First of all, thank You very much for your time and kindness.
Thank You for showing interest and support. :)
I was told once that Eilera sounds like Anneke Van Giersbergen and Tori Amos jamming in an Irish pub.. That's pretty good to describe it :)
Some of my albums sound heavier than others, sound more Celtic Folk than others.. I would describe my latest album Waves as modern Folk.
2) What mostly caught our attention in your music, and in fact we made You known it, through comments on YouTube, is your vocal style, with that singular and unique accent. Do you think it is a distinctive factor?
Thank you for your comments in Youtube.. And yes, I think so. I have been told so many times.. I have a narrative vocal style. I like my vocals to sound spontaneous and to tell my stories with details in emotions. I am not interested in over-technical sounding vocals, like sounding the "most powerful" for instance. I use power, when I need to use power, no more.
3) You have started from a very, very young age in the world of music. Please tell us something about your beginnings.
I've always loved singing, but I did not have the kind of parents who took me to a music conservatory at five years old. I sang anyway in my bedroom and I organised representations for my family as a game. This of course was all very naïve.. My first representation ever outside my family happened in summer camp, when our teacher took me to the boys' dormitory and asked me to sing to them, in order to calm them down before sleeping time.. But it wasn't until I was twelve years old that I began to study music and the classical guitar in a music school. My secret objective was to switch as soon as I could to the electric guitar and play solos by Mark Knopfler. By the time I got an electric guitar though, I was seventeen and my interest had turned to more extreme players, such as Dave Murray and Chuck Schuldiner. The first tabs I studied with a teacher were from Ride the Lightning, by Metallica. He was a private teacher - electric music in France at that time could not really be studied in music schools. It was, and still remains, marginal in France.
It took me many years, until 2002, to realise that I was denying my real nature as a musician if I kept on focusing on the guitar, while neglecting my voice. I am not a natural guitarist, but I am a natural singer. I had been muted by several heavy factors, in my education, in my schools but my true nature finally came back to the surface. This is when Eilera was born and I got to combine my composing and my singing skills together. Eilera came after several years of playing the guitar and composing in my band of melodic Death-Metal Chrysalis. I ended Chrysalis once it had become clear to me that Eilera was my future. Ironically enough, it was when I had made this decision to sing and compose more pop-rock songs with Eilera that the Metal label Spinefarm Records (Finland) got interested in working with us. They thus took me back into the Metal business world. Their condition was that I "Do like Facettes (*Eilera's first demo album), but heavier" and this is what I have been doing this far, at the exception of Waves.
A flame inside, that just won't fit into a box.. I may have travelled far, beyond the authorised metallic borders and I have expanded my skills, but I am not gone.
5) You are the songwriter in the band. Tell us what things inspire You, and to write what kind of songs?
Pure emotions inspire me. When I cannot contain them anymore, I turn them into songs. I take them from my experiences in my life. For example, Into the Sea comes from living solitude. The Angel You Love, the Angel You Hate comes from feeling a broken heart. Precious Moment comes from a pure moment of shared ecstasy, Soulmates comes from beautiful words I was once told.. There are as many of those moments that your life will allow you to live. You cannot make those up. You should be aware of them and be ready to embrace them when they show up. This is the reason why I don't mass-produce songs. This is my choice to go artistic rather than generic..
6) You have a great musician in Eilera, successful, like Max Lilja. What does someone with his experience contribute to the band?
I have been blessed with the chance of playing with many great musicians in my musical journey and Max is one of them.
Max has recorded on Precious Moment EP, Fusion Lp and Darker Chapter... and stars Lp. On the first two, he played the part of a studio musician, with scores that had been written for him, based on his style, as he had developed it with Apocalyptica. On the latest, when we knew each other better, it was easy to give him more freedom. From working with him, I learned how far we could push a cello into extreme playing, while preserving its beautiful nature.. It was both of a learning-process and an elevating experience hopefully for both of us and I look back on it fondly.
7) You have, after four years, a new album; and some new videos too. Tell us everything You want about this new work. Is it conceptual?
The idea behind Waves was to catch the Ocean waves and to turn them into emotional and sound waves. It is made to be an album that soothes you at times and that energies you at others, like the Ocean does to you. It is an antidote to the dehumanising forces of the city.. I made the album after I had experienced a burn out in my city-life and I decided that as a musician and an artist, what I could and should do, was to fight this coldness back with music as organic, deep and stimulating as the most energising waves of the ocean. I did it with a modern form of Folk music, as to unite an ancient way of making songs together with a modern sound approach.
When I started working on Waves from my parents' house, in southern France, all I had with me was a terribly bad Folk guitar and my computer. This was the improvised home-studio from where I would create the first demos.
As I started to imagine who would be the best players for such an album, I decided that the times were perfect for uniting my past in France with my present in Finland, via the Waves team. This team would comprise of eleven persons. From France: Pereg Ar Bagol (Skiltron) on the Boha, which is a particular bagpipes from the Gascony region in France. Loïc Tézénas, my original partner in Eilera, on the guitar. Dominique Dijoux, who was the keyboard player in Chrysalis. From Finland: Roni Seppänen on the guitar and Toni Paananen on drums, who both played on the previous record. Sami Hinkka (Ensiferum) recorded the bass and Juho Martikainen the contrabass. Tero Kinnunen (Nightwish) recorded and coproduced the album with me. Mikko Karmila (Nightwish, Children of Bodom...) mixed it and Mika Jussila (Amorphis, Nightwish..) mastered it in Finnvox Studios. I also got a guest appearance from Jaco Dada from Chile on the acoustic guitar, on the song la Quest. It was an international teamwork, most of which circulated via the internet. It felt rich of talent and of friendship. I would send demos of acoustic guitars and I would receive recordings back, over which I would bounce and get new ideas from. It was a very interesting and dynamic composing process..
