Amelia’s Magazine | The Amazon: Can Fashion Save the Rainforest? A talk with Bia Saldanha


Illustration by Charlotte Hoyle

“We are consumers, capsule addicted. We need to ask ourselves – this t-shirt, this where did it come from? A devastated place with devastated people?” – Bia Saldanha, health 28 July 2011??

Through Bia’s hesitant English – impressively peppered with the vocabulary of her respective fields – there was a message, a mantra, that seemed to resonate from her core with every sentence she spoke. The message? That as people, as a united force of humanity, we must end the selfishness, stop the excuses and start acting on the fact that our Earth cannot bear the brunt of our reckless lifestyle choices much longer. ??I was sitting at the far back of the still, woody space of The Hub, King’s Cross, looking on at Bia, eco journalist Lucy Siegle and novelist Ed Siegle’s discussion unraveling.

If there’s one thing I learnt on that warm Thursday evening, it’s that when a lady like Bia Saldanha gives out such a message from across the room, you sit up straight, strain your ears and listen. Living in the heart of the Amazon rainforest for 20 years definitely grants you a credible opinion on our Earth’s complex ecosystem and how it can be saved. And it only takes a minute or two of hearing Bia speak on the subject to get a sense of just how special she really is. A Brazilian woman who’s dedicated her years to both supporting the indigenous rubber farmers of Amazonia and aiding the battle against deforestation, Bia traded in a life running a stylish clothing boutique in Rio de Janeiro to live in the rainforest with her family and help the Seringueiros (the native rubber tappers) overcome their defeat by mainstream industrial production.


Illustration by Michelle Urvall Nyrén

But why should we care? Why should we listen? We all know of the damage upon the rainforest through mass deforestation and, for example, that Brazil lost nearly 150,000 square kilometers of forest—an area larger than Greece – between 2000 and 2006 alone. But the basis of why we should think again before discarding these past few lines as just another statistic lies in the words of Lucy Siegle; that we are in “the last chance saloon” when it comes to saving the rainforest. And, to further quote the fabulous Bia,

“You can’t imagine how strong, powerful and important the rainforest is if you haven’t been there”.


Illustration by Claire Kearns

With a background in the fashion industry, Bia began her pioneering work after a trip into the Amazon to search for new materials for her clothing line. She described how she found the indigenous rubber tappers storing their goods in traditional waterproof sacks. She then relayed her excitement of noticing how the sack material looked remarkably like leather when it was, in fact, cotton canvas covered in the extracted rubber from the trees. Bia took the idea for wild rubber “leather” handbags and had hundreds made, all of which completely sold out in the 1992 UN Earth Summit in Brazil. And so her crusade against the mass producers began. ?

The Amazon is, in fact, the only place in the world where rubber trees grow in the wild. When ecological and fair-trade brand Veja began their essential collaboration with Bia in 2007, they were already buying wild rubber from the rubber tappers. Veja are a French brand known for their ultra-cool sneakers and luxe accessories, whose products are sourced and produced solely in Brazil. They now work with Bia and use her independent, direct means of extracting wild rubber to produce their bags and footwear.

VEJA – CAOUTCHOUC SAUVAGE D’AMAZONIE from Veja on Vimeo.

In what can only be seen as a triumph in the fight for sustainable fashion, Bia Saldanha has also worked with Hermès, using her ‘vegan leather’ made of wild rubber to collaborate on an accessories collection for the luxury French fashion house.

Despite the dedication and ground-breaking work that’s been recognized the world over, however, Bia hasn’t received the support she justly deserves. In the discussion, she spelt out the level of sheer power and influence that Brazil’s central bank has over what is and isn’t permitted to function in the country. After struggling against many financial disagreements, Bia even faced being shut down completely, despite the continuous funding to unsustainable companies and projects, including the vast amount of cattle ranches that make up 60-70% of deforestation in the Amazon today.?

