Q&A - Kohla

The up-and-coming Scottish singer-songwriter and producer Kohla has today 8th September released her stunning debut album ‘Romance.’

Combining dreamy, silky neo-soul flourishes with smooth R&B beats, ‘Romance’ sounds both gloriously old-school and hyper-modern, and is illuminated by Kohla’s courageous, delicate and deeply heartfelt delivery.

We caught up with Kohla on the release of her debut album “Romance” , Read & Listen below!

Tell us about your journey in music until now?

I’m actually a fine art graduate of the University of Edinburgh, so my work as a musician is usually connected to wider artistic projects involving interdisciplinary art forms (painting, dance, poetry film and media). In my childhood I was a clarinettist, performing in school orchestras and competing in national competitions. Around the house I was brought up listening to Beethoven, Mozart and Debussy, but my weekends and evenings were spent training at Dancebase, The Scottish Opera, local acting and film-making workshops and art classes at The National Galleries of Scotland.

For my degree show at the Edinburgh College of Art I studied visual culture, with a specific influence of Andy Warhol. I started incorporating songwriting and production alongside my paintings and drawings, with all of my pieces gradually selling out.

In the past number of years I’ve gained recognition (both in Scotland and internationally) as a singer-songwriter and producer. I’m an independent artist, and I adore having full creative control over my projects. My freshly released debut album ‘Romance’ takes sonic influence from 50s and 60s jazz/soul (Nat King Cole, Etta James, Sam Cooke), and the contemporary sheen of Lana Del Rey, Frank Ocean and FKA Twigs. It explores the culturally important themes of feminism, inner-healing and self worth, and I crafted it with a whole team of female and non binary creatives (supported by Creative Scotland and Help Musicians). It’s my proudest work to date, and its been beautiful to see acclaimed internationally. I just performed my packed-out album launch show at Edinburgh’s Sneaky Petes this weekend, accompanied by my wonderful Popgirl backing band Dara Watson on harp and Louise Cameron on violin, with support from Popgirl Philomenah. The response has been gorgeous.

We think the work you are doing with your initiative Popgirlz Scotland is great. Why did you start this and what are your plans for the future?

Initially I found it extremely difficult to meet other women in music, as there wasn’t much collaboration with ECA and the local music scene while I was studying. I would be attending and performing at gigs alone, and as a shy person, I struggled to make friends. As I gained more recognition in Scotland for music, I began meeting more girls, and thought it would be a lovely idea to bring everyone together. It really began from humble beginnings, and has always been friendship-focussed. Having other Popgirlz to gain advice from and share experiences with is vital to our growth as artists. We’re here to protect each other and raise each other up. Over the past few years myself and fellow Popgirl Josephine Sillars have been using the platform to raise awareness of misogyny in the creative industries. Our work involves researching, campaigning and lecturing at the world’s top universities and conferences.

We’re currently in the process of applying for funding for Popgirlz so we can expand our collective internationally. We just returned from our first Popgirlz England Lecture Tour, with an incredible response. We’ve been speaking to Universities around the world, and I’d be keen to tour North America in the near future.

If you could change anything about the music industry in Scotland, what would it be?

I would love to see more platforms introduced for genres not typically associated with Scotland. ‘Romance’ is a cinematic neo-soul album, and although we’ve been met with glowing praise, it’s been difficult to attain elements of local exposure, such as radio. Scotland has an amazing set-up for indie, folk and more recently pop/dance. I’d be inclined to see more radio, press, gigs and industry conventions promote neo-soul, retro-soul and jazz.

Who are some of you favourite Scottish artist at the moment?

Scotland is thriving with talented artists, which we can see reflected across Popgirlz. On the 28th of September Popgirlz will be showcasing a few members in collaboration with Glasgow Sofar Sounds at Frame, Glasgow. I’m really excited to see Anna Sweeney, Belly Rachel and Kirsteen Harvey perform. We’re also utilising the event as a fundraiser for the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre, which is special for me personally, as I’ve been attending weekly therapy with them over the past 5 years.

I’d also like to highlight my good friends Siobhan Wilson and CLR Theory. They performed a magnificent show together at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, back in May. At the time I had been feeling a little low – my single ‘Bedroom’ had been released which thematically is about body positivity and treating women with respect, and we were struggling with radio support. This particular gig moved me deeply emotionally – I was crying from start to finish. It felt so refreshing to be sitting in a gorgeous theatre, alcohol-free pint in hand (shout-out to the sober-curious community!), and listening to heartfelt and intelligently written music, performed by members of Popgirlz. It reminded me of the importance of true art, which in my opinion, should always be healing. There’s a fantastic quote from the wonderful Father John Misty:

“I think that there’s a distinction to be made between entertainment and art. Entertainment is largely about forgetting about your life.
But art can serve as the function of remembering your life.
And I think we’re pretty inundated with entertainment as it is”.

