Estère: Grace, Beauty & Control (Interview)

Wellington-based producer, songwriter and performer Estère has just released her new album, My Design, On Others’ Lives.

The title reflects the fact that this is, in Estère’s mind, a double album, with the first six tracks having originally been released last year, and the additional half dozen now completing the album.

The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda spoke to Estère on a beautiful NZ morning just as she was about to set off on a short tour and, as it turns out, just as she was about to shoot a video for another new project she is involved with. To learn more, listen, or read on…

Click here to listen to the interview with Estère:

 

Or, read a transcription of the interview here:

MD: I’m surprised that we’re doing this so early in the day! Are you an early-morning person?

E: Not at all. Quite the opposite. But I have – I have had reason to get up early this morning because I have a video that I’m doing today, and I had another interview as well, earlier.

MD: Oh, I see. Which track are you doing the video for?

E: I’m actually doing this video for a collaboration I’m on, which is a project called The Adults? I don’t know if you –

MD: Oh, The Adults, yes!

E: Yeah! So, um, that’s the filming. Actually not related to my album, but um, yeah. That’s right.

MD: I’ve actually heard some of the tracks from that. It sounded pretty cool and very different from the other The Adults thing that happened a few years ago.

I do like doing videos. As long as I have… creative input. I wouldn’t want to go to a video where I didn’t know what was going on.

E: Yes, yep, very different.

MD: So what was your involvement with it?

E: I’m just – on a song. With Jon Toogood and JessB. Yeah! So, that’s my involvement with that project.

MD: And did you write any of the songs? Or are you just adding some vocals, or, what are you doing?

E: I wrote this song with Jon. And Jess wrote her own verses  So um, I wrote the song with Jon, and then Jess is kind of like – wrote her own part to it.

MD: And what was it like writing with Jon?

E: It was really fun.

MD: Did you guys know each other before this?

E: Nope.

MD: Nope?

E: Nope. I didn’t know Jess either, didn’t know either of them. And I’ve actually never met Jess, so… it’s all kind of just like, you know, collaborating from afar.

MD: So did you co-write over emails or something, or did you actually sit down with each other and do it?

E: Jon and I got together when he was in Wellington, and wrote the song. Um, just over a – it was just a day, a day’s session that we wrote it in, just with ourselves—just by ourselves.

MD: So you’re shooting a video today – do you like doing videos?

E: Yeah, I do! I do like doing videos. As long as I have… creative input. I wouldn’t want to go to a video where I didn’t know what was going on. That would make me very uncomfortable.

MD: And – just in general, judging from the cover of your new album, I get the feeling that image is kind of important to you, and how you present yourself. How much effort and time and thought do you put into that?

E: Well, to be honest, a lot of images that I have, have been the work of great photographers as opposed to myself, or like, great stylists. I just seem to be lucky in the sense that the people I’ve collaborated with are very talented in that area. I mean I do have a love of certain things – I mean, I love old knitted jerseys, and I love blue, and I like asymmetricality. So those are the kind of stuff I gravitate towards. But I wouldn’t say that I’m like, you know – very keyed up with fashion or whatnot. I just have certain aesthetics that I naturally gravitate towards, and I always follow my instincts with that.

MD: Well, the album cover is pretty cool looking.

E: Thank you!

I have two of the orchids that Grace Jones gave to me pressed in a book, still, and they’re still drying. And then I’m going to frame them.

MD: What was the story behind that? How did you come up with the concept?

E: Well, that was once again, collaborating with a great photographer. His name is Ross Brown. And we did an impromptu shoot where it wasn’t…  It was kind of like, we’d meet and he’d offer to take some photos of me, which was really, really kind and generous of him. And so we did a shoot, and his wife did the stylizati—was the stylist, and… [dog barks] Dog’s being noisy, sorry. Argh! And she… so we all just kind of got together one day and just had fun! And that ended up being one of the images that was taken as part of the shoot. And I was like, “I love it! Album cover!” And he’s – as I said, an incredible photographer. Most… all of his photos are amazing. Yeah.

MD: Very cool. And it reminded me – when I saw it, it reminded me of a Grace Jones album cover, not one specifically, just one that she might do, and then I realized that on tour, you’d opened for her a few times, so …

E: Yeah. Just once. Yeah. …Oh, yes! Thank you! That’s a huge compliment. I just think she’s incredible. And I did. I opened for her Queenstown show this year. And that was a real delight, very nerve-wracking.

MD: Did you have a Close Encounter of the Grace Kind at all? Did you get a chance to meet her, or see her in action?

E: I did! I met her after her show. At like 2am. And she … gave me a glass of champagne and a bouquet of orchids, that I subsequently tried to preserve for much longer than their lifetime. And then I pressed them. So I have two of the orchids that Grace Jones gave to me pressed in a book, still, and they’re still drying. And then I’m going to frame them. Heh!

MD: You didn’t try to preserve the champagne, did you?

E: No. That… that went out.

MD: Have you seen the film about Grace Jones, it came out recently?

E: Yeah. Bloodlight and Bami, is it?

MD: That’s the one.

E: Yeah I have. Yup.

MD: What did you think of that?