“I’ve now devoted 16 years to this,” said Bia. “It’s more than a business; it’s a cult.”


Illustration by Charlotte Hoyle

It’s not that she aims to trade with the giant companies, however. “There’s not enough wild rubber to supply the big companies. We don’t want to trade with anyone in particular but we do want to ask those companies, where does your rubber come from? These companies are just looking for marketing, they don’t care.”

Ed Siegle, author of new book Invisibles which is partially set in Brazil, contributed stating “With a lot of these issues, we’re all aware of them but we don’t do anything about it.” Lucy intervened – “That’s because we don’t know what the options are.”

To me, Lucy Siegle made an invaluable contribution to the event. She spoke of writing her latest book ‘To Die For” (Harper Collins; 2010) which she described as “engaging with the producer’s story”, and how she felt about the “contrast between her and the mainstream industry”, recounting fashion as a “vacuum that we know nothing about”. “We are now so distant from the producer,” she said “that the degradation of the consumer, the producer and the place is now inevitable.”


Photographs courtesy of Veja

She went onto ask the frustrating question, something I’d never put my mind to, of “Who are these people telling us what to wear? Telling us to buy this fast, discount fashion?” She feels that we are “told to shop for the economy”. Her answer to this has been to find a few brands that she can “rely on”.

The discussion moved on to the debate of ‘design and production – which should come first?’. Lucy Siegle, naturally, spoke in favour of production, upholding it as the healthier method in place of paper designs being sent across the world for the fastest and cheapest production possible. She believes instead that we need to be taking inspiration from the methods of Bia, who at the outset went into the forest – to the source – in search of materials, from which she then created her designs. This, she says, is a solution.


Photographs courtesy of Veja

Bia declares that her long-standing mission is to “protect the rainforest through economic alternatives”. And I say we need more ground-breaking fashion entrepreneurs like her. In the constant clash between nature and human demands, the more Bias we have in the world today, the brighter our future will be.

And with this mantra that seemed to beam from Bia’s every sentence; she most certainly wasn’t aiming it at the big logger companies or sweat shops or factories, definitely not. It’s US she meant. All of us. It’s you who sits right there wearing clothes that you really know nothing about. Someone’s hands, somewhere in the world, grew that cotton and dyed that fabric and stitched that pocket and, thus far, to you in your life it has made no difference. We’re all perpetrators and I’m most certainly one too. But after last Thursday, I’ll definitely be doing two things – reading Lucy Siegle’s book “To Die For” and taking a long, hard look at me and my wardrobe. And may I suggest you do the same.

Categories ,Amazon, ,Amazonia, ,Bia Saldanha, ,brazil, ,Ed Siegle, ,environment, ,ethical, ,fashion, ,Invisibles, ,Lucy Siegle, ,rainforest, ,review, ,Sustainable Fashion, ,Talk, ,The Hub, ,To Die For, ,Veja

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Amelia’s Magazine | Top illustrator Quentin Blake shares 5 tips for creating great illustrations

Quentin Blake by Jenny Robins

Sketch of Quentin Blake at the Royal Festival Hall by Jenny Robins. All images below copyright Quentin Blake.

As one of the most iconic and respected artists of line drawing the world has ever seen, Quentin Blake is in a unique position to explore the possibilities of what can be done with drawing. And I think drawing is the key word here – as we were guided through examples of work that Blake has produced for galleries, hospitals, building projects and charities. Despite being recontextualised on walls, on giant billboards and awnings there was still no doubt that these were drawings not murals.

Quentine Blake - large scale printing

Awning to cover up building work at St Pancras Station.

The work originally done on a small scale on paper and then blown up to huge proportions or printed on transparent acetate to be transferred to walls, of course keeps that energy and spontaneity that makes them so very Quentin Blake. In this way he can hang on to his strong identity as an illustrator working in many contexts – providing an example for the exciting possibilities that new technology provides for illustrators – Blake says that illustration has ‘inherited what art used to do’ – to enhance and decorate and communicate informally.

