Samantha Josephine: Interview + EP 'Fly Bird Fly'

MusicInterviews

20 Sept

KATIE BROWN - 20 SEP 2021

Samantha Josephine Fly Bird Fly — *PHOTO SUPPLIED*

Gentle and unassuming yet refreshingly compelling, recently released EP Fly Bird Fly by Samantha Josephine is a delightful concoction of quietly strummed chords and homespun poetic musings: recorded and produced by Samantha herself, the EP is a 13-minute collection of tracks that are like miniature snapshots of daily life. Each holds a kind of shy intimacy: like their author, they don’t scream for attention but are rather the product of an unfolding of thought, expression and exploration from an artist with the courage to follow where the muse leads, rather than allowing self-doubt to shut herself down.

With vocals that are quietly stunning in their poetic strength, Samantha’s music draws comparison with the likes of Courtney Barnett or Lou Reed. There’s an especial quirky charm to both the artist and her work, and this comes from Samantha’s willingness to be true to herself, to embrace the integrity of simplicity and to let her musical journey unfold as it will: holding a kind of wry curiosity towards the thoughts and happenings of her day-to-day life, her engagement with these moments is where the magic unfolds.

“It’s like in a regular moment I'm inside this shape and it’s comfortable or not, but it’s familiar and usual, then I start to fall onto some chord and I play and after sometime this feeling stabilizes and a rush hits me, it’s that moment, that moment where I break out of the shape into a new one, that breaking from one to the other that is the moment that is so vulnerable and important to me. I love to capture that friction of pushing through the boundaries of unformed regular normality to wherever the emotion will take me.”

The outcome of this whole approach and ethos is like reading a book versus watching a film: a book, with words on a page, asks something of its reader - to engage, to imagine, to create - rather than serving its essence on a platter like a film does. Likewise, the unassuming yet evocative simplicity of Samantha’s unique and stripped-back approach generates a particular warmth and charm that’s almost tangible and tactile as she invites her listeners to take part in and share her space, just for a moment, and to let those moments speak as they will, without giving everything away.

Fly Bird Fly follows on from 2020’s Feeling in the Strange, and both EPs have seen the artist garner a select and dedicated following of those who are intrigued by her music and living room videos.

We caught up with Samantha to chat about her work - read the interview below.

KATIE: FIRSTLY, LET ME JUST SAY HOW CHARMING YOUR MUSIC IS! I STUMBLED ACROSS YOU LATE LAST YEAR ON BANDCAMP, AND WAS STRUCK BY THE UNIQUENESS OF YOUR SOUND. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN MAKING MUSIC FOR?

Samantha: Thankyou!

It's not really clear because it was an incremental thing, something I felt drawn to but because I was quiet I couldn't quite bring myself to express.

I first explored creating sound on out of tune guitars trying to make pathways of sounds on them, out of tune guitars turn the rules off, turn the mind off from reaching for familiar and comfortable positions.

After a while, I allowed myself to use my voice. This was a journey in itself, of allowing the emotion to use the voice as it pleased, that I am still constantly learning how to do with each new song getting used to as they all seem to take me in different directions pushing my comfort zone.

YOU HAIL FROM SOUTH AFRICA, IF I’M NOT MISTAKEN – HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN NEW ZEALAND FOR? DO YOU THINK YOU’LL MOVE BACK SOMEDAY?

I have been here nearly 20 years, I won't be going back, New Zealand is home. My family is mostly here. I have never been back, I grew up here really. My roots are from there and my parents surrounded me with South African culture growing up.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO MOVE TO NEW ZEALAND? DO YOU THINK THE CHANGE HAS HAD AN IMPACT ON YOUR WRITING?

I was just a child when we moved over. I remember it being quite sudden and hard and the social change was harsh on me since I was a very quiet child. So I think it pushed me further into my inner world. I don't know how it affected me, but I wrote lots of poetry from a young age, I think it helped me to process my world.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE THING ABOUT LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND?

I have gone on quite a few road trips in the South Island. I spent about 1 year and a half travelling around New Zealand. I really enjoy the natural landscape, the random adventures and weird corners a person can find.

WHAT ARE YOUR BIGGEST INSPIRATIONS, WHETHER IN MUSIC, FILM, ART, OR LIFE IN GENERAL?

