RELEASE DAY Q&A: ISLA NOON
DRAWING ON THE EVOCATIVE HIGH OF POP THROUGH EXPANSIVE SYNTHS AND GRIPPING MELODIES, THE MUSIC OF ARTIST ISLA NOON ISN’T EASILY DEFINED BY GENRE LABELS BUT IS CENTRED BY A DEPTH OF EMOTION THAT CUTS TO THE CORE.
CONGRATS ON YOUR LATEST TRACK ‘I NEED TO GO HOME’ THAT YOU JUST RELEASED TODAY! CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE MEANING OF THIS TRACK AND THE INSPIRATION BEHIND IT?
Thank you! ‘I Need To Go Home’ paints a picture of a night out where I feel like I’m in the wrong place, hanging out with people I don’t relate to, and totally preoccupied with just quietly slipping out the door and getting in an Uber. More than anything, it’s a metaphor for times I’ve fallen into people-pleasing mode and stopped listening to what feels right. I wrote this song at a time that felt very pivotal for me. I just reached a stage where I couldn’t, and no longer wanted to, ignore that nagging gut feeling that tells me when it’s time to go a different way.
WHAT WAS THE WRITING AND PRODUCTION PROCESS LIKE FOR IT?
I worked with my great friend and collaborator Maude Minnie Morris on this track. We were in the studio and I think we had some spare time so we just started building up this idea. We created the bones of the verse, pre-chorus and chorus production, which I took home and wrote over. I wrote the rest of the track and brought it back in to show Maude the next week, and that’s when we built up the rest of the production under the topline. The lyric and melody writing came incredibly quickly for me, definitely one of the fastest writing experiences I’ve ever had. In an hour or two I had the song laid out. It was one of those crazy cathartic - ‘I didn’t know I needed to write this song until I did” - moments.
WE’RE ABSOLUTELY LOVING THE MUSIC VIDEO! HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE CONCEPT OF IT AND WHAT WAS YOUR MAIN HIGHLIGHT FILMING IT?
The concept for the video was a collaborative effort with the team at Umbrella Creative. It originally involved some road trip plans but those got shelved with the lockdown here in Auckland, so we got creative and managed to stay true to intent despite the setbacks.
The clip flashes between two contrasting locations, one being a night-time cityscape with rich colours. The other location symbolises ‘home’, a place to which I have retreated and can move slowly and contemplatively through. I wanted to capture the symbolic nature of the song, in that ‘home’ wasn’t so much a physical location but rather a more honest relationship with myself.
The main highlight of the video experience was our guerilla-style night shoot in Auckland city. We shot super quickly and just dove head first into performance in very public places - we definitely got a few head turns (and close encounters with car park security guards).
HOW DID YOU FIRST GET STARTED IN SINGING AND MAKING MUSIC?
I’ve loved music and singing since I was very young, putting on little concerts for my Mum or parents’ friends when they came over (yes, we all knew a kid like this, and it was me haha). I was a very shy kid but never when it came to singing or performing for people. I started writing little songs around age 8. At 10, I began learning to play guitar and did my first primary school musical, which is where I first received a lot of positive reinforcement for maybe being “good” at this. Learning guitar really enabled me to start playing the songs I was writing in my head, and the more I wrote and performed, the more I knew that this was what I wanted to dedicate my time and energy to.
LOVE THAT! DO YOU HAVE MORE MUSIC ON THE WAY SOON?!
Yes! I have an EP on the way in 2022!
EXCITING! WHO WOULD YOU SAY ARE YOUR BIGGEST INSPIRATIONS IN MUSIC?
Growing up I had a real range of influences, mainly because my parents had such a variety of CD’s at home that I used to go through. Mostly 60’s/70’s folk singer/songwriters, as well as 70’s and 80’s pop and disco. I properly fell in love with the sound and textures of synthesizers when I was a teenager, and some artists that define that time for me are Robyn, Kim Carnes and Queen. An artist that has been a big inspiration in a music industry sense is Taylor Swift. She is such a brilliant business person and creative mind, and I’ve taken a lot of inspiration following her career as I went from dreaming about my own to now building it in my own way.
WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BIGGEST LESSONS YOU’VE LEARNT AS AN ARTIST SO FAR?
So many! A big one would be to always back my ideas fully, because although some people in music have the best of intentions, it’s easy to have your vision overridden if you don’t actively advocate for it at every step, and know how to communicate it effectively. Also, that contracts and record deals and all these historically necessary milestones for artists just really aren’t necessary for everyone. But if you decide that path is right for you or you have been presented with a contract, getting a lawyer to look it over is 10000% worth the money.
LASTLY, IF YOU COULD SAY ONE THING TO EVERY PERSON IN THE WORLD, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I almost can’t comprehend the scale of this, but I guess it would be to try to accept yourself as you are today, and be kind to yourself and in the boundaries you set with others. Not in a self-indulgent or permissive of hurtful behaviour kind of way, more in that quiet self-respecting way that can heal places where you may have been made to feel less-than. You are worthy of your own acceptance and kindness today and every day.
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