I really felt Siobhan’s and CLR Theory’s performances hit me at a cellular level, regaining my faith in art.

How do you prepare for a show?
I’ve been performing my whole life, so I’m quite laid back. I’m a highly organised person, so I ensure that we’re extremely well-rehearsed, so the performance will be a breeze! I quite enjoy a little pre-show ritual of vocal warm ups and dolling myself up with old school glamour. I actually applied for Costume Design at ECA prior to painting, so styling, hair, makeup and set design are important aspects of my shows. It all contributes to the world I’ve set ‘Romance’ in; a hybrid of vintage and contemporary.

Connect with Kohla here

Q&A - neverfine

Following the group’s first two releases ‘Silhouettes’ and ‘Voices’, neverfine are thrilled to announce their third and final single from their forthcoming EP ‘Do Everything, Feel Nothing’ – ‘Imaginary Friends’, which is set to be released on August 11th 2023.

After the band’s first two singles received high praise and radio play on platforms such as BBC Introducing, Amazing Radio & Scots Way Hae!, Imaginary Friends arrives as a darker, pop-rock track which explores themes of self-isolation and internal struggle. The group are scheduled to play Central Belters at Broadcast, Glasgow on August 13th and their debut headliner at Sneaky Petes, Edinburgh on September 2nd to celebrate the release of their EP which is slated for a September 1st release.

Your new single 'Imaginary Friends' explores some really interesting sounds, tell us more about the creative process for this?

Craig Kelly: Honestly, Imaginary Friends was one of the easiest songs to write for neverfine so far. I never use lyrics as a basis for my songwriting. I always start with the music first by finding a certain sound that sparks an idea, find a melody (which usually becomes the chorus) and then build the song from there. After I arrange it, I send it off to Ashley and let her work on the lyrics for a while. Once she's finished we get together and start to chop and change a few things until we feel like we've got to a good place. After that there's a bunch of time spent in the studio with our incredible producer Edwin who helps us take the songs up that extra notch. Imaginary Friends was interesting because it started off really bright and hopeful, but I wanted to introduce something a little darker to the song so me and Edwin ended up making the drum sounds and bass parts a little heavier and eventually we added some distorted guitar to give it a little bit of an edge.

Ashley Palkowski: I've seen Craig spend hours upon hours going through synths, drums and guitar patches to find something that he resonates with. But like he says, the concept and ideas behind Imaginary Friends came really quickly to him, it was the same for when we came up with the lyrics too which were written in one night. This was by far the easiest song for us to write for our EP.

If you could choose any artist to collaborate with, who would it be?

AP: Nine Inch Nails would be so cool! I feel they share really similar concepts and ideas to us. They’re a big inspiration when it comes to my songwriting personally so I’d say that’s the natural choice for me.

CK: That would be cool, but personally if I ever got the chance to collaborate with either HEALTH or CHVRCHES it would be a dream come true. Absolutely love both those bands and they really inspired me when I started writing the music for neverfine way back in lockdown. There are so many artists in and around Scotland that I'd love to work with too, so who knows? Maybe something will come of that in the near future.

 Tell us your three desert island albums ? 

AP: Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp A Butterfly. That album is a masterpiece!

CK: There's so many albums I would choose from, but if I'm being honest with myself it would be The Bones of What You Believe by CHVRCHES. When that album came out it really changed the way I listened to music at the time and opened me up to a lot of new genres and artists that I would have never found if it wasn't for them releasing such a fantastic album.

What show has been your highlight this year? 

AP: By far I’d say our recent headline at Sneaky Pete's. The fact that the show sold out was so special to us, and an incredible accolade for us as a band who only put themselves on the map this year.

CK: Yeah, we were blown away by everyone's support and we can't wait to go back to Sneaky Pete's again. It's an amazing venue with great people and we'd love to work with them all again. Shout out to Gordon for being the best sound guy we've ever worked with!

 What show has been your highlight this year? 

AP: By far I’d say our recent headline at Sneaky Pete's. The fact that the show sold out was so special to us, and an incredible accolade for us as a band who only put themselves on the map this year.

CK: Yeah, we were blown away by everyone's support and we can't wait to go back to Sneaky Pete's again. It's an amazing venue with great people and we'd love to work with them all again. Shout out to Gordon for being the best sound guy we've ever worked with!

If you could share a message to other Scottish artists, what would it be ? 

AP: “Don’t stop, keep going”. My vocal tutor from college always used to tell me this when it came to performing, but it can be applied to any facet of life. No matter how difficult things get, keep chipping away at it and trust the process, because what’s for you will never pass you by.

CK: Go to more local gigs and support Scottish artists!

What can we expect from neverfine in the future?

AP: We’ve got a lot of things currently in the works that we’re looking forward to announcing in the coming months, but in the meantime we want to start playing shows outside of Scotland and continue writing, recording and releasing more tunes! We’re all very excited to see where our journey as a band takes us next.

Follow neverfine here