Quentine Blake - maternity ward 2

Quentine Blake - Maternity ward 1

Work for a Maternity Ward

In looking at how his various projects have been matched and created for different medical and mental health locations – Blake also gave insight into both illustrators’ instinct for this kind of informal communication – and into the great therapeutic effects the right picture can have in times of stress and pain. Working primarily with the Nightingale Project which works to place music and pictures into hospitals, Quentin’s artworks can teach us a lot about how people are represented in pictures, and what effect that can have on the viewer, whether well or ill. Here’s what I took from this very interesting and informative talk:

* Authenticity and Spontaneity – although happy and eloquent in his analysis of his hospital work now, Blake was fast to point out that he did not plan them meticulously – several series he said came about by accident – and he almost never uses a visual reference – he makes his characters up as he goes along. He is a lesson to developing illustrators to trust their instincts as this is where your most vibrant work comes from.

Quentine Blake - swimming mental health

Work for an Adult Mental Heath Centre

* Fantasy – for a children’s hospital Blake drew fantastical creatures and creations interacting with sick or injured children and doctors – reframing the problems faced by his viewers in a safe and imaginary setting. This is another thing that illustration excels at – combatting the troubles of reality by providing fantastical parallels.

Quentin Blake  - children fantasy

Work for a Children’s Hospital with The Nightingale Project

* Metaphor – similarly Blake’s illustrations of old people climbing trees and getting up to unrealistic mischief for an elderly care centre, and his pictures of people swimming fully clothed for an adult mental health centre reframed the issues faced by his audience metaphorically. For Gordon Hospital, the swimming characters are clearly going about their business, interacting with swimming fish and animals and getting on with life despite being underwater – a perfect fit for mental health as they show ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances – but coping with them.

Quentine Blake - old people fantasy

Work for an Elderly Care Home

* Reality – In contrast the work produced for an eating disorders unit was totally based in reality. As the people who end up there have enough trouble with fantasy and distortion of facts, Quentin said a parallel universe was not useful here. Instead his characters in these pictures try on dresses, feed pigeons, interact with food but don’t focus on it. As always his characters feel real and identifiable.

Quentine Blake  - eating dissorders normal

Work for Vincent Square Eating Disorder Service.

* Agency – In another series for a maternity ward Blake painted more swimming figures – this time naked mothers and babies. As well as providing a calm and happy scene of what was soon to happen – the meeting of mother and child – these pictures illustrate something which is so important in Quentin Blake’s work – agency. These are naked female figures with their own agenda and their priority is connecting with their babies – in each picture the mother and child make eye contact and seem oblivious of the viewer. Unlike the images of naked women we are so used to both in modern media and classic art, there is no male gaze here at all – like all Blake’s characters they have their own believable life, their own agenda, which ultimately, is much more useful an example for any kind of viewer – much better to hold up a mirror of a full life than a posing subject. I think perhaps this is the real fact of what makes Blake’s work so satisfying. And this immediacy is what good illustration is really capable of.

Categories ,Advice, ,AOI, ,Association of Illustrators, ,drawing, ,Eating Disorders Unit, ,Gordon Hospital, ,illustration, ,Jenny Robins, ,Nightingale Project, ,Quentin Blake, ,review, ,Royal Festival Hall, ,St Pancras Station, ,Talk, ,Tell Me a Picture, ,Vincent Square Eating Disorder Service

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Amelia’s Magazine | Announcing: The ACOFI Book Tour. Please join me as I visit some of the UK’s best design shops!

Press Days March 2011-ACOFI
ACOFI at the Forward PR press day in March.

WOO HOOO Grafik magazine have beaten me to an official announcement of dates for my ACOFI Book Tour. But here’s everything you need to know if you would like to join me somewhere in the UK.

