On ‘Mud,’ Breakups & Swedish Melancholy (Interview) -

Say Lou Lou are right here to remain…lou lou. (Sorry.)

It’s been over a decade since I first “Introduuced” twins Elektra and Miranda Kilbey, the (drop lifeless) beautiful Swedish-Aussie twin sister duo armed with a signature sound hovering someplace between dreamy and dreary, haunting melodies and a eager sense of favor, modeling for campaigns for the likes of Gucci and Calvin Klein.

After their final studio album, 2018’s Immortelle, the 2 spent probably the most time they’ve ever spent aside engaged on inventive initiatives: Elektra appeared as Lisa on Apple TV+’s Shantaram, whereas Miranda labored on inventive directing and TV manufacturing.

Ultimately, the siblings reunited to ruminate about relationships previous, digging by means of private poems and diary excerpts for the primary time to chronicle the entire cycle of a breakup, Mud, Pt. 1, launched on April 12.

“Mud is a candid assortment of songs that chronicle numerous steps of a break up; mourning, anger, regret and forgiveness. Being in it, being out of it, being beneath another person, being over it. This document is us going by means of the motions and realizing that love at all times appears to be like clearer within the rear view mirror,” they clarify of the gathering’s mission assertion.

I spoke with Say Lou Lou about their new EP, Swedish influences, spending time away from music, and returning to forge forward as unbiased creatives.

I used to be trying again, and the primary time I wrote in regards to the two of you was in early 2013, masking your debut “Perhaps You” – nonetheless so mesmerizing! – and “Julian.” You had been touring with Hurts, getting protection from websites like PopJustice, and long-listed on the BBC Sound of 2014. It was a really totally different time in music, however these tracks nonetheless maintain up in the present day – a testomony to your music’s timelessness. Realizing what you realize now, do you’ve got any recommendation or perception you’d impart of the youthful model of Say Lou Lou then? Did you study something in that point that you simply utilized to the remainder of your profession?

Thanks. It was positively such a unique time in music, in tradition normally. We’d inform our youthful selves to not rush, to remain indie and in management for for much longer, preserve the ethos and unique spark protected against outer forces till we had thicker pores and skin. However being pushed into the deep finish has taught us find out how to discover the floor and ultimately, learn to swim. The perfect lesson by means of all of it’s that every part comes from you – the vitality, the songs, the imaginative and prescient. And if you’re not sure and unclear, it doesn’t matter who or what or how a lot is behind you, it’s not going to land.

Your music is outlined by a dismal gorgeousness. What do you attribute to your signature sound, and what visible or sonic influences do you draw from to realize that aesthetic? Generally I really feel like I hear sure Swedish influences, like The Cardigans.

Swedish nostalgia and darkness is inevitably part of our sound. There’s at all times a melancholic ring to Swedish melodies – the hymns and nursery rhymes we grew up on are lovely, melodic, however echo with longing and nostalgia. It’s onerous to attribute our sound / aesthetic to at least one factor, somewhat it’s the full esoteric mishmash of influences and backgrounds which have made us who we’re, which is true for most individuals. Nobody is unique, you’re simply an unique mash-up of your influences haha 🙂 However we did and do hear loads to The Cardigans. Nina Persson is the epitome of cool.

It’s been 5 years since your final launch, Immortelle. What’s modified about your strategy to the music this time round, and your total ideas on the music panorama now?

We needed to take a break and lengthy to make music once more as a way to come again with the preliminary need and vitality that we misplaced over years of burnout and stress. So our strategy now could be to service the stream – end the concepts whilst you’re nonetheless within the zone, don’t overthink and overcomplicate the manufacturing and launch the music whilst you’re nonetheless loving it!

The music panorama has modified within the sense that we’re instantly / extra is extra period, you need to preserve churning out materials as a way to fulfill the tempo at which issues are being consumed. There’s simply so a lot content material flooding the ether every day, it’s onerous to really feel that you could lower by means of the noise and attain your viewers.

“Mud,” versus the dreamy vitality of lots of your music, kicks the EP off some edge. It’s blunt too – “We had been fucking within the bathe, now we combat within the automobile.” Are you able to speak in regards to the making of that tune, and why it’s turn into the title monitor?

We needed to observe saying issues precisely how they’re versus arising with 100 methods to brighten the reality and disguise it in metaphors. The lyrics are in regards to the tailend of a relationship gone bitter, the place each events are too afraid to tear off the Band-Support however are seething with resentments. The romance is gone, and with it the intercourse and sweetness. The one factor remaining is who you as soon as had been collectively, and letting go of the concept of what might’ve been feels so inconceivable.

The phrase “mud” threads itself by means of the EP, past the title monitor. What drew you to mud to dominate this launch?

We felt just like the phrase mud fairly fantastically represents the disintegration of a relationship. It’s the remaining particles of what as soon as was, what you swept beneath the rug for a very long time, the layers of time that collects up to the mark…

Up to now 5 years, you two went your separate methods for over a month – extra time than you ever have earlier than! Elektra, you starred in 2022’s Apple TV+ sequence, Shantaram, whereas Miranda, you labored on inventive endeavors like TV manufacturing and screenplay writing. How did that distance have an effect on you each, and what did you study you missed about one another?

The gap was a lot wanted after dwelling and dealing so intently collectively for nearly a decade at that time, and it gave us an opportunity to overlook one another and Say Lou Lou. We’d been so confused for thus a few years and likewise fairly ungrateful. The house gave us a recent perspective on what a privilege it’s to make music for a dwelling!

You used private poems and diary excerpts to jot down the lyrics for this EP for the primary time. Inform me about that course of, and what you found about yourselves in doing so.

Up to now we had points with getting too private as we needed the music to symbolize us each (doesn’t make sense in hindsight, however alas), however this time round we felt extra eager on being easy and literal in our lyrics. We needed to jot down about our lived heartbreak expertise, even when it appeared mundane and in dong that it freed us to stream far more, and there was zero author’s block because of that.

That is an EP chronicling the levels of a break-up. How a lot time had handed till you determined to attract on such a private expertise to make the music, and what made you resolve on that because the core theme of the document?

Neither of us have been heartbroken for 3 years now, however we weren’t making music then, so it was like we by no means processed it. Each of us did the basic factor of shifting on very quick and type of pretended it had by no means occurred, so after we determined to start out writing once more, we determined to open the can of worms and suck each final drop of inspiration out of it!

Provided that that is Mud, Pt. 1, can we deduce that there are extra elements nonetheless on the way in which? Do you are feeling like your launch technique has modified with the way in which folks eat music in the present day?

Sure, there’s a Mud, Pt. 2 being completed proper now! We determined to make this album in two elements as a result of we didn’t wish to wait too lengthy to launch a constant stream of singles and lose steam!

You’ve performed some dreamy covers previously. What’s one other monitor you continue to wish to deal with which may shock us someday?

Shakespears Sister’s “Keep.” Or Liza Minelli’s “New York, New York.” Hehehhehee.

Social media and TikTok are actually the way in which to interrupt into the mainstream’s consciousness. What are your ideas on approaching all of that? Do you care about “going viral” even?

We don’t know the way we really feel, truthfully. Each day we modify our minds about how we wish to strategy it. Some days, we settle for the present state of affairs, and really feel open to collaborating and being “content material makers,” and a few days we’re like obstinate kids who assume the entire thing is totally ridiculous!

What are the private targets you’re manifesting individually, and for Say Lou Lou, in 2024 and past?

We’re manifesting the flexibility to maintain making music, to make motion pictures, pottery and go for lengthy walks with our canines on the seaside!