Intuitive, Weak, Elemental: N NAO on Music and Identification [Interview]

Montréal-based pop experimental artist N NAO, born Naomie de Lorimier, is redefining herself and her identification by means of sound.

Signed to Montréal-based indie label Mothland, N NAO makes use of music as a private outlet and a way of self-exploration. Although Lorimier sings completely in French, her work resonates with each francophone and anglophone audiences.

Lorimier’s attain extends past Québec, along with her music charting on school radio stations throughout Canada and fostering a way of connection and neighborhood by means of her artwork.

On the Competition de Musique Émergente (FME) in Rouyn-Noranda, Abitibi, N NAO mentioned every little thing from identification and drawing inspiration from the weather to seeing technical instruments as extensions of her creativity and utilizing the Earth itself as her muse.

Studying her insights, it’s clear that inspiration is all over the place for N NAO—the world round her turns into, fairly actually, her oyster, an area she explores and shapes by means of sound.

Photograph Credit score: Lea Taillefer

How would you describe your musical identification and what makes it uniquely yours?

Yeah, that is fascinating, ‘trigger I really feel like my inventive course of is tremendous intuitive. I really feel like I’ll perceive what I’ve achieved excellent after I’ve achieved it, as a result of I am so within the second after I’m I am doing it.

So intuitive could possibly be a solution to describe my musical identification. I am actually impressed by my goals or issues which might be extra felt within the physique, slightly than actually primarily based within the head.

Yeah, for my final album, I needed to make music for the physique, you already know, not just for the mind. Extra to be felt within the hips and within the coronary heart. It is music from the guts and for the physique. Additionally, impressed by nature.

Every part is centered across the vocals, principally as a result of after I first began N NAO, I solely carried out a cappella units utilizing my looper. The rhythms are primarily based on my breath and my vocals, layered by means of the looper.

As a result of it is a brief loop, there’s this mixture of trance, hypnosis, and rhythms, with plenty of samples of like subject recordings that I do after I go on hikes or one thing. So plenty of natural samples, however with a brilliant digital strategy.

I can say, after I’m within the studio, I see my laptop as one other a part of me, or as an instrument.

The place do you normally draw inspiration when creating new music, and the way do these influences form your lyrics and manufacturing decisions?

An enormous theme for my music is the weather. My first album that I made was about water.

As I stated earlier, after I’m making music, it is tremendous intuitive. So I used to be actually drawn to water. I used to be swimming quite a bit throughout the making of the report and filming plenty of sparkles and water, and simply actually into that aspect.

Afterwards, after I did the outdated sequence of songs, I used to be like, okay, that is an album about water, principally, and different stuff, like love, friendship, relationships with my sisters, my pals.

My final report that I simply launched was about hearth. However for me, the aspect is a large umbrella below which I make my selections. So it simply helps me within the studio, like “what would hearth do inside that state of affairs?”

For the subsequent album, I am actually into air. I like clouds.

Zooming in, it’s about my relationships with folks. I’m a really delicate particular person, so I expertise issues intensely.

So music helps me simply categorical myself. I really feel prefer it’s a mix of an mental, philosophical strategy with a brilliant delicate one.

I like to attract on non-musical references or inspirations as a result of after I’m within the studio, I need to make music that’s my very own. I don’t need to replicate one thing; I need to create one thing new.

That’s why I prefer to get impressed by films, discussions, or landscapes—as a result of it’s not musical; it’s extra-musical.

Are you able to speak about a particular reference and what it impressed?

For instance, there’s an outdated music I made known as “La plus belle selected” or “The Most Stunning Factor.”

I used to be simply searching the window whereas it was snowing, and there was a snowplow clearing the streets in Montreal. I obtained impressed simply by that dance—the machines eradicating the snow—and I used to be simply watching.

Additionally, after I’m within the inventive course of for a hook or a music, I loop myself, so I can spend an hour on a melody or a loop, enjoying it in a very repetitive method.

In order that’s an instance, similar to searching of the window after which getting touched by this picture and making an attempt to translate it in my very own phrases, you already know?

Once I’m singing—as a result of it is so repetitive and I can keep for a very long time within the music—I prefer it to be mushy in a method.

I am additionally an individual who likes distinction. Once I’m making melodies or the trail for the melody, I would like it to be tremendous soothing for me, and when it is proper, it may well then be soothing and meditative on stage.

Which musical influences have pushed you on this path, providing you with permission to discover your sound—like Björk, for instance?

