Courage My Love – Slow Motion

By starrymag | January 2, 2020

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

Q) How would you describe your sound? 

M: We’re a three piece. My sister Phoenix plays the drums and sings, Lockwood plays bass and I do lead vocals and guitar/synth. It’s always been tough for me to describe our music as any one particular genre, but we definitely sit in the realm of indie pop, rock, alternative sound. Right now, we’re really into making dreamy atmospheres and really pushing ourselves when it comes to groove.

Q) Who are some of your musical influences? 

M: I’ve always been really big into Radiohead. I’m also super inspired by classic bands like The Cocteau Twins and The Cure, etc. Right now, I’m listening to a lot of Pale Waves and Men I Trust.

Q) Talk about the story behind your new song “Slow Motion.”

M: “Slow Motion” came to us after a lot bout of writers block. We’d go to the studio every day and just get stuck trying to figure out where we wanted our sound to go and what we wanted to write about. Finally, this song came along right when we were at our most frustrated and burnt out stage. Something about the groove we came up with in those first few intro chords just sparked ideas for us. I found myself writing melodies out of nowhere that really seemed to push my limits as a songwriter in terms of writing hooks and melodies. What had once been elusive and difficult seemed to just flow through me with this song. We wrote the lyrics about falling in love at first sight. In your 20s you’re sort of in this weird part of your life where your romantic relationships have the potential to either last a significant amount of time or just be very casual and short. This song is about falling HARD for someone and realizing that even if it doesn’t last forever, you want to slow things down and make it last as long as it possibly can.

Q) What do you think it is about the song that fans connect to?

M: I think we all want to feel connected to something or someone. No one wants to be lonely or isolated. We live in an age where connectivity is seemingly all around us, yet we feel completely alone. Social media has made it easier and easier to connect with people from all over the world, yet in our pursuit to find really connection we’ve distanced ourselves from reality and the real people in our lives. That’s why I wanted to go a darker route with the video. On a surface level, “Slow Motion” is a love song and the lyrics seem very light and happy, so I wanted to juxtapose this sentiment with darker imagery that is very sad at its core.

Q) Mercedes, you came up with the concept for the video and co-directed it. How does the video for the track play into the message behind it?

M: I was inspired by a term used in addiction circles called “the pink cloud,” which refers to a phenomenon in one’s recovery process after a recovering addict detoxes for the first time and experiences this surreal, short-lived form of happiness. Addiction is a heavy theme in “Slow Motion”’s video. I think in this day and age we’re addicted to a lot of things… social media being a very obvious example currently. We’re addicted to the endorphins we experience while scrolling through memories, highlights, likes, comments, etc. We crave that artificial connection we feel online that we struggle to experience in the real world. We yearn for acceptance. validation, popularity, community. We use it to escape from our own sad reality and create a version of ourselves that appears to the world how we wish to be seen.

I think a lot of people can relate to feeling overwhelmed, depressed, lonely, scared of how quickly our lives seem to pass us by. Subconsciously, a lot of us would prefer to be blissfully ignorant to the atrocities of the world we live in, even if it means surrendering true individuality, privacy, freedom of choice, etc. Many companies and organizations recognize this and prey on our insecurities so they can profit from them in exchange for a welcome distraction from our lives.

I wanted to create a very “Black Mirror” inspired concept to serve as a metaphor for all of that. The video is about a young person in a very depressing, grey, uninspired world who stumbles across a free online drug trial. The Infinitum Pharmaceuticals Corporation represents my perception of these big companies trying to control us and feed off of the most at risk people. In the video, they advertise a radical “miracle pill” that can cure all your woes and solve all your problems, make your moments of joy happen in slow motion and stretch them out so you can be happier for longer and basically forget about all the real things happening in your life.

Q) Addiction is a key role in the video. How will it play a role in your upcoming visual EP?

M: I’m not sure if it’s going to be an ongoing theme throughout the whole EP, though I’m sure subconsciously there will be a lot of metaphors in there about many different things. With this EP we’re just trying to write about real things that affect us in our everyday lives and in our collective psyches. We’re trying to stray away from writing about frustrating relationships, exes, heartbreak, etc. That’s something that seems like a thing of the past for us. We’re not teenagers anymore. We want to write lyrics and try to tackle subjects that are going to be meaningful on a lot of different levels. We basically really want to inspire people to THINK and QUESTION things.

Q) What is your song writing process? Do you need music before you can create lyrics? 