The #ACOFI Book Tour
On Tuesday 10th May I will be embarking on a mini book tour across the UK to promote Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration. In case you haven’t visited my website before this is what you need to know about my new book, dosage which is otherwise known as #ACOFI (especially on twitter):

Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration: the Book.
Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration *featuring the very best in ethical fashion design* was published at the end of 2010, approved and is the second publication from Amelia’s House, order the book publishing wing of Amelia’s Magazine. It is a showcase for the work of thirty up and coming fashion illustrators who have interpreted the work of 45 exciting new ethical fashion designers, as well as plenty of good independent design that was first featured online at Amelia’s Magazine.

ACOFI cover facebook event Soma

What I’ll be doing:
I’ll be visiting various wonderful independent art and design shops around the country to talk about the rise of eco fashion, the illustration process and social media for creatives and I will also be offering portfolio crits. I’m hoping to meet lots of creative people en route, so if you think you might like to take part don’t forget to bring your portfolio along with you: personal crits will be free on purchase of both my books at a special tour discount. Not to worry if you can’t bring your portfolio along in the evening though! At some shops I’ll be doing a 24 Hour Crit, so you can come along and talk to me personally the next day if you prefer.

Press Days March 2011-ACOFI

ACOFI illustrators to join me en route, plus more:
I’ll be accompanied at various points by some of the fabulous illustrators featured in my blogs for Grafik this week, and alongside my informal chat there will be lots more creative excitement at each shop: at the Tatty Devine Covent Garden shop participants will be invited to help paint the shop windows and at Tatty Devine in Brick Lane there will be the opportunity to learn how to ice biscuits with Biscuiteers. Not only that but guests will be able to enjoy complimentary organic juices from top juice mixologists Juiceology, fine teas from Lahloo and there will be plates laden with traditional biscuits and cakes for you to munch on. Once again the fabulous folks at Dr. Hauschka will be providing yummy free samples for participants to take away.

Press Days March 2011-ACOFI

Here’s a full list of all the dates – all talks are free but space is limited in some shops so please book where necessary to ensure your place. I’ll be tweeting about my adventures on the #ACOFI hashtag and you can follow me on @ameliagregory. I have also linked to the six associated facebook events. Six of ‘em, oh yea baby. Please do join if you would like to be kept updated about a specific event. Bring on The ACOFI Book Tour.

Tatty Devine in Covent Garden, London: Tatty Devine in Covent Garden 24 Hour Crit and Window Painting on Tuesday 10th May 6-10pm, then continuing into Weds 11th May as part of the 24 Hour Crit.
Tatty Devine blog about the event.
Please book your place here admin@tattydevine.com
Facebook event and Twitter.
44 Monmouth Street, London, WC2H 9EP, 0207 836 2685

The Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh on Tuesday 17th May, 6.30-10pm, no booking necessary. 24 Hour Crit continuing into Wednesday 18th May.
Facebook event and Twitter.
Fruitmarket, 45 Market Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1DF, 0131 226 8181

Castor and Pollux in Brighton on Tuesday 24th May, 6-10pm.
To book your place email: april@castorandpollux.co.uk
Facebook event and Twitter.
165 King’s Road Arches, Lower Prom, Brighton BN1 1NB, 01273 773776

Comma in Oxford on Wednesday 25th May, 6-10pm.
To book your place email: hello@oxfordcomma.co.uk
Facebook event and Twitter.
247 Iffley Road, Oxford, OX4 1SJ, 01865 202400

Soma Gallery in Bristol on Thursday 26th May, 6-10pm, 24 Hour Crit continuing into Friday 27th May. To book your place email: fiona@somagallery.co.uk
Facebook event and Twitter.
4 Boyces Avenue, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 4AA, 0117 973 9838

