Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with Foreign Slippers and review of album Farewell to the Old Ghosts

Foreign Slippers by Sam Parr
Foreign Slippers by Sam Parr.

Melding Scandinavian iciness with immaculate story-telling skills, Sweden’s Gabi Froden is the latest songstrel to win my heart. Farewell to the Old Ghosts showcases her gorgeous voice, by turns sweet as sugar and strong as steel. With skills learned in the church choir of her native town of Norrkoping, and then honed on tour singing Tom Petty and Pavement covers with previous bands, now is the perfect time to unleash her new guise as Foreign Slippers. From the soaring melody of Thank the Moon to the yearning of Two People in You and the melancholy of What are You Waiting For… this is an album that you will listen to again and again, as I have done in recent weeks.

ForeignSlippers
How does your worldview affect the way you create music? 
I guess your worldview only really is a worldview if it influence what you do, or it is just a lot of empty opinions. I suppose subject matter and priorities affect the way I make music. So I will write about something I believe is important and I do so while working in a cafe because I believe it is what I am supposed to be doing right now even if it doesn’t pay.

Foreign Slippers by Zyzanna
Foreign Slippers by Zyzanna.

What kind of stories do you write?

I hope my songs are stories of love, loss, resistance and new beginnings. When I write children’s stories I write about creatures or people who I hope could move and amuse both children and adults.

Foreign Slippers by Jacqueline Valencia
Foreign Slippers by Jacqueline Valencia.

What do you remember most from childhood and how has this affected adult life?
I remember the sea and running around on islands on the coast of Sweden. I remember our cabin by the lake and playing cards with grandma and granpa during long light summer nights. I remember drawing in my room and singing while mum  played the piano. There were difficult times too but the things above are the ones that light up my heart and gives me a feeling I want to recreate in my music.


Foreign Slippers
foreign-slippers-by-adopted-design
Foreign Slippers by Adopted Design.

Where did you learn to sing? How else do you create music?
I learned to sing in church and school and when mum played the piano. I write on guitar and piano mainly.
 
Foreign Slippers by EdieOP
Foreign Slippers by EdieOP.

Describe your earlier bands…
They were full of boys who wanted to play their instrument but didn’t want to write or sing so I did that and it was always great fun. They were my best friends, we created something together and I learned a lot.

 
YouTube Preview ImageIt All Starts Now

Why Foreign Slippers?
Because I was drunk when I decided it and then it kind of stuck. The idea is that you can put on shoes depending on what you want to be. I have put on my foreign shoes in the UK. 

ForeignSlippers
What better things are coming your way for 2012?
Hopefully more shows, more travel, more songs to write and more people to meet and befriend.
 
foreign slippers album
Farewell to the Old Ghosts by Foreign Slippers is out now on Izumi Records.

YouTube Preview ImageAvalanche
 

Categories ,Adopted Design, ,Avalanche, ,EdieOP, ,Farewell to the Old Ghosts, ,Foreign Slippers, ,Gabi Froden, ,illustrator, ,It All Starts Now, ,Izumi Records, ,Jacqueline Valencia, ,James Round, ,Norrkoping, ,pavement, ,Sam Parr, ,Swedish, ,Thank the Moon, ,Tom Petty, ,Two People in You, ,What are You Waiting For, ,Zyzanna

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Amelia’s Magazine | An interview with Foreign Slippers and review of album Farewell to the Old Ghosts

Foreign Slippers by Sam Parr
Foreign Slippers by Sam Parr.

Melding Scandinavian iciness with immaculate story-telling skills, Sweden’s Gabi Froden is the latest songstrel to win my heart. Farewell to the Old Ghosts showcases her gorgeous voice, by turns sweet as sugar and strong as steel. With skills learned in the church choir of her native town of Norrkoping, and then honed on tour singing Tom Petty and Pavement covers with previous bands, now is the perfect time to unleash her new guise as Foreign Slippers. From the soaring melody of Thank the Moon to the yearning of Two People in You and the melancholy of What are You Waiting For… this is an album that you will listen to again and again, as I have done in recent weeks.

ForeignSlippers
How does your worldview affect the way you create music? 
I guess your worldview only really is a worldview if it influence what you do, or it is just a lot of empty opinions. I suppose subject matter and priorities affect the way I make music. So I will write about something I believe is important and I do so while working in a cafe because I believe it is what I am supposed to be doing right now even if it doesn’t pay.

Foreign Slippers by Zyzanna
Foreign Slippers by Zyzanna.

What kind of stories do you write?

I hope my songs are stories of love, loss, resistance and new beginnings. When I write children’s stories I write about creatures or people who I hope could move and amuse both children and adults.

Foreign Slippers by Jacqueline Valencia
Foreign Slippers by Jacqueline Valencia.

What do you remember most from childhood and how has this affected adult life?
I remember the sea and running around on islands on the coast of Sweden. I remember our cabin by the lake and playing cards with grandma and granpa during long light summer nights. I remember drawing in my room and singing while mum  played the piano. There were difficult times too but the things above are the ones that light up my heart and gives me a feeling I want to recreate in my music.


Foreign Slippers
foreign-slippers-by-adopted-design
Foreign Slippers by Adopted Design.

Where did you learn to sing? How else do you create music?
I learned to sing in church and school and when mum played the piano. I write on guitar and piano mainly.
 
Foreign Slippers by EdieOP
Foreign Slippers by EdieOP.

Describe your earlier bands…
They were full of boys who wanted to play their instrument but didn’t want to write or sing so I did that and it was always great fun. They were my best friends, we created something together and I learned a lot.

