Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?
I guess I usually feel the rush to create when there is an emotional overflow. For me, mostly, the tension of disenchantment triggers the mechanic as I try to re-enchant my own world. I feel like stimulating creativity gets the psyche flowing. It's like a breather in your brain. I love to use music to create unknown landscapes, other worlds I can go to wander. Like everyone else gently mad, I have millions of ideas flying by. And then only a couple get materialized, thank god!
For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work?
I think it's all imprinted and dancing in your cells; the landscapes, the emotions, the poetry you've fed your mind and body with through the years. I feel like they naturally shape what you create. For Emotional Eternal, the process started in a cathartic momentum, a kind of spiritual experience. From there, I think, I did envision the clear idea of a simple and essential turn in the elaboration of this album. It was probably a counter-reaction to the previous album's delirium. I do have sonic visions for sure and then sometimes it happens or it doesn't Sometimes reality transcends the imaginary, like the strings on Alma - the Voyage for example, When Josephin Runsteen recorded the strings guided by Fredrik Swanh and Reine Fiske without me, it just surpassed my expectations, resembling something like felicity.
What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?
I can say for sure that I always want to create space for chance to happen. But this time, only into very structured frames of time. It actually worked out being as inspiring if not more for us to have a sort of time guardrail. But we still worked madly to make it sound as natural as though it had come about by chance. We found an equilibrium on Emotional Eternal.
Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?
Yes of course, I have been obsessing about my vocal sound settings from the debut album onward. I actually had to record all my vocals into the mac microphone to use that effect on my computer instead of using Swahn's great mics. He wasn't that happy about it but we always adapt to each other's oddities. In the studio it was coffee and a lot of smoking for me. Swahn makes his studio very cozy with all his Swedish tricks. Reine has his favorite music baths to get in the right moods.
When do the lyrics enter the picture? Where do they come from? Do lyrics need to grow together with the music or can they emerge from a place of their own?
I think for me it mostly comes from the rhythm and flow of the song. When it's a lot of words, syncopated, lyrics come easier from the French source. When it's a floaty melody, in English. But I love the mystery with languages. I think each language has its poetry and it's so strange that you still feel the emotion even if you don't get the lyrics. I get that feeling with Özdemir Erdoğan's songs in Turkish. I later read the translation and realized why they were resonating with me so much.
From: https://15questions.net/interview/melodys-echo-chamber-shares-her-creative-process/page-1/