Tatty Devine in Brick Lane, London: 24 Hour Crit and Biscuit Decorating with Biscuiteers on Tuesday 7th June, 6-10pm, continuing into Wednesday 8th June. Please book your place here admin@tattydevine.com
Facebook event and Twitter.
236 Brick Lane, London, E2 7EB, 0207 739 9191

Read more about my ACOFI launch party in January.
YouTube Preview Image

Reviews of Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration:

Champions the art form and gives a thorough insight into working practices… and it looks stunning, which is not a suprise considering the calibre of the work included. Design Week

Beautiful and informative as each interview and feature takes you on a personal journey, understanding where each artist and designer get their inspiration from and why ethical fashion is important to them. Ecouterre

A coffee-table book with a difference… perfect for dipping in and out of for both artistic and fashion inspiration. The Young Creatives

ACOFI has been featured in many publications including I-D online, Vogue, Digital Arts, Style Bubble, Cent Magazine and The Ecologist to name but a few. Why not click on the links and find out?

You can buy Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration online here. I hope to meet you soon!

Categories ,24 Hour Crit, ,ACOFI, ,Amelia’s Anthology of Illustration, ,Amelia’s Compendium of Fashion Illustration, ,Amelia’s House, ,art, ,Biscuiteers, ,Biscuits, ,Book shops, ,Book Tour, ,Brick Lane, ,brighton, ,bristol, ,cakes, ,Castor and Pollux, ,Cent Magazine, ,Comma, ,Covent Garden, ,design, ,Design Week, ,Digital Arts, ,Dr.Hauschka, ,Eco fashion, ,Ecouterre, ,edinburgh, ,Facebook, ,Forward PR, ,i-D, ,illustration, ,Juiceology, ,Lahloo, ,Lahloo Tea, ,london, ,Oxford, ,scotland, ,Social Media, ,Soma Gallery, ,Style Bubble, ,Talk, ,Tatty Devine, ,the ecologist, ,The Fruitmarket Gallery, ,The Young Creatives, ,twitter, ,vogue, ,Window Painting

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Amelia’s Magazine | Music: Big Deal, New Single Release

thumb
Lia Ices by Avril KELLY
Illustration by Avril Kelly

If I lived alone in a dark stone castle, buy information pills I would make it a priority to listen to Lia Ices. Her notes would float around the turrets and echo through the gaps in the brickwork. You would be able to hear her singing, bringing ‘him’ closer from the meadows and the seas. The strings gently touching the heart, and increasing the speed of the hoofs galloping at an increasingly quickening pace. So beautifully feverish is this music.

As it is, I live in a basement flat in Bristol. Although I did work in a Tudor castle whilst at university and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t stand at the top, look to sea, hair flaying behind me, and feel a certain magic. I’m sure I looked ridiculous/a mess, but there is an at oneness that comes with looking out to the infinity of the sea from up high, it’s filled with an ambition and truth. Also a stark contrast to the steps and blades of tall grass (weeds), I look at from my desk. I’m not implying you need to own a grand sort of graded building to listen to Lia Ices, but her voice is so much more than something to whack on the karaoke on a saturday night, or for a little house shindig. I often get accused of putting on depressing music when people come round to the basement flat, but alas, they are mistaken! But so too am I. This music is not depressing, it is special, not for groups to revel in, red wine tipping on my (cream) carpets. Oh no, this is for wafting.

Lia ices2 by Avril Kelly
Illustration by Avril Kelly

The light notes mix with the heavy use of strings to delicious effect. Classically trained, a graduate of New York’s Tisch School of the Arts, Ices uses her voice together with the instruments with utter ease. A combination of Tori Amos, Enya, Regina Spektor and Sia. The instruments, her voice inclusive, flit between jumpy, feisty to explosions of streaming notes. She has elements of Joni Mitchell to her, filled to the brim with emotion and captivating. New Myth has an almost military sound to it, with trumpets blowing. Ice Wine stops and starts with strings, before unleashing with a ratter of a drum. She has one duet, Daphne, with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, whom I could not think of a better artist for her to be paired with. Their voices together are intensely hypnotic.

