Tonight starts the online edition of European showcase festival Eurosonic Noorderslag. One of the rising stars you want miss is singer Ava Vegas. The artist just released her debut album via The Orchard in November, produced in collaboration with Johannes Weber, Tim Roth, Max Gruber, Tom Hessler and Arnar Gudjonsson. Vegas creates sophisticated and sensual Art Pop somewhere between Lana del Rey, 1980s John Cale, balladesque Leslie Feist and the coquettish smile of Hildegard Knef. We asked Ava Vegas about ESNS, inspiration, performing live or online and plans for 2021 and beyond.
Your music has a cinematic atmosphere, what is the inspiration behind the songs and sound?
Before I discovered making music I studied architecture. I was always fascinated by unique atmospheres that are created by people and places. Movies, music and architecture have that in common. This album was mostly inspired by movies that have a nostalgic vibe, that glorify a past glamorous nightlife and twilight. Lynch, Tarentino, Fellini are of course the most well-known directors achieving this.
Which song that you created do you love the most to perform live?
All of them have moments in which I feel like really communicating with the audience through certain lines. “The Bloom Is Off The Rose” has a lot of them and it’s a lot of fun to perform this one. It’s like talking to your friend.
The Eurosonic festival is now digital, is it more difficult to perform and make contact with your audience online or is actually easier to showcase your music?
I just released my debut album so I can’t really compare, but I remember performing with an audience can become very intense and magical. By organizing the performance video myself i could curate more of what i wanted the audience to see; through selecting the location, the light, the video angles and so on, which is a great advantage of course. And I also like communicating to people online, it’s more within this dreamworld I created for myself through my music, so both is fine and I am grateful for either!
Which festivals in Europe do you want to play in a careless covid-free world?
I’d love to play at the analog ESNS for sure, I am looking forward to playing Popkultur Berlin this year and really I just can’t wait for everything in a covid-free world. The more places and experiences, the better!
If in 2121 they make a documentary about the artists from 2021 that matter, what would you like to be remembered for?
Of course I want to be remembered for being nice, productive and ambitious, but that’s probably a boring answer and not worth being mentioned in a documentary. I expect the world to turn into another roaring 20’s if we manage to overcome covid. History has shown that any global crisis is followed by extreme fashion and surreal events that celebrate life and community. Since I usually take it as the biggest compliment, when people tell me my music transport them into another world and makes them feel exalted, I’d love my music to be a part of the soundtrack for the upcoming decade and being remembered for that.
Covid or not, what are your plans for 2021 (besides conquering the world with awesome music ;-> )?
Recording a second album and living in places other than Berlin, in case that’s possible anytime soon (writing this from Northern Iceland; so far I am doing well on my 2021 resolutions).