 
YouTube Preview ImageIt All Starts Now

Why Foreign Slippers?
Because I was drunk when I decided it and then it kind of stuck. The idea is that you can put on shoes depending on what you want to be. I have put on my foreign shoes in the UK. 

ForeignSlippers
What better things are coming your way for 2012?
Hopefully more shows, more travel, more songs to write and more people to meet and befriend.
 
foreign slippers album
Farewell to the Old Ghosts by Foreign Slippers is out now on Izumi Records.

YouTube Preview ImageAvalanche
 

Categories ,Adopted Design, ,Avalanche, ,EdieOP, ,Farewell to the Old Ghosts, ,Foreign Slippers, ,Gabi Froden, ,illustrator, ,It All Starts Now, ,Izumi Records, ,Jacqueline Valencia, ,James Round, ,Norrkoping, ,pavement, ,Sam Parr, ,Swedish, ,Thank the Moon, ,Tom Petty, ,Two People in You, ,What are You Waiting For, ,Zyzanna

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Amelia’s Magazine | An Interview with Mina Tindle and Review of Debut Album Taranta

Mina Tindle 'To Carry Many Small Things' by Gilly Rochester
Mina Tindle ‘To Carry Many Small Things’ by Gilly Rochester.

Mina Tindle Taranta by Chloe Giordano
Mina Tindle’s Taranta by Chloe Giordano.

French folk pop singer Mina Tindle has a deceptively girly voice: sweet and high. But don’t be fooled: the songs on her debut album Taranta come with strong sentiments and instantly hummable melodies whilst videos reveal her to be a saucy minx. From the jaunty tones of To Carry Small Things to the softly rolling guitar pickings of Echo and the minimal chords of Henry, the whole album is a very individual delight. And her story is an inspiring one indeed.

Mina Tindle by Jamie Wignall
Mina Tindle by Jamie Wignall.

How long have you been singing, and how did it all start? What has your musical journey to this point been?
I have always been singing in a way, because there are some great singers in my family. So I have been surrounded with voices all my life. Then some of my friends had bands, and invited me to sing along with them (Toy Fight, Orouni…). Step by step, I started writing songs of my own and recorded them at home. Then I released in 2009 a 7” with Sauvage Records, a French small and great Indie label. After that, I focused for years in the recording of Taranta, my first LP that just came out.
 
YouTube Preview Image
What do you think of the current contemporary French music scene? Do you feel a part of it or do you think most of your influences come from elsewhere and if so where?
I am not an expert of the current French scene. Still, I really love the work of bands like Francois and the Atlas Mountains, Arlt, Bertrand Belin, Maison Neuve, etc… But I have always been listening to different kinds of music; from American Indie pop to Brazilian music.
 
mina tindle by Nathalie Sanchez
Mina Tindle by Nathalie Sanchez.

Mina Tindle by Jamie Wignall
Mina Tindle by Jamie Wignall.

You also have Spanish roots – how did you come to be in France, and what have you kept of this part of your background?
I was born and raised in France. But a part of my family still lives in Spain. I need to go there to feel at home.  

mina tindle by charlie rallings
Mina Tindle by Charlie Rallings.

How did living in New York colour your creation of music?
I lived my NYC time under the sign of music: I was living above a bar at that time, where they had 3 concerts a night. I also met some great musicians over there and listened to a lot of music. I love the way American people embrace music. There is something really spontaneous about it.

mina tindle pola yell
You self-produced much of your material, how did you learn to do this and do you have any tips for others going down this route?
I did not have the choice at that time. But I had the chance to have met great people who helpt me out a lot with everything.
 
Mina Tindle by Adopted-Design
Mina Tindle by Adopted Design.

What else have you been doing over the two years that it has taken to produce Taranta? And what does the title refer to?
Some part-time jobs here and there, but mostly stressing out about the recordings. I also played a bunch of shows, on my own or with friends. Taranta refers to a traditional dance and music from South Italy. People used to say that women had been bitten by spiders and that explained, supposedly, why they needed to dance to make the poison go out of their body. Which was obviously wrong, but I loved what it says about hysteria and creation.

 minatindle by Franck Loriou
Mina Tindle by Franck Loriou.

What do you most like to sing about?
I wish I could find some answers in music. And it sometimes happens. So basically, I love singing about something true, whether it is love, people, encounters, intuitions, sadness… It is pretty universal in the end.

mina-tindle-by-catherine-askew
Mina Tindle by Catherine Askew.

How did you come up with the name Mina Tindle?
It is a reference to the great movie Sleuth by Joseph L Mankiewicz, don’t ask me more: It’s a really long and not really interesting story.

mina tindle taranta album cover
What are you most excited about doing this year?
I hope to travel a lot with this record. And I am already thinking about a next one.

Taranta will be released on the 28th May on Believe Digital.

Categories ,Adopted Design, ,album, ,Arlt, ,Believe Digital, ,Bertrand Belin, ,Catherine Askew, ,Charlie Rallings, ,Chloe Giordano, ,Echo, ,folk, ,Franck Loriou, ,Francois and The Atlas Mountains, ,french, ,Gilly Rochester, ,Henry, ,interview, ,Jamie Wignall, ,Joseph L Mankiewicz, ,Maison Neuve, ,Mina Tindle, ,Nathalie Sanchez, ,new york, ,Orouni, ,review, ,Sauvage Records, ,Sleuth, ,Spanish, ,Taranta, ,To Carry Small Things, ,Toy Fight

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