I don't know if it's a tangible thing. It's some burning that sits in the middle of me to create. It doesn't really have a name or reason. I am just hungry to create things and it has been that way for a long time. Sometimes it pains me. The things that drive the songs are usually my own emotional tangents whatever I am experiencing or processing. My understanding of life is always changing, my music helps me to process these perspectives and changes.

WHAT DOES THE PROCESS OF SONGWRITING LOOK LIKE FOR YOU? DO YOU ALREADY HAVE AN IDEA OR LYRICS IN MIND, OR DO THEY COME TO LIFE AS YOU PLAY?

I try to limit my time writing, so it doesn't get saturated in pushing or pressure, or any preconceptions of songs. I just pick up the guitar and it will be plugged in and recording and I have the mic there too. I might choose some different amp type, whatever I feel inclined to, whatever sparks that feeling inside, it can be like something that holds me now, or touches me now. Not all sounds touch the core all the time. I will then search around just messily on the guitar until I fall onto a chord that really hits the centre of me. It starts that platform of unconsciousness and I just go from there, fall onto another chord and then at some point a rush hits me and the vocals come out. I know it doesn't make sense but I really have not much clue about what I am saying in the moment, I am following a pathway of shape and sound vocally, obviously I am aware of some words, but I find for me it is really best to be unaware and allow myself to just be the sound.

THE WHOLE EP IS VERY SIMPLE IN ITS PRODUCTION, WHICH IS PART OF WHAT MAKES IT SO SPECIAL. IS GUITAR YOUR FAVOURITE INSTRUMENT?

Yea guitar for sure is my favourite instrument

DO YOU RECORD AND MIX YOUR SONGS YOURSELF?

Yes I do. The way I like to record it works much better that way. I really prefer to use the original audio of when the song comes out. All the recordings I have put out are recorded at the moment I wrote the song, I like to capture this moment, that moment the emotion and the shape of it is being touched for the first time.

WHAT IS THE HARDEST THING ABOUT SONGWRITING AND THE PROCESS OF RELEASING MUSIC FOR YOU?

For songwriting it's mainly the space, I'm really a very shy person. Only my girlfriend has seen me perform in the last year. She does all the filming for me. Actually for writing the songs too, I need her to leave or be really far away and have headphones on so she can’t hear me. I feel like I need a lot of privacy to let go and really let the emotion out, to just be that emotion I don't like to be seen being it, especially when it's first coming out.

For the release it’s mainly an emotional judgemental ride, I have a lot of anguish over my voice and the simplicity of the sound afterwards. But that's how I write, and I don't intend to change. I have to give myself space from the songs otherwise I can't release them. I found after the Feeling in the Strange EP I suffered from this more strongly for some months, that's I guess why I delayed (in my mind at least) in putting this next one out.

WHERE DID THE TITLE OF THIS EP, ‘FLY BIRD FLY’, COME FROM?

Well it's just from the moment of recording those words that came out. It felt like, for me, the song felt like it was standing up more directly than the other ones, a bit more of a sharp energy so naturally it felt it should be there as the title of the EP.

YOU RELEASED ANOTHER EP, ‘FEELING IN THE STRANGE’, IN AUGUST LAST YEAR. WHAT’S CHANGED BETWEEN THEN AND NOW FOR YOU?

I guess I feel I have more permission to put my creations in public. I still struggle with that, but it feels like I made a foundation of some sort that I can stand on.

WHO ARE YOUR FAVOURITE ARTISTS TO LISTEN TO?

Pixies, Velvet Underground, The Breeders, Lou Reed, Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers, Nico, Nick Drake, Kevin Morby. There's definitely more too but I will stop there.

WHAT ARE YOU HOPING TO ACHIEVE NEXT WITH YOUR MUSIC?

I’d really like to get enough money to print some vinyls. I would also like to do a live show. I'm hoping to get a grant from creative NZ or NZ On Air. I have in mind some explorative methods to create the next EP, with a lot of behind the scenes content and also using different settings around the South Island to create the songs in. I will see though I think it's pretty competitive. Otherwise I will just create here in Sumner at home which is totally fine and beautiful too.

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE RITUALS TO BRING YOU PEACE?

I think I find peace in doing things that make me feel close to myself. So it's not a set thing. It might be in one moment the one thing I need for peace could be writing songs. Or it could be lying in the sun, staring at the sea. Spending time with my girlfriend, a friend or family member and having a very deep conversation, or even a simple one, writing a poem, cuddles. Listening to loud music. It's just whatever is best suited to the moment.

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