The whole album sounds as if it was born in an enchanted forest. A place removed from the evils of the world. The sacred place, where the queen fairy lives in fantasy books. With 70s hinting, billowing sleeves, Kate Bush and Fleetwood Mac, joined, it’s an album of true quality. Lia Ices album, Grown Unknown, is out now on Jagjauwar.


Lia Ices by Avril KELLY
Illustration by Avril Kelly

If I lived alone in a dark stone castle, page I would make it a priority to listen to Lia Ices. Her notes would float around the turrets and echo through the gaps in the brickwork. You would be able to hear her singing, tadalafil bringing ‘him’ closer from the meadows and the seas. The strings gently touching the heart, more about and increasing the speed of the hoofs galloping at an increasingly quickening pace. So beautifully feverish is this music.

As it is, I live in a basement flat in Bristol. Although I did work in a Tudor castle whilst at university and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t stand at the top, look to sea, hair flaying behind me, and feel a certain magic. I’m sure I looked ridiculous/a mess, but there is an at oneness that comes with looking out to the infinity of the sea from up high, it’s filled with an ambition and truth. Also a stark contrast to the steps and blades of tall grass (weeds), I look at from my desk. I’m not implying you need to own a grand sort of graded building to listen to Lia Ices, but her voice is so much more than something to whack on the karaoke on a saturday night, or for a little house shindig. I often get accused of putting on depressing music when people come round to the basement flat, but alas, they are mistaken! But so too am I. This music is not depressing, it is special, not for groups to revel in, red wine tipping on my (cream) carpets. Oh no, this is for wafting.

Lia ices2 by Avril Kelly
Illustration by Avril Kelly

The light notes mix with the heavy use of strings to delicious effect. Classically trained, a graduate of New York’s Tisch School of the Arts, Ices uses her voice together with the instruments with utter ease. A combination of Tori Amos, Enya, Regina Spektor and Sia. The instruments, her voice inclusive, flit between jumpy, feisty to explosions of streaming notes. She has elements of Joni Mitchell to her, filled to the brim with emotion and captivating. New Myth has an almost military sound to it, with trumpets blowing. Ice Wine stops and starts with strings, before unleashing with a ratter of a drum. She has one duet, Daphne, with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, whom I could not think of a better artist for her to be paired with. Their voices together are intensely hypnotic.

The whole album sounds as if it was born in an enchanted forest. A place removed from the evils of the world. The sacred place, where the queen fairy lives in fantasy books. With 70s hinting, billowing sleeves, Kate Bush and Fleetwood Mac, joined, it’s an album of true quality. Lia Ices album, Grown Unknown, is out now on Jagjauwar.


Lia Ices by Avril KELLY
Illustration by Avril Kelly

If I lived alone in a dark stone castle, shop I would make it a priority to listen to Lia Ices. Her notes would float around the turrets and echo through the gaps in the brickwork. You would be able to hear her singing, page bringing ‘him’ closer from the meadows and the seas. The strings gently touching the heart, and increasing the speed of the hoofs galloping at an increasingly quickening pace. So beautifully feverish is this music.

As it is, I live in a basement flat in Bristol. Although I did work in a Tudor castle whilst at university and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t stand at the top, look to sea, hair flaying behind me, and feel a certain magic. I’m sure I looked ridiculous/a mess, but there is an at oneness that comes with looking out to the infinity of the sea from up high, it’s filled with an ambition and truth. Also a stark contrast to the steps and blades of tall grass (weeds), I look at from my desk. I’m not implying you need to own a grand sort of graded building to listen to Lia Ices, but her voice is so much more than something to whack on the karaoke on a saturday night, or for a little house shindig. I often get accused of putting on depressing music when people come round to the basement flat, but alas, they are mistaken! But so too am I. This music is not depressing, it is special, not for groups to revel in, red wine tipping on my (cream) carpets. Oh no, this is for wafting.

