip somewhere in the UK, but a change of environment which shifts my perspective or shifts something within myself. That seems to allow melodies to arise, feelings to emerge and be expressed.
My other favourite place is this very special piano at my studio. There’s a lot of history on that piano, a lot of great songs have been written on it. It sounds silly, but I feel a real affinity with it, like it speaks to me and I to it. Sounds odd, but that’s how I feel!
4. Which songwriters today would you love to write with?
Sohn, Georgio Moroder, Ernest Greene, & Nils Frahm (I’m always singing melodies on top of his beautiful piano playing)
5.Who inspires you musically?
Stevie Wonder – his energy jumps out to you through his music & his understanding of arrangement. Equally Nile Rogers.
Joni Mitchell & Kate Bush for the honesty within their lyrics, and their willingness to explore with melody and arrangement.
Arca – I love her boundary-breaking approach to production, she’s so clever
Chillwave generally – that’s my day-dreaming go-to.
6. You are very well travelled, where have been some of your favourite places you have been?
Nepal for sure. Spirituality is an intrinsic part of the framework within people’s lives there, and that shapes the atmosphere. Obviously like any place there are troubles, but there’s a peacefulness or gentleness that pervades. That and the Himalayas combined just makes it a particularly special place.
California was a wonderful place to live, as long as I didn’t think about the socio-racial–political state of things. As a lifestyle I was lucky to enjoy the good aspects of living there – the sun, the sea, the mountains, the desert – it’s just such a spectacular country in that respect. And the weather and the landscape offered me a freedom that differed to my experience in the UK. I’m still very much in love with that land.
7. What is the story behind your current single ‘Everything’s Gone’?
This song was inspired by a homeless man I saw on the streets of London. He had a quiet sadness about him, a story to tell. So I just got to wondering what his story was. It’s not a comment on homelessness necessarily, more a story of how lives evolve, how we can lose things so easily by one turn or another. Regret.
Production-wise, the opening is influenced by Blues music; such a powerful form of song that conveys emotion so strongly, and of course in its history is associated with pain and loss. So I guess I was trying to convey that sense of sadness and longing by utilising those voices in the intro in that way.
Throughout the track there’s a steam pump rolling along, and banjos come in later in the track. I was thinking about Blues music again and its history in the Deep South, the railroad building. That’s what I pictured in my head as the production began to unfold.
8. Can you tell us more about your EP ‘Shooting With Lives’?
I’ve always loved exploring music production and writing this EP I felt driven to go deeper with that, experiment a little more with techniques. I also enjoyed exploring writing styles here; some of them are songs in the more traditional sense – they tell a story, have a beginning, middle & end. But some of them don’t follow that structure, they are looser, improvised or playing with samples of my voice.
Looking back I realised many of these songs are about things outside of my inner world – they are about war, other people’s lives, politics, climate change. I often write songs from my own personal experiences but this EP was definitely more outward-looking.
9. Do you have any plans for touring or summer festivals etc?
I’m currently getting some dates in the bag.
10. Final messages?
I’m so grateful to be putting this music out. Sounds like an odd thing to say as I was the one who put it out there! But what I mean is I don’t take the experience of writing and releasing music for granted. Being able to write & record is so precious to me – without it a whole part of me is missing. And being able to share my music with others is just incredible.
Any Final Messages?
Thank you for listening to my music!
THE E.P. ON SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/album/0ionzkESTvdylmrnjmdSxP?si=69_qiHgNQXuhZoBk5aPo1g