I used to be born within the ’90s. It was so huge and liberating to see Björk simply make one other album with, I do not know, one other thought—like a flute ensemble or an album that’s extra industrial—and simply her voice is what retains all of it collectively, you already know?

For me, Björk is an efficient instance as a result of I prefer to look as much as people who find themselves so unrestricted.

Additionally, Jenny Hval—she’s tremendous conceptual in her lyrics and her stage efficiency, but in addition tremendous intuitive; the hooks she sings are actually catchy.

I form of like this mix of experimentation and tremendous catchy melodies.

Tirzah is one other instance, a singer from the UK. A good friend of Dean Blunt, half of a complete crowd that isn’t actually into promoting to the mainstream.

Her vocals are wonderful, and the lyrics are tremendous private. There’s a very intimate side to it, but in addition within the manufacturing, there’s a mirrored image on it—it’s not simply surface-level. It’s actually private, and what she’s doing is one thing you possibly can relate to as a result of it’s all concerning the voice and being weak.

She’s not on social media; she’s doing her personal factor. I form of like that vitality as a result of music these days is so quick, and I like being natural and slowing issues down a bit.

How do you navigate being weak in your work whereas nonetheless maintaining house for creativity and creativeness? 

I really feel like I need to be as weak as doable as a result of, in my lyrics, I do know my voice conveys proximity, however typically what I’m writing feels imprecise.

For my new music, I would like it to be extra detailed, extra exact. As in, extra private to my story, the place I’m sharing extra. I are usually shy typically, and I would like it to be more and more clear

So I am engaged on that, however I really feel like together with your voice, you possibly can’t deceive anyone.

Like in case you really feel unhappy, in case you really feel joyful, you’ll hear it within the voice, and due to how I produce my voice, I prefer it to be tremendous translucent. I prefer to play with results. For me, results are simply one other instrument.

However you probably have like a robust vocal efficiency, afterwards, you possibly can play with it, and every little thing is okay.

Are there any dream collaborators—artists or creatives, native or worldwide—that you simply’d like to work with? 

Wow, so many. Generally it is arduous to know if I am placing boundaries on myself as a result of, you already know, you will have a dream and you do not know if it is sensible, so that you’ll, like, say to your self, “No, no, no, do not go there,” simply so that you don’t get upset ultimately.

I can speak about perhaps a sensible collaboration that I would do sooner or later, like Helena Deland. She’s a brilliant good Montreal artist that I met just a few years in the past after we had been each beginning our tasks, and we talked about perhaps doing one thing collectively. So that might be certainly one of my dream collaborations, Helena.

However outdoors of Montreal, I actually like claire rousay, who’s an ambient artist. I noticed them play in Québec two years in the past. It is like an emo-ambient act, and I wish to go extra in that common path, perhaps, as a result of I’ve it in me—the atmosphere.

So perhaps I need to push it extra, and dealing with ambient artists could be good.

However yeah, it is so arduous to inform as a result of I’ve so many concepts. It is nearly opening my thoughts to the probabilities.

Additionally, Kassie Krut—they’re so cool. They’re from New York, and so they’re founding members of Palm, which was a band I actually liked after I performed extra guitar.

Now they’re doing extra digital stuff, and I really feel like they’re the best ever. I might be stoked to do one thing with them.

I like so many sorts of music, I’m not solely part of one style. I might like to play with all of them.

How does Montreal—or the locations and reminiscences linked to it—encourage and inform your work?

That is fascinating as a result of I’ve to step again to essentially give it some thought. Montreal is such an fascinating metropolis. I am a Francophone in Montreal, and I really feel like that is form of a factor.

It’s an fascinating query as a result of I really feel like there are such a lot of separations within the metropolis, you already know—Anglo and Franco, totally different scenes—and I really feel like I need to make bridges between them.

As a Montreal artist, I’m making an attempt to construct bridges between issues. Additionally, as a result of I’m enjoying in additional mainstream bands and I come from a extra experimental, underground scene, that’s one other bridge I need to create.

For these discovering your music for the primary time at FME, what do you hope they take away out of your efficiency right now? How would you like them to really feel after listening?

I would like them to really feel heat inside. I do know I can are usually emo, unhappy, and melancholic typically, however right now I might love to only deliver some pleasure and a few gentle into folks’s our bodies and minds.

In order that’s for right now. Possibly it’s due to the day I’ve had and my mindset driving up right here—I used to be seeing the panorama, and I used to be like, “Yeah, it is stunning.”