M: That’s a great question. Everyone’s different, but personally I find I can write a lot faster and feel more connected to what I write once there is a vibe established. So, usually Phoenix and I try to make a beat or at least chord structure before we write the vocal melodies. I’ve been challenging myself to go outside of my comfort zone melodically and really write rhythmic, grooving vocal lines. The lyrics and melody come simultaneously for me. I’m a very melody driven writer. I can’t just write lyrics by themselves ever. I need to have some sort of melodic structure that I can make my lyrics fit into before I get anywhere with the words and rhymes, etc. A lot of the time the words kind of write themselves in the beginning and I don’t have a good idea of what I want the song to be about until I have a few lines down and then the picture becomes a little clearer. It’s a hard process to explain, but it all kind of comes together at the same time. Since we started recording in our home studio we’ve been writing and recording simultaneously. When you hear my vocals on a song like “Slow Motion” or “Teenagers,” you’re hearing me singing those vocals for the very first time just after we’ve written them.

Q) How much of hand do you have in the production of your music? 

M: Phoenix has stepped up to become the main producer on all these new tracks. We still have a lot of help from our manager, Chris, but most of the production elements, sounds, effects, etc. come from her. It’s been amazing watching her blossom into a producer and get her production ideas into our songs finally. It definitely helps us be more unique as artists and try things that we might not have tried with other people in the room.

Q) What can fans expect from a live Courage My Love performance?

M: We like to have fun on stage and involve the crowd as much as possible. I try and put my heart in everything we do. I, personally, used to get insanely nervous before going on stage to the point where I was vomiting before or after most shows from the nerves. I could never really lose myself in the moment back then. Now that we’ve had the chance to tour around the world and perform in front of more people, I’ve realized that the key to putting on a good show and getting the crowd to have a good time is to make sure that you as a performer are having a good time on stage. I really just let go of whatever was eating me that day the moment I set foot on stage. I let everything melt away and get completely lost in that moment. Nothing else matters but the people I’m making music with and the people in the audience for that hour that we’re performing. So, you can definitely expect a party, you can expect silly dance moves and a lot of laughter and potentially me saying something random and laughing at my own jokes. Basically, I want to get rid of this wall between the audience and myself and show them who I am as a person. They already know who we are as artists since they’ve heard our recordings and seen our videos, etc. If you’re at a show and you bought a ticket and you’re standing right in front of me I’m going to do my best to become your best friend and have a good time together.

Q) Where are some of your favorite places to perform and what makes those locations so significant to you? 

M: I really love performing in the UK, London especially. We have a loyal fanbase that comes out for us every time and I know a lot of them by name. It always feels like a family reunion when we’re at the merch table taking pics and hugging. I also just love the city so much. I find it all very inspiring.

Q) You have said that “our lives are basically one long terrifying episode of ‘Black Mirror.'” In what way? 

M: I think I pretty much summed it up above when talking about “Slow Motion”’s video. We’re victims of a system designed to be highly addictive and depressing. We’re under the boot of algorithms and targeted ads. There’s so much false information out there nowadays and no one bothers to check their sources anymore, so the truth has become a very illusive thing that is up for debate. Being “politically correct” is now considered an insult. Hate speech calls itself free speech. We’re basically all pigs at a trough gobbling up content so quickly that it’s completely forgotten a week later. Artistic mediums are created based on how many likes they will receive and how popular they will be, which is changing the nature of artistic creation. Teenagers are being bullied by nameless trolls to the point where they kill themselves. Facial recognition is being used to monitor and keep people in line on a political and social level. FACETUNE EXISTS. Our corporate greed is killing small communities and literally draining our planet of its natural resources. It’s just a really weird time to be alive.

Q) Who would you most like to collaborate with on a song in the future? 

M: I would love to collaborate with an artist like Charli XCX and just pick her brain about writing. She’s an amazing writer and performer that really inspires me. I honestly think she can write in any genre and make bangers.

Q) What album/band are you currently listening to and why do you dig them?  

M: I’m really into From Indian Lakes new album Dimly Lit. They took a risk with changing up their sound and, personally, I love it. Very chill vibes and daring production and songwriting.

Q) You are a part of social media. Why is that such an important way for you to connect with your fans? 

M: It just is. Whether we like to admit it or not, people are on their phones all the time and they are hungry for content from their favorite artists. There are people out in Brazil who’ve been begging for us to come play a tour for them for years now. None of those people would even know who we are if it weren’t for social media. For all the things wrong with it, social media has created a way for artists to share their art with the world, whether they’re signed to a label or a completely independent. We’d just be out of touch if we didn’t recognize social media as a valuable tool. It’s our responsibility to use it correctly and with a sense of purpose and meaning. If you have something to say, you need to use whatever platform is given to you to make people listen.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

M: Thank you so much for supporting us and giving us these amazing opportunities. If it weren’t for you, we would have no purpose in life. You’ve given our lives meaning and for that we are forever grateful.

 

 

All Questions Answered By Vocalist and Guitarist Mercedes Arn-Horn