E: I was like… I was just struck by how, unlike most of the other biopics I’ve seen, it wasn’t – didn’t feel like it was about… promotion. It felt like it was very honest. And I just admired her the more for it. Lately I’ve been watching some of the documentaries on Netflix, which have been really great, but which have always ended up in some kind of promotional slant or angle. So, yes. Yeah. I dunno… I just thought it was great.

MD: Can you see yourself having a film made about you at some point down the line?

E: Not really!

MD: Well, you never know.

E: Yeah, you never know. I mean I suppose, to some degree, I think everyone has something … like, someone could choose to write an autobiography about themselves. In fact, my grandpa – I’ve offered to um, cause he’s been writing this massive notebook … for the last, like, ten years, about his autobiography and also our family history. But I’ve offered to type it up for him, because… it’s just in a big notebook and I don’t know what anyone’s going to do with that… and his scribbly handwriting. So, in that sense I suppose…

MD: So, let’s talk about the album a little bit. It’s being promoted as a double album, even though it’s twelve songs, which is a normal album size, but it’s because the first six songs were released last year, and then the second six were added this year, so do you see them as two separate parts?

I’m not a control freak. But I’m, I’d say I’m… artistically assertive.

E: Um, I see them as two separate parts, divided by a comma. So that’s as separate as I see them, but they are one body of work. But, um, yeah, I… The fact that the first part was released last year made sense to me, so… yeah!

MD: And was there an overall … overarching plan as to why you decided to release them like that? Or did you just want to get the music out when it was ready?

E: Yeah, there wasn’t a huge masterminded plan, but to be honest with most of my releases, it’s a mixture of random and thought-out. The first time I released something I just put it online for download. And this time I did want to get the music out there and I also thought that the body of work was so content and context-heavy, it would be nice to allow the songs to have space. And so I decided to chapter it out, you know, because… there’s so many narratives, that I thought it would be… you know.

MD: Yes. I love the narrative around the jellyfish.

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=957667480 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=2283595179]

E: Thank you!

MD: It’s fantastic. And was that drawn from experience? Have you had an unfortunate encounter at all?

E: With jellyfish? Yeah. Well, um, where I was living at the time, Evans Bay… well, Hataitai, which is next to Evans Bay, there are always schools of jellyfish that wash up on the beach. And I remember when I was younger, we went there and um, I had a nasty encounter with the jellyfish. And they’re always—at that time of the year, they’re just floating in the water when you walk past. And so I was literally walking past Evans Bay when I came up with that song. Cause I often go for walks to come up with my lyrics. And that’s how that narrative started.

I wanted it to be more nuanced than what I’d done before, I wanted it to be a little bit more freely structured.

MD: And are you a control freak?

E: Ummmmmm….. No. I’m not a control freak. But I’m, I’d say I’m… artistically assertive.

MD: I like that.

E: There are definitely areas where I … where I assert my vision quite clearly, but it’s not to say that I am not open to collaborating and working with others. Yeah. Yeah.

MD: As far as you’re working – you did all the production as well as the singing and the writing of the songs, is that right?

E: Yes.

MD: Did you have a distinct idea of what you wanted this album to sound like, as far as the production on it, when you went into it?

E: Not really, except for the fact that I wanted the production to be… I wanted it to be more nuanced than what I’d done before, I wanted it to be a little bit more freely structured, I wanted there to be more sections that were different from each other. And I wanted there to be surprises. Yep. I definitely wanted there to be surprises. And I wanted the presence of interesting sounds, and samples to also… kinda permeate the songs in subtle, surreptitious ways.

But um, I think for each song, each song took a life of its own on, and it wasn’t necessarily to do with the song before or after it. I used reference tracks in the production because I was kind of coming – I was a little bit … uh, hold on, I’m trying to think of a saying, but I can’t think of it!

MD: That’s alright.

E: The sound of water when it came to production. So I used reference tracks to give me ideas as to what components might work.

MD: When you say reference tracks, do you mean other folks’ tracks? Or tracks that you crea—

E: Yes.

MD: So what kind of tracks did you use as reference?

E: Huge medleys. So depending on the song… each song would have maybe one, two, or three different songs that I would reference for it? An example is Rent, I used… the Lykke Li song, I Follow Rivers, which has this like – really cool sampled marimba in it, as a reference. And I used Missy Elliott. And I also used, I think, Fleet Foxes for that song. So it was a real mashup of influence. But just aspects of music that I might like, that I would think: “How can I apply some of these components into this song?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww38Bz7mBGg

MD: I mean, Missy Elliott mixed with Fleet Foxes is definitely an eclectic mix. Is that indicative of what you listen to when you’re listening to music?

E: Yes, absolutely. I’m very, very eclectic in terms of my musical interests. Very eclectic. Yeah.

MD: And what happens when you’re listening? Does listening to music inspire you to make your own? Do you suddenly go – “Oh! I’ve gotta go and write something!” after hearing something, or…

E: Definitely! That option happens. Either that, or I’m inspired to… dance. I love dancing to music like, just, kind of, at home. Yeah. Just break into dance.

Click here to read the 13th Floor review and view photos of Estère’s show at Auckland’s Cassette Nine.