Photo
courtesy of Sam Gehrke
Who would’ve thought that two women from opposite ends of the world would meet up in the Northwest only to form an organic indie singer songwriter duo by the name of Loftän? Julia from Germany and Janell from Oregon have put their talents to work as they have created some very original and rustic sounds along with exchanging humorous banters at several venues in front of many in the Pacific Northwest. Their songs are packed with lyrics drawing in deep emotion and honesty that could not be expressed in any other way.
MQ: I understand from your bio that you both met at a pilates class? (Correct me if I'm wrong - I apologize!) But before all of that how did you both individually get into the music scene?
Julia: Yes, we met a Pilates studio. I came in
to take lessons and Janell was the one who ended up teaching me. And actually
still is to this day, haha. Before Loftän, I was a hobby musician for a very
long time, singing in choirs, playing in bands with friends, performing only on
a few occasions. Always wanting it to be more than a hobby but not really
getting anywhere because of different reasons. When I moved to the US from
Germany in December 2014 for personal reasons, I didn’t know anyone here. I
decided to finally give music a try just by myself as a singer-songwriter. I
was ready to put all my heart into it, I started performing at open mic nights,
made connections at a local recording studio, recorded some demos and as I was
in the process of putting together a website, I happened to meet Janell.
Because it seemed like such a great opportunity to start a project with her, I
put my efforts as a solo musician on ice pretty much immediately and haven’t
regretted it!
Photo courtesy of Sam Gehrke
Janell: I have wanted to be a “rock star” since
I can remember breathing, really. I have always played music but mostly I
have sang. I studied vocal performance in college for a bit before
switching to musical theatre which is what I finally graduated with a degree
in. I moved to Chicago right after I graduated college at the University
of Oregon and met most of the people I started various bands with there.
We played around the city for a few years and then I met a producer at a
record label I was kind of interning at and we both had dreams of Los Angeles
in our minds. We picked up and relocated to Hollywood, I recorded a bunch
of music independently with him and my first solo EP was released on itunes in
2006. It went nowhere. In the meantime I moved back to Chicago and
played in another band for a bit and then moved back to Oregon. Music was
always in my mind but I let it fizzle out actively. I had just started to
really pick it up again and start writing when I met Julia! We basically
made a musical “date” and totally clicked and have always been on the same
page. I really got lucky she is as crazy about doing every single thing
as I am!
MQ: What an amazing story! How did you both synch your musical styles and genius being from lands 5,000 miles apart?
Janell: Julia always comes up with sweet riffs.
Her style of writing music is really easy for me to collaborate with
because I love it. I love what she writes… like what it sounds like.
I feel like with my background in 90s grunge lends itself to coming up
with interesting melodies and weird harmonies and the way I speak and phrase
things is like a giant run on sentence so it’s...uh….different.
Photo courtesy of Vince Panero
MQ: I just find that whole process fascinating.
With that in mind, I wanted to know where you both draw your inspiration from.
What artists are your all-time favorites? Films? Books?
Janell: I don’t read. Julia doesn’t know
how to. Just kidding. But I really don’t read much. I also
don’t watch a ton of films. I do watch horrible reality television though
(I love Vanderpump Rules). I do have some old favorite movies...David
Lynch films. Stanley Kubrick films! I love Led Zeppelin, Red Hot
Chili Peppers, The Pixies, LCD Soundsystem, old jazz music...when I write it is
mostly about what I am feeling. It is pretty personal.
Photo courtesy of Vince Panero
Julia: I’m really into reading biographies lately. I sort of stopped reading books in college. My brain can’t focus that long anymore sadly. But I picked up Kim Gordon’s “Girl in A Band” a while ago and finished it in under a year, which is pretty good for me ;) And now a friend lend me Carrie Brownstein’s “Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl”. Also, public transportation is a huge inspiration and I miss it over here. I got a good chunk of lyrics written commuting on trains in Germany. Here I have to stop in a parking lot when I get an idea. Less convenient. Sometimes I hit the record button on my iPhone while I drive and sing what my mind just came up with.
MQ: Okay, let’s dive into your music. Honestly I
have to say how wonderful your music sounds. I was jogging the other day while
listening to Doorway and the sun was setting and a freight train passed
alongside me and it felt like I was in a moment with your music, hahaha it was
really cool. Tell me about Doorway.
Janell: Awe that is so lovely to hear thank you for the compliment and the kind words! What a compliment! Doorway was actually written ridiculously fast. It was one of those songs that obviously needed to be out there because of how quickly it came about. I started it because of this guy I had started seeing. It was just this thought I had after I left his house one day...kind of like this feeling when you’re in the moment of being present and super stoked and then total panic of whether or not it will continue to happen….like the relationship. But wanting it to.
Photo courtesy of Vince Panero
MQ: How about Undercover Girl?
Janell: I started writing Undercover Girl
when I lived in Chicago. It was probably in 2006. I had one verse
written and a couple of chords and it stayed buried deep in the hugely
unorganized pile of musical ideas. One day, about a year ago, I started
to dig through it and found it and loved it. It is this idea of a girl
who nobody really knows because she keeps the vulnerable aspects of herself
hidden. She would love for someone to care enough to dig deeper but it
never really happens. People like to look at her as she is surrounded by
“friends” but it is all a facade. She ate lots of drugs to mask the pain.
HA this all sounds mildly depressing. I guess it kind of was at the
time.
MQ: I just have a couple more questions. I feel like Mystery Blue is an illustration of a
mood where words are just not enough. What was the creative process like for
writing that?
Julia: Let’s say this song almost didn’t make
the EP because arranging it almost killed us in the process. We both attached
lots of feelings to the vibe of this song and it was so hard to nail it down
and we both wanted to do it justice. I learned how to use Logic’s software
sequencer to program the beats just for that song. I watched video tutorials
for hours on end. Yeah, and I recorded some guitar and then we did the piano
track but muted the guitar while working on it - all of sudden we had this cool
piano part but it didn’t fit to the guitar part, like at all. It was horrible
at first, then we deleted the guitar part and added some other things that are
not really instruments. In the studio we looked for sounds and found something
that could be mistaken for a hairdryer… It’s all in there. I promise. So, long
story short, this song feels like it had a life of its own and it just took us
down a path with lots of rabbit holes but we made it to the end and are super
proud of it!
MQ: I’m glad you stuck with it! I also love your short
song, roomate, and there’s so many more but for the sake of time I just wanted
to close with this question, you mentioned that you will be releasing your new
music video next Friday. Are you able to disclose which song it will be?
Julia: Yes! We are going to release a music
video for “Undercover Girl”. We kind of ran with the theme of hiding your true
self and a word play on going undercover. We filmed with lots of our friends
and had a blast shooting lots of different scenes in all kinds of locations.
It’ll premiere on Friday and we’re doing a live stream celebration on Sunday,
February 26th at 10:30am PST. We’re going to play some songs, we’ll do a
Q&A and just hang out to talk about life and music. It’s going to be on
YouTube and Instagram.
MQ: Can’t wait! Julia and Janell thank you so much
for doing this.
Photo courtesy of Sam Gehrke
For more information on Loftan, you can find
them on their website www.thebandloftan.com or check them out on the following links
Be sure to see their latest music video
premiering below:
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