photo by Anna Brånhede
Life is a journey and sometimes along with the big rushes of love and ordinary up and downs, you are knocked down in a big way. That is the case with Malmö, Sweden-based artist Charlotta Perers AKA Big Fox when she was diagnosed with Lymphoma. The Track All I'm Trying is from her upcoming full length "See How the Light Falls" that was supposed to be released in May of 2018. Her unexpected bit of life, unexpected battle temporarily delayed that from happening.
“A few weeks before the album was supposed to be released, I was diagnosed with Lymphoma, It all happened very quickly and it was almost like entering a parallel world with a different time scale, rules and priorities. Life suddenly became very intense, very here and now - but that amplified positive experiences too. But it felt good to know that the album was waiting for me on the other side. It was a reminder of something else, the someone I was outside the hospital.”
18 months later, Charlotta Perers is doing much better and this sobering part of her journey left an indelible mark and view of life and of her creative process and journey and how they interact.
“When I listen to it now, I actually like the album even more, I have some distance from it. When you’re in the middle of the process, it's easy to get caught up in the details and not really hear the song anymore.”
All I'm Trying is an organic alt folk track riding on Perers' beautiful lilt embraced by pearly acoustic guitar that feels richly organic. You can feel the tactile fingering and as nuanced orchestration builds around the sparse interplay the song slowly lifts up into the either, wrapping around you in a deceptively moving way. -
Robb Donker
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
“Sometimes songs are like secret rooms where you can say things that you don’t say anywhere else,” says Big Fox’s Charlotta Perers. If songs are like secret rooms for Perers to whisper into, the end result becomes a secret portal for listeners to travel through, landing in a place equally as magical, tranquil and revelatory.
On her third album Perers continues her exploration of beautifully tender songs, led by her rich yet airy voice, deft accompaniment, production that crackles as warmly as a log fire and textures that glide gracefully between the delicate and immersive. However, this album – which weaves between dream pop ambience and skilfully crafted songs - finds itself being released six years since her last album Now. It was initially due for release in May 2018 but Perers received some news that derailed it.
“A few weeks before the album was supposed to be released I was diagnosed with lymphoma,” she says. “It all happened very quickly and it was almost like entering a parallel world with a different time scale, rules and priorities. It felt almost like being forced on to one of those ghost trains in a theme park, going in and out of tunnels and not knowing when or how or even if I would be able to get off.”
The whole process also allowed a deeper sense of perspective to come to light for Perers. “Life suddenly became very intense, very here and now - but that amplified positive experiences too. I realized how deeply our happiness is connected to our expectations. If I didn’t expect or demand things of life I could actually be quite happy just playing Yahtzee all day. But it felt good to know that the album was waiting for me on the other side. It was a reminder of something else, the someone I was outside the hospital.”
18 months down the line, Perers is better and “slowly reclaiming my life back” but the added gestation period for the album has added a new density, meaning and significance to the work. “When I listen to it now I actually like the album even more,” she says. “I have some distance from it. When you’re in the middle of the process, it's easy to get caught up in the details and not really hear the song anymore. Recently when I started listening to the album, after not listening to it for months, I even got this strange feeling of…have we really made this?”
Charlotta remembers how her current single "All I'm Trying" came about though. Some songs are hard to write about. They just move like a slow train, as if they had no intention of causing any big fuzz or drama. But they are sincere, honest. Every word is carefully selected, every synthesizer questioned. And the more time you spend with them, the more you start loving them. That’s how I feel about All I’m trying.
Even before Perers became ill - a period that saw her work explode across the world via sync placements on Charmed, You Are The Worst and Catfish, resulting in “Shadows” surpassing two million plays on Spotify alone - she knew this album was not one to be rushed. It was all about allowing the work to unravel at a natural pace and to find a natural connection. “My experience of creativity is that I get this vague feeling of being pointed in a certain direction,” she says. “It rarely explains itself more than that. But I’ve learnt that if I give it time and attention then things slowly start to move and grow into something. It seems to run more smoothly if I manage to step back and let the process lead me instead of forcing it in a specific direction. Like with the lyrics, I can search for the right lyrics for a long time, even give up, and then some months later it’s as if the missing words find me rather than the other way around.”
