Q&A - DORA LACHAISE
A European artist who recently moved from Bristol to Glasgow, Dora Lachaise creates dark and otherworldly music with a central role for her haunting vocals. Her first singles appeared during the pandemic, inspired by works of art and Victorian ghost stories. Her music has been played on BBC Introducing in the West, BBC Upload and Amazing Radio.
We love your use of influences from the 1950’s in your latest single, what inspired you to make music like this?
Dora: When we wrote Bluer Skies, Jonni played this retro-sounding keyboard part, and I improvised the "Bluer skies" line over it. We then watched advertisements from the 1950s that promoted a consumer lifestyle - old footage of beach holidays, houses filled with appliances, a bride with a scary grin - and used this imagery for the lyrics. But material things are no guarantee for happiness or love, and the lifestyle, we now know, is destructive.
Jonni: I'm a fan of vintage keyboard instruments and there are a whole range of them on our Weather Balloons EP. The specific sound used on the Bluer Skies single is sampled from a mellotron, which is itself an early sampler that used audio tape, made famous by the Beatles and Moody Blues. It's a sample of an acoustic guitar, but the mellotron gives it a slightly other-worldly and very retro sound.
Where has been your favourite place to gig in Scotland?
Dora: We launched our EP, Weather Balloons, at The Old Hairdresser's. The staff were lovely and the building has a cool vibe.
Jonni: We made short films for each of the tracks on the EP and projected them during the performance. It's great when a venue has the right set up for that kind of multimedia show; The Glad Cafe is another favourite. We were due to play at Mugstock with some friends; such a shame so many festivals were cancelled or postponed this year. Here's hoping they get the support they need to survive next year.
If you could collaborate with anyone on future music, who would it be?
Dora: I love Danny Elfman's compositions - he's influenced some of my solo releases, like Bone Collector - so collaborating with him would be high on my list. At the same time, I also get a lot of inspiration from Glasgow-based songwriters Ember Quine, Becci Wallace and Sev Ka - and we'll definitely make those collaborations happen!
Jonni: I really like cross-genre collaborations. Getting people from different musical silos to work together on something hybrid can produce really fresh results. I like the idea of collaborating with people reworking my music through sampling and beat-making, so watch this space... I've also been gigging on keyboard with Ant Thomaz's band and with Becci Wallace recently, which is a different kind of collaboration, but equally rewarding.
Can you tell us 3 goals you want to achieve in the music industry?
Dora:
Number one for me is to create good art. The creative process needs to be fun and the resulting pieces need to add something - not sound like music that's already out there. Be unique; have a message; have mystery at its heart.
Then, to get the music heard, I'd love to perform at festivals in the summer, and Halloween events in October. I find Victorian ghost stories and cemeteries very inspiring and love writing dark, eerie music. I've just written some haunting songs at a SongSeeds songwriting retreat in an old mansion near Perth. They'll have their first outing at the Women in Music: Season of the Witch event at Leith Depot in Edinburgh on 31 October.
Finally I hope that radio DJs and producers like my tracks enough to play them. We've been very fortunate so far, getting airplay on the BBC as well as community and internet radio stations. It all counts and I'm really grateful for this
Do you have any advice for anyone just starting in their music career?
Dora: Go out and meet other songwriters and creatives, make friends with those you click with, and help each other. It's not a competition; we can achieve more together. (If you're a Weegie, you don't need me telling you this!) Also, Spotify is great for reaching new audiences, but if you'd like to make some actual money, sell your music and merch at gigs and on Bandcamp.
Jonni: Echoing what Dora said about making the creative process enjoyable, no musician or artist is guaranteed any financial success, so you have to love what you do and it definitely helps to be around other people who understand what drives you to be creative. If you don't know those people already, get along to networking events or songwriting retreats, connect with others and see where it goes.
Connect with Dora here
Dora’s new single comes out tomorrow (20th October), listen to her current releases down below.