I simply need to actually recognize the second, be current, and decelerate. I do know it is the top of the competition, so if I can simply deliver some good vitality and a breath of contemporary air

How has your inventive course of developed, and what classes have remained with you?

I really feel like I am getting an increasing number of assured in myself.

Nevertheless it’s humorous, as a result of after I began, I used to be actually within the shadow of every little thing I did. I needed to make music for myself and just a few folks, and I used to be, once more, actually shy about my identification as an artist.

After that, I attempted plenty of issues, you already know. I attempted the guitar, a extra folks strategy, and I attempted to make extra ABA types inside the songs I wrote.

Now, I really feel like I am simply beginning over—extra within the free, experimental, ambient kind. However with all my pop and refrain expertise, I really feel like I am mixing contrasting components.

Nevertheless it’s good to only put your roots within the floor and actually embrace what you’re. I need to be happy with it, you already know?

What function do you hope your music performs in listeners’ lives? Do you intention to consolation, encourage, provoke thought, or one thing else?

I really feel like when somebody tells me after a present or after listening to my album, “I obtained tremendous impressed,” that is the very best praise ever.

Once I actually take pleasure in a film or an album, that’s the sensation I get too—like, “Oh my God, I need to do my factor.”

Like, this particular person is so free; I need to free myself. So, yeah, to free folks in a method, as I am making an attempt to free myself—that could possibly be my reply.

By the way in which, how lengthy did it take you to study manufacturing?

I’m a brilliant curious being, and I—I don’t know. I began with the pc after I was in Cégep, I used to be round 18 or so, and I used to be simply doing it, you already know?

I had some lessons, however I wasn’t actually paying consideration. I used to be simply being tremendous intuitive. Ableton is form of easy, so I simply picked up the fundamentals after which had enjoyable. I began sampling myself and went from there.

As a result of I’m spending an increasing number of time within the studio for my job, I study one thing new daily. I’m working by myself challenge and enjoying in different tasks.

However I really feel like, as a result of I am a brilliant curious being, I’m at all times asking inquiries to my pals, like, “How would you make this?” or “How would you try this?”

I’m not tremendous shy about starting one thing. Possibly that’s serving to. I could be extra shy starting in sports activities or different areas, however music is my language.

I really feel like I’m not afraid to ask questions, to be curious, and to be a newbie, even when I don’t really feel assured.

I’ve by no means actually blended any of my albums myself, and I really feel prefer it’s good to collaborate afterward.

For the brand new music I’m making, I spend time on the pc, and as soon as I’m uninterested in what I’ve created and fully uninterested in it, I’m going to my engineer. We’ve got a dialogue, and so they assist me determine issues out. It’s essential to have that form of relationship.

Something new and upcoming that you simply need to like inform folks about? 

So for my new compositions, that is the air period I discussed. So I am actually into clouds, into that feeling of lightness, like levity.

Only a gentle feeling, like similar to floating.

As a result of life is so heavy, typically, I really feel prefer it’s a pleasant feeling to make music for like an elevated self or similar to a floating.

Did you make any particular sonic decisions to present your music a floating, ethereal feeling? 

Yeah, now I am actually into my tapes as a result of I’ve so many archives within the studio of me strolling within the forest or simply within the streets—me touring in Paris, being within the subway, and speaking to folks.

I don’t know, with new pals, I’ve collected so many subject recordings. I need to pattern them, and with the air idea or theme, I would like it to be tremendous gentle, like a cool response in a method.

Even eco-friendly—by recycling my sounds and never utilizing fully new ones, you already know? I’m actually into that.

When you consider air, you consider local weather change, and nature is intertwined with it. So recycling outdated sounds of mine, perhaps like in a membership, however with out all of the decrease finish, focusing extra on high-end sounds.

My favourite a part of creating one thing is being on the very starting of it

What recommendation would you give to underground artists who need to launch new music however really feel scared?

I really feel prefer it’s at all times higher to get it out than simply put it aside within the vault perpetually. Simply do it. It is so essential to share and be collectively. I really feel like music is an efficient solution to meet folks and simply construct a neighborhood.

So yeah, attempt to get out of your solitude and attain out. Don’t be terrified of failing; it’s regular to do shitty stuff, and sooner or later, you’ll create one thing good.

You simply need to be able to, as we are saying in Québec, se péter la gueule—to fail, make errors, or fall—after which get again up, you already know?

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