This approach is reflected in the record too. Recorded with producer Tom Malmros (Alice Boman, This is Head) not only does the album feel considered, spacious and thoughtful in its structure but it’s also the most sonically expansive record Perers has made to date. Subtle blasts of brass float, pianos twinkle, cello’s swell, choirs soar, guitars glide and synthesisers glisten to sound like “The soundtrack to some movie from the 1970s.” The sense of scope and detail around the record expands beyond its sonic framework too. Perers has been working closely with her partner Anna Brånhede on the visual side of things too. “We haven’t worked together like that before but it has been very fun and challenging,” she reflects. “We’ve tried to learn things like how to make a music video, which was far more difficult than we imagined. I think we’ve slowly worked our way through every possible mistake you can think of when filming and editing. But somehow that’s also a part of the creative process."
The end result of this whole process is an album that is intensely evocative of certain times and places for Perers. “Final Call” was released as a single when the album was originally due and it now takes Perers to a specific moment. “When I listen to it now I remember my room at the hospital, the leaves moving outside the window, the nurses coming in and out and that special sound of the door which gave a little squeak every time someone opened it.” Similarly “Watching the Garden” is a song born from the natural movements of life. “There can be a certain kind of almost palpable stillness at night,” Perers says of the song and its title. “The yellow light from a lamp outside falling onto some bushes. Nothing moves and you’re alone with your thoughts. Then slowly, the sky turns pink and you walk out into the early morning. That’s the feeling I was after on this song.”
It’s this song that produced the lyrics that resulted in the album’s title too. In the words of Perers, her fondness for what these words brings up could also be applied to the whole album too. “To me it’s a reminder of the magic in the small things - finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.”
Charlotta remembers how her current single "All I'm Trying" came about though. Some songs are hard to write about. They just move like a slow train, as if they had no intention of causing any big fuzz or drama. But they are sincere, honest. Every word is carefully selected, every synthesizer questioned. And the more time you spend with them, the more you start loving them. That’s how I feel about All I’m trying.
Even before Perers became ill - a period that saw her work explode across the world via sync placements on Charmed, You Are The Worst and Catfish, resulting in “Shadows” surpassing two million plays on Spotify alone - she knew this album was not one to be rushed. It was all about allowing the work to unravel at a natural pace and to find a natural connection. “My experience of creativity is that I get this vague feeling of being pointed in a certain direction,” she says. “It rarely explains itself more than that. But I’ve learnt that if I give it time and attention then things slowly start to move and grow into something. It seems to run more smoothly if I manage to step back and let the process lead me instead of forcing it in a specific direction. Like with the lyrics, I can search for the right lyrics for a long time, even give up, and then some months later it’s as if the missing words find me rather than the other way around.”
This approach is reflected in the record too. Recorded with producer Tom Malmros (Alice Boman, This is Head) not only does the album feel considered, spacious and thoughtful in its structure but it’s also the most sonically expansive record Perers has made to date. Subtle blasts of brass float, pianos twinkle, cello’s swell, choirs soar, guitars glide and synthesisers glisten to sound like “The soundtrack to some movie from the 1970s.” The sense of scope and detail around the record expands beyond its sonic framework too. Perers has been working closely with her partner Anna Brånhede on the visual side of things too. “We haven’t worked together like that before but it has been very fun and challenging,” she reflects. “We’ve tried to learn things like how to make a music video, which was far more difficult than we imagined. I think we’ve slowly worked our way through every possible mistake you can think of when filming and editing. But somehow that’s also a part of the creative process."
The end result of this whole process is an album that is intensely evocative of certain times and places for Perers. “Final Call” was released as a single when the album was originally due and it now takes Perers to a specific moment. “When I listen to it now I remember my room at the hospital, the leaves moving outside the window, the nurses coming in and out and that special sound of the door which gave a little squeak every time someone opened it.” Similarly “Watching the Garden” is a song born from the natural movements of life. “There can be a certain kind of almost palpable stillness at night,” Perers says of the song and its title. “The yellow light from a lamp outside falling onto some bushes. Nothing moves and you’re alone with your thoughts. Then slowly, the sky turns pink and you walk out into the early morning. That’s the feeling I was after on this song.”
It’s this song that produced the lyrics that resulted in the album’s title too. In the words of Perers, her fondness for what these words brings up could also be applied to the whole album too. “To me it’s a reminder of the magic in the small things - finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.”
No comments:
Post a Comment