Lia ices2 by Avril Kelly
Illustration by Avril Kelly

The light notes mix with the heavy use of strings to delicious effect. Classically trained, a graduate of New York’s Tisch School of the Arts, Ices uses her voice together with the instruments with utter ease. A combination of Tori Amos, Enya, Regina Spektor and Sia. The instruments, her voice inclusive, flit between jumpy, feisty to explosions of streaming notes. She has elements of Joni Mitchell to her, filled to the brim with emotion and captivating. New Myth has an almost military sound to it, with trumpets blowing. Ice Wine stops and starts with strings, before unleashing with a ratter of a drum. She has one duet, Daphne, with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, whom I could not think of a better artist for her to be paired with. Their voices together are intensely hypnotic.

The whole album sounds as if it was born in an enchanted forest. A location removed from the evils of the world. The sacred place, where the queen fairy lives in fantasy books. With 70s hinting, billowing sleeves, Kate Bush and Fleetwood Mac, joined, it’s an album of true quality. Lia Ices album, Grown Unknown, is out now on Jagjauwar.


Big Deal_JonBaker_03smAM
Photo by Jon Baker

They met when he was hired by her mother to teach her to play the guitar. They, about it as in Big Deal: Alice Costelloe and kc Underwood, site a boy and a girl, a blonde and a brunette. They sound like Best Coast, Tennis and Cults wrapped up and swirled up in a hot tub, with the sun shining, bunnies and frogs hopping around the edges. Electric guitar dominates, but doesn’t overpower the combined voices of our protagonists. It’s almost as if the guitar is having a ball, dancing around without them, and they’re looking at it from the skies, singing our story. As Moshi Moshi say: ‘aching harmony’. Costelloe’s voice is nonchalant and sweet, 60s with modern gusto and pout. His is gentle and supportive, a deep backbone, crucial and pleasant. They are steamy, hot and full of either middle distance moodiness or penetrating eye contact into your confused youthful self. I’m thinking they will be perfect for a summer of love and all the elation and despairs it brings. Looking out of the window and simultaneously wishing to take back the last thing and for the next thing to happen. The embracing of the heat’s blurring of judgement, highly ambitious ideas, the sun setting on drama. You can almost feel it in the air can’t you? Brewing.

BIG DEAL

Big Deal‘s single; Talk, is out today on Moshi Moshi records. They have recently signed to Mute Records. Their tour dates can be found here.

Categories ,Alice Costelloe, ,Best Coast, ,Big Deal, ,Cults, ,East London, ,guitar, ,Helen Martin, ,Jon Baker, ,kc Underwood, ,Moshi Moshi Records, ,Mute Records, ,pop, ,Talk, ,Tennis

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Amelia’s Magazine | Carve Every Word: An interview with Best Girl Athlete

Best Girl Athlete Cover
Katie Buchan is the Aberdeen based voice behind new talent Best Girl Athlete, delivering indie pop to your ears in one of the finest packages. It is kind of irrelevant that she is fifteen. Her record speaks for itself. If anything her age just makes you more excited about what in God’s name she will produce in the future as life brings her more experience and knowledge. Carve Every Word, released on Fitlike Records, is her debut and she’s nailed it. Layered over delicate guitar pickings and piano arrangements, Katie’s vocals are dreamy and effortless yet nonetheless powerful as she’s infused them with so much emotion. She’s clearly connected to her music, which is exactly what separates the good artists from the exceptional. Her record is radiant and playful but tender and honest too. She’s singing straight at your heart with words every living soul can relate to.

