Band der Woche: Livmødr

Livmødr ist das Solo-Projekt von Laura Morgan, einer irischen Künstlerin, die heute in Stockholm lebt. Livmødrs elektronisches Songwriting speist sich aus einem reichhaltigen Repertoire an faszinierenden Klängen und Tonfarben – mit einem wunderbaren Gespür dafür, Melodie, Stimmung, Textur und eine düstere Atmosphäre in tiefe, kantige Bilder zu verweben.

In unserem Interview sprechen Livmødr über den Klang ihrer Musik, die ersten musikalischen Erinnerungen, die Herangehensweise und Hintergründe ihres musikalischen Schaffens sowie über die neue EP Livmødr, die kürzlich erschienen ist.

Who is behind Livmødr? How did the project come into being? What made you decide to start Livmødr?
Livmødr is (one) of my own solo projects, so right now it’s just me and a whole bunch of instruments. It came about maybe 5 or so years ago, I’ve had projects and bands for more than 20 years now – but when I moved to Sweden I was introduced to the wonderful world of synthesizers and this opened up a whole extra layer of creativity for me. After a while the Livmødr project just sort of organically formed. It’s the purest project I’ve ever worked with, so it felt really natural to just continue and make it more permanent.

How did your band name come about, and what does it mean to you?
This story is a bit fun. As I mentioned before, I migrated to Sweden, so of course I’ve been trying (badly) to embrace the language. A good friend of mine and I used to dabble a bit playing synths together, and we originally wanted to make a bit of a silly old school industrial/EBM thing – it didn’t happen, but jokingly my friend suggested Livmoder as the name. That somehow (probably over a beer) evolved to Livmødr basically because it looks and sounds a bit better … BUT, the fun bit is that I had no idea what the word meant (until now, now I know it’s „womb“ – which works quite well!). Anyway, I adopted the name and here we are!

If you had to describe your music in terms other than music, what would you say?
This is a hard one, I try to steer clear of too many labels as much as possible as I want people to find what works for them, it should be personal. But for me, probably the best way to describe it is that it’s my own interpretation of the culmination of societal and ecological breakdown. Livmødr represents the pain of trees burning in forest fires from the heating of the planet, it represents the agony of starving mothers trying to breastfeed their child … but it also represents the mass of life experiences I’ve had myself, so it represents growth and hope – as well as pain, disappointment, suffering. It’s a mixed bag of trying to show the world that we’re fucking things up, and it’s time to sort it out.

What are you looking for in music?
Everything and anything! I have a really broad, weird and eclectic taste. I guess the thing that appeals to me most is differences. It could be anything from pop or rap to black metal or pure ambient noise, but I think it’s always if there’s something different about it. I am not so keen on hearing recycled elements over and over again. I want to hear and feel the creativity and the passion of the artists. I think that’s what makes music stand out to me. Music is really my safe space, I listen to it literally all the time, so I really love listening to all kinds of different things, but they all need to evoke something for me.

What are your first musical memories? When did you first fall in love with (electronic) sound?
There are a few really prominent memories for me. When I was very, very young my father introduced me to things like Emerson Lake & Palmer, he’d put the big old headphones on my tiny head and pop the vinyl on. It was an incredible experience to listen to such a big, wild and progressive set of artists at that age (like 3 or 4). I also fell in love with Bowie very early on (not so electronic) and that has stuck with me for my entire life. Gary Numan and Enya were also super early influences for me. I think I’ve always been in love with music in general, I come from a very musical family so it was always there from day 1. Classical, rock, electronic – everything was there to build me into the human I am today.

What impact do your surroundings have on your music?
My surroundings impact me a great deal. I do have dead spots where I find sometimes I’m unable to write (not helped by the pandemic at all). I think that I do need to get out into nature a great deal, the strong connection to the natural world is something I feel I have to keep well maintained in order to feel the need to bubble up some expression. The seasons and the environment also greatly affect the style of what I write, if I’m in the mountains for example – the sound will differ to that if I’ve been in the forest. Seeing people play live and show their passion on stage affects me a great deal. So, it’s great that things are opening back up again. My studio environment also needs to be inviting, my partner and I recently redecorated so the workflow is a lot more comfortable – and the walls are orange (which apparently is supposed to boost creativity).

Which person, artist or incident inspired you when you first started making music?
Oh wow, so much. As I mentioned I’m from a bit of a musical family, so I started with music around age 5 or 6. When I got to high school, being an alternative kid sort of automatically meant I was in bands – so making music has just been part of who I am for such a long time.
When it comes to musical influences I like to draw on as much as possible, but I think there’s some key influences from overall genres like black metal, ambient and global folk – as well as a lot of old shoegaze, punk and synthpop. Talking to my friends and peers, and just going to concerts and seeing other people create also gives me a massive boost. When it comes to specific incidents, I think the situation with climate change has been the biggest driver for this project.

Where does your inspiration for music come from? Which sort of mood produces the best song?
It comes mostly in waves. Sometimes as I’ve mentioned I can have periods where nothing will come out, and I don’t feel a need to extract anything from myself. Generally speaking though, it just pops up. I’ll feel it in my whole body that I need to let something out and that’s when I write. It could be when I’m happy, reflective, moody, sad. I think it feels good to allow myself to be versatile and not bind myself to a specific feeling when I create – but create when it simply feels right.
That being said, my most popular songs are the ones I made during times of sadness or darkness – so, the people have spoken!

Recently your EP Livmødr came out. How did the writing happen? How did your compositional process work?
This EP was a little different due to the pandemic I think. Normally, writing happens quite quickly for me but for the latest EP it took about two years from start to finish. Each song took a lot of time. I think this was mostly due to frustration and lack of inspiration over the last two years. Despite that, I’m pleased with how it came out.

When it comes to composing, I usually start with a sound, an image, or a feeling in my brain. I’ll carry that into the studio and start playing around with my instruments and when I find something that triggers me, I’ll start working from that point and build out. Sometimes I can just go right into the studio and press buttons until I’m triggered too, that also works! Once it’s there though, it’s usually quite quick to get things done. When I record I do everything in one take. If a take doesn’t work, I’ll rewrite that element completely. For vocals, it’s almost exclusively improvised.

How would you describe the world you are trying to create during your performances?
I really want to suck people into what I’m feeling during a performance. All of the things I described my music as being, I want folks to feel that – and I want them to feel it with me. When I perform I actually don’t (anymore) play published tracks, so everything live is a completely unique and one time experience. I spend a while before every performance writing everything from scratch and building an experience that will last for the entire set. These sets usually start fairly calm and sombre and escalate. By the end of the performance, I want people to feel like they have emotionally invested into the experience, they should feel exhausted but also (hopefully) inspired. The world I try to create is one so far outside of the one we exist in, a void that people can touch and interact with, and at the end – spill them out, violently back into reality.

What are your plans for the near future? What do you wish for?
I’d like to get started on another full length album pretty soon. I feel like I’ve grown a lot with the project over the last few years and know what works for me and what doesn’t. I’d like to start taking a few more risks with the sound and try and experiment with it a little more. I’d also like to start working on more videos, there was one for this EP and it was a lot of fun to put together. Everything I do (apart from mastering) is DIY so life is an eternal learning curve, but it would be interesting to start building out more visual art to accompany the music.

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