As for the videos, the first one that came out was for Soulmates. This video is a compilation of the recording moments that make the album. It was important for me that everybody could see the team that made this adventure possible, including the names of the fans who had financed it via crowdfunding. I wanted to express my gratitude to everyone.
Two videos have followed after that, for Aquarius and for Sea Widow. Funnily enough, they were made in Finland with a French man, called Luc Chavarro. It was the first time I worked with him and it was good fun. Sea Widow was shot outdoor, in pretty cold weather. The final part where I dance/confront the sea was shot in Jätkäsaari, an area of Helsinki. We filmed there just in time before constructions were made, so it is precious to think that this area will only exist as such in this video now..
The video for Aquarius was shot indoor. It relied a lot on my interpretation. This experience of drama takes for you to dig deep inside of your guts, in order to give enough intensity. It is the story of an impossible love, from two Aquarius souls that swim close to each other but can never really be together. It is a love that both brings light and hurt.. The experience of that video reminded me how close singing and acting can be.
8) You also have a new label, Inverse Records. How has the experience of working with them been, if we consider that some of your previous albums had been released independently?
The album was already done and the Soulmates video was already out when Inverse entered the picture. Their input has been to release the album and to spread the word about it, so their mission is not complete yet. I hope they give the support this album deserves.
9) Aurélie, what we see in You as an artist is a lot of light, a positive image, full of energy and charisma. What do You want to transmit to whoever listens to Eilera?
I am honoured, thank you.
I hope I contribute to offering a higher space to the listeners, from where they can contemplate a day that has been hard on them, maybe stressful, maybe boring and remember that there is always hope, that the next day will be different and better, that they are not alone and that after the crest of the wave comes its top. I want them to remember what it feels like to have the curiosity and the enthusiasm of a child for life and to experience it with an open heart that takes life in 100%.
10) What has been the greatest satisfaction so far that Eilera allowed You to live?
I believe it was my first professional studio experience for Precious Moment EP, back in 2005. We had a good budget that allowed us to record everything in studio, which has become a rare thing nowadays. These were the days when producer Hiili Hiilesmaa opened my mind to the idea of producing my own songs. It happened on the day that the strings players were there. He suddenly stood off his chair and invited me to sit in it and said to me: "Now, it's your turn." I experienced a moment of worried excitement, as I had never done this before, but there was no other way than to jump in with my both feet and very soon, I found the experience to be a revelation for me. I needed that push.
My dayjob has been to teach French language and culture in an adult school of Helsinki and I gave my last courses online two weeks ago. Since then I have been spending most of my time home, like everyone else. When it gets too hard, I go for a walk in my neighbourhood or I jog. I begin my every morning with aerobics and yoga sessions. It feels so good and the feeling stays with me for the rest of the day. Every weekend, we have Skype Qi Cong and yoga sessions together with my family from France. :)
My plan, before the Corona virus arrived, was to prepare a live band and play shows, then move to the next album. Those plans have been postponed and I don't know for how long. So I allow myself to spend much time meditating, researching myself, researching topics that interest me and progressively find the direction of the next album.. I am sorry for those who have lost, or will loose, a close one. This might happen to me in the near future, I don't know. I might myself loose my health to the virus. Yet I cannot help but see something optimistic in the current events. Until the virus, the madness of our economic system, with its endless greed and multiple abuses, seemed to have no limit. The multiple warnings from the scientific community over global warming were not taken seriously. The extinction of animal species, the populations rising against anti-democratic and greedy governments, the global growing of pain everywhere, were not heard by the corporate nor the political world. Personal interest has been ruling the world for too long and the illusion, that money matters above all else. Nothing smaller than this pandemic could have finally interrupted this madness.. But the pandemic will end and the fight for a better world is far from over. So, I am inviting everyone to think about the world we want next and to imagine what they can do individually to contribute to it. I will do everything I can think of myself and of course, this includes new songs.
12) Finally, let us tell You that we greatly enjoy your art, and that we hope to see Eilera one day on this side of the world...! Please, tell us everything that You want to say, and that we haven't asked You.
Thank you very much. I would love to visit you in Argentina and sing with you. I have never been to south America before, even though I have friends there, in Chile, in Brazil, maybe soon in Argentina? I am really looking forward to.. Hopefully it happens. The internet can connect us in the meantime. My songs can be heard in Tidal, in Apple Music, in Spotify, in Youtube... You are welcome to connect with me via the social media. I love to hear about your stories and read your feedbacks. Enjoy working out, singing, listening to music, making love; all the good things that you can take during lock down and take care of yourselves. Our time on this earth is precious. - Eilera
Thanks a million!!
Thank You!!
Eilera's discography:
"Facettes" (2003)
"Precious Moment" (e.p. 2005)
"Fusion" (2007)
"Dark Chapter... and Stars" (2011)
"Face Your Demons" (2016)
"Waves" (2020)
Eilera's official websites:
Answered: Aurélie PotinSuau, by EILERA.-
Interview: Javier Parente, for OXIDO.-
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