Best Girl Athlete full length
You’re 15 years old and you’ve just released an incredible debut album. How does that make you feel?
Pretty good, I guess… (Laughs) I mean I didn’t really have any expectations from it so it’s just really great that it has received such positive reviews and praise. I suppose it won’t really sink in until we get to play more live shows out of our home city of Aberdeen to see what kind of reaction the songs get. Hopefully people who have never heard of Best Girl Athlete before will come along and end up buying the album. We have shows in Edinburgh and Glasgow coming up and the chance to play in Europe and possibly America at the end of the year so that will be amazing to see what kind of reaction it gets.

Best Girl Athlete with Dad
What has been the response amongst your friends and at school?
All my friends have been really lovely and very supportive of me being Best Girl Athlete. I feel really lucky to have that network of kindness and support. We made a video for the single ‘Hills’ recently and I had some of my friends involved which was great fun and made me much more relaxed about doing the shoot. But not everything is sunshine and rainbows. I also get hassle about it at school. I think this is the reality of anyone who follows an alternative path which I didn’t really expect. Aside from that, it’s actually quite funny as a handful of my teachers have started asking me about it because of blogs or newspaper articles they’ve read. I even saw my English teacher with a Best Girl Athlete badge on, which was weird but cool.


Video for Leave It All Behind.

You work alongside your father, Charley, what’s that like? Has it made you any closer?
I don’t really think of it as working with my Dad, we just do what we do and that’s that. It has definitely made us closer than we would have been if we’d never become involved musically together though. I now spend a lot more time with him and it’s really helpful to work alongside him as he knows me really well and knows when to push me and when to let me take a step back. He’s actually really easy going which has certainly made being in Best Girl Athlete a lot easier for me. He is also surrounded by very talented people that have helped in various ways and given me an education that I wouldn’t otherwise have had. I’m really grateful for that.

Best Girl Athlete portrait
Where did you record the album and what was your personal involvement in the writing and musical arrangements?
The album was mostly recorded in my bedroom or the living room of our flat, although I have to say it sounds pretty good for it. I guess it helped in making me feel more comfortable being able to record in my home. We did have the strings arranged and recorded for us by a guy called Pete Harvey who runs a studio called Pumpkinfield Studios in Perthshire. His arrangements have really taken the music to another level. We live in a high-rise building and I don’t think our neighbours would have tolerated a string section being recorded next door to them, although they don’t seem to mind all the other instruments! Most of the album tracks were written by my Dad although I had input into track arrangements and added all the vocal harmony parts. I only started writing seriously myself some way through the album and ‘Talk’ was only the second song I had ever written. I wrote it on guitar and had my Dad’s friend Chemical Callum arrange it beautifully onto piano. I’ve written more songs since that I’m really happy with and definitely hope to have at least half of my own songs on the next album.


Video for single Hills

Has music always been in you? Is it something you’ve always envisioned doing as a job?
I remember being asked what I wanted to be when I was older and I always either answered with ‘singer’ or ‘vampire’. I always knew I liked singing and music, and as much as I hoped, I never thought being a musician would ever become a reality. It’s a million miles away from becoming a job I should say. It’s obviously helped that my Dad has been in bands and playing music for many years and, as a consequence, music has always been around me really.

What’s the dream? Where do you see yourself in say 5 years from now?
That’s a really difficult question to answer as I’m having to make important decisions about my future right now and I have to balance what I would like to do academically along with anything I might like to achieve in music. In 5 years I’ll be 20, just about to turn 21. So I’m thinking I’d like to be living in Glasgow or Edinburgh, possibly studying Astrophysics at university, and still performing under Best Girl Athlete, with more albums released. Hopefully!

You can catch Best Girl Athlete this Saturday 18th April at The Pipe Factory in Glasgow. Follow Best Girl Athlete on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date with upcoming shows and releases.

Categories ,Aberdeen, ,Best Girl Athlete, ,Carve Every Word, ,Chemical Callum, ,Fitlike Records, ,Hills, ,interview, ,Katie Buchan, ,Leave It All Behind, ,Pete Harvey, ,Pumpkinfield Studios, ,Talk, ,The Pipe Factory

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