Those little imperfections

“Don’t go, ‘I just want to get out there’ and plonk tracks on SoundCloud, because that won’t get you anywhere”

“I love imperfections in music, I love mistakes in music and I love rawness in music. When stuff gets too perfect I get quite bored, and that’s with the music I listen to as well. I love to hear little blips, it might not be a blip, it might be perfectly placed there. I love those elements of surprise. When something is too perfect, it’s just too boring to me.” Using the beat

With a new direction in sound came a new way of writing: “I’ve recently really gotten into writing music from drums,” says EERA. “My partner is a drummer and I sometimes ask him to send me files of rehearsals when he’s been drumming or practising. I take them into Logic and I write from that rhythm. I also ask Allister to send me drum loops that he hasn’t used. I won’t necessarily use any of these for recording, but it’s just a way to get moving.”

“On the previous record I always wrote from guitar with a click track, whereas now it’s more fun to play to drums. I can build it in a different way, start with synth or guitar over the drums and then build from that.”

Alongside drum beats, plugins play a key part in the demo process, as EERA reveals. “My production skills are constantly evolving and it’s really fun now because I can actually present demos that speak better in terms of what I’m thinking in my head. When I first started out years ago all I did was record guitar into Garageband with a laptop mic and it was hard for me to explain where I wanted to go with it.

“My process now is to record into Logic with my Korg Minilogue setup through the built-in Logic plugins, or my UAD sound card which has some amazing plugins on there. I have two different microphones set up: a dryish one with a little bit of reverb on it, and an overdrive mic. I have a guitar that goes directly into my interface to throw in some overdrive and tape delay, and my Arturia Drum Brute drum machine that I put through an amp plugin to make it sound more crunchy. Once I have all of those set up, I can just write from that perspective quite quickly because I like to work pretty fast.

Working in a space

“I basically like to create a space that I like the sound of with my effects plugins and then I write in that space,” EERA explains. “I don’t want to find myself going ‘oh, I want this’ and then having to unplug something, plug something else back in, and set something else up over there. I get bored so I need to work extremely fast and I think this way of writing is great.

“Afterwards, I can sit back and go ‘OK, I like that melody line, that guitar piece and cut sections out and just delete or mute them. I love a mute button,” Anna says, laughing. “I like taking a shot of a WAV file, or bounce it and listen to that section muted and then I put it back in and move bits around like a puzzle. As a result I have tonnes of two-minute ideas stored on my laptop that will never see the light of day. I couldn’t tell you what they are, but maybe if I get really, really famous and when I’m gone, someone will dig out my archives and release it as some crazy double LP?”

Plan for success

While discovering new songwriting techniques and experimenting with synths and plugins, EERA was also busy creating her own record label. “I can’t take much of the credit,” she pauses. “I told my management I wanted to do it and they helped me. Speaking to a lot of artists and friends I think it’s the way forward, especially if you have great management, good PR and hopefully publishing.”

“I was lucky because my first record with Ninja Tune and Big Dada got me out into places that I wouldn’t be able to on my own. Having that platform meant I can build on my own. Just owning everything myself feels fantastic and not having to give a label money is great.”

It’s easy to think this is something that’s only achievable with a well received record and established audience behind you. But, as EERA explains, with planning and patience anyone can do it. “Don’t rush it,” she states quickly. “If you’re sitting on, let’s say ten songs, you’ve got them recorded, in the mix and you think they sounds good. The main thing is don’t go, ‘I just want to get out there’ and plonk them on SoundCloud, because that won’t get you anywhere. You’ll get disappointed, because even though you say to yourself ‘I don’t care if I don’t get any plays, I just want it out there’, That’s a lie.

“If you’re lucky enough to find management, that’s great, but more important is PR. Get some money for PR because you want someone to help you to strategise a release plan. Without a plan, and without those steps and the PR’s contacts it’s impossible to get noticed. And it’s better for it to go through a PR person that people trust, they know does good stuff for them and they’ll be more likely to open the email. That’s number one.”

“Number two. There are loads of people out there who can help you set up a label. My management help me and I’m lucky to be in Germany because there’s a lot of arts funds to be had. I know it’s different in UK and that’s really unfair. I think the government is being

horrible about that, but it costs money and if you’re smart about it there are ways to somehow rustle up some cash. Again possibly over time so be patient.”

“Finally make sure you have fun with it. Once you finish some songs, think how you want to represent yourself, what type of photography do you want? How many music videos do I want to do? Make it into a fun project rather than thinking, ‘shit I need to make the music videos now, balls I need to start doing some photos’.”

“For me anyway I love planning all of it, but don’t rush it. You may need to sit on the music for a year, maybe two years rather than simply posting on SoundCloud.”

Reflection of you

As our conversation draws to a close EERA leaves us with one more piece of advice that’s helped her as a musician. “A friend told me a while ago to separate myself from my music self. I have my music self which is EERA, but then I also have myself Anna Lena. So if the music self EERA doesn’t do quote-unquote ‘well’, I as Anna Lena won’t be affected by that.

“I think because music is personal and I’m really honest in my lyrics and stuff, I had a period of time where I was so intertwined with my music self that I kinda forgot about my other self. That’s really scary, because if you get a bad review, or two people turn up at a gig, or you don’t sell any records, you can easily then feel sad as your human self. As soon as I separated into two, I realised, ‘oh, I’m actually really cool as an individual self Anna Lena!’ I know not everyone will like this. Some people are solely focused and driven by ‘the music,’ but for me it’s been healthy to separate into two. The music itself was more fun because it didn’t have as much power over me anymore.”