Laura Escudé – Enoughness

By starrymag | September 24, 2021

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

 

Q) How would you describe your sound?

 

A) I described my sound as future classical. It’s a blend of my classical roots, with futuristic sounds, synthesizers, beats and an element of inspirational affirmations. With a high vibration element.

 

Q) Who are some of your musical influences?

 

A) Some of my musical influences are squarepusher effects twin bony they’re Imogen Heap, early, rock, 90s rock, all different kinds of 90s rock like Pearl Jam. And I try to think of what most recently is Radiohead? Yeah.

 

Q) What is your song writing process? Do you start with a concept or does the music come first?

 

A) Usually, the music comes first. I start by building a beat or a melody and start to create around that, then the words and lyrics and concepts come after that.

 

Q) Can you walk us through the production process?

 

A) I tend to create a lot with my violin and string instruments and synthesizers and try to find the melody and chords first of the songs and then start to work on some of the beats and other production. So, really, I just tried to come up with chords and melodies first, and try to create an audience and create some emotion around the song and try to find those chords and melodies that really speak to how I’m feeling at that moment. And then I’ll add different layers on that start to add beats and samples. And then once I’ve created that stuff, add lyrics and vocals on top of certain songs and sit with myself in journal and try to come up with some writing for the songs that speaks to how I’m feeling in that moment. And then adding all of the different bells and whistles afterwards, and transitions and fills and kind of tiny little things in the songs.

 

Q) What are some themes you explore on your new EP Enoughness?

 

A) So Enoughness was born out of the pandemic and my time alone. And I was really exploring my own relationship with self, I was exploring my relationship with my body, I was exploring just this solitude being in solitude, pretty much for the entire time. And I started creating this music as a way to self soothe, to help me feel better, to kind of work through in music some of the things that had been troubling me and that had had been bringing me down. And as a way to lift my spirits and to provide myself with a reminder to give myself more love. And, so, in turn I created the music for myself, but also, hopefully, for other people that resonate with the messages too in order to provide them some relief or some sort of way to look within or look deeper in themselves to try to transmute any sort of energy or lack of self-love that they have.

 

Q) You are quite brave to finally open up about your eating disorder. What made now the right time or what made you finally feel like opening up about this touchy subject?

 

A) During the pandemic I spent the first six months or so really toiling in it. And it was really hard for me to come to terms with once I did name it and I came to terms with what was going on or what had been going on. I started to start to heal, heal my disorder. And it was such a sneaky thing because I wasn’t aware of it for so many years. I thought it was healthy eating. And you know dieting, everyone does this. And especially in the entertainment world, we’re prone to these kinds of things. And it was really also seeing a lot more people on social media coming out and speaking out about their struggles, and people talking about the pandemic or the quarantine weight gain. And feeling like I wasn’t alone in this feeling like a lot of people were self-soothing. And we’re all just trying to do our best to like make it through this really tough time. And seeing that, like in the past people had been shamed for gaining weight, and really just wanted to show people out there that follow me that are fans that are friends of mine that I struggle with it too. And it’s been something that has been had been taking over my mental space for a really long time. And so once I named it and put it out into the open, it became easier for me to move through it and move past it because I think there’s that terrifying moment when you reveal something so personal about yourself. But then afterwards it becomes so much easier and the shame dies. And like that’s one of my favorite quotes by is and bond camp. Shame dies when stories are told in safe spaces. And so it really did help me to overcome my shame about my eating disorder and move through it and become more happier and not think about it all the time. So, it was just really powerful for my brain because I didn’t realize how much of my brain space was spent thinking about it.

 

Q) What track(s) on this album hold a special place in your heart?

 

A) “Embrace Your Shadow” is probably my favorite track. I worked on that with my friend Laila Rose, who helped me with the lyrics and melodies for the lyrics. And it was a great collaboration. It was great to collab with her. And especially during the pandemic, I didn’t really create in person with very many people. So, we got to create that in person together. And I told her how I was feeling and what I was going through and my story. And so she really helped to craft the lyrics to express the way that I was feeling, which is something that I can sometimes have trouble with. So, that one is really special to me because it just talks about how I embraced my shadow side. I embraced all of these parts of myself that I thought were ugly that no one would want to hear about that were really challenging for me and again, like bringing that stuff to the light has been really therapeutic and beneficial for me.

 

Q) This is such a beautiful exploration of self-love. Why is that such an important concept for everyone, especially now (post-pandemic)?

 

A) It’s interesting because it’s something so simple, but we weren’t taught this from a young age. We’re taught that we weren’t enough from a very young age. We see ads and billboards and things of people that don’t look like us. And we think that we’re supposed to be like that. And that’s the end all be all of love is being a certain size or shape or whatever. And so, I mean, it goes beyond that. It’s not just how we look. It’s how we behave. It’s all of the things. And I think we’re just taught if we’ve got these wounds, that they’re not okay. And it’s hard for people to overcome a lot of these wounds that we’re in, everyone’s got wounds, everyone has challenges. So, yeah, it was really important for me to create something that represented this. As a reminder to us that we are love, we are enough. Even the things that we don’t love about ourselves, like, it makes us who we are, and just becoming more aware and more present to these challenges can be really helpful for us in our lives. And we’re all awesome. We’re all amazing, like every single person in our own ways. And so it is important to own that and to really view ourselves as loving beings in able to be loved and to love ourselves, mostly because we have to live with ourselves all the time 24/7, so we don’t have someone else who’s constantly like, giving us love or validating us. We have to give it to ourselves. I mean, not even if we don’t, especially like we just need to learn how to do that for ourselves. And I think that’s just…It’s now something that’s being talked about more, and that’s really exciting. But in the pandemic, I think a lot of people really struggled with the self-love. And it was the first time that we’re like, truly had to be alone with ourselves. And we didn’t have something to jet off to or a meeting to go to, or a party or friends gatherings. And so really taking the time to sit with myself, I just realized how many people must be feeling the same way. We don’t love ourselves. And, yeah, it’s a challenge at times. But it’s just something that I try to remind myself and, hopefully, other people will resonate with that as well.

 

Q) I can imagine it was quite difficult being so raw and open with this EP. How did you shake off a long/emotional day in the studio?

 

A) I’ve been getting more into embodiment work, which is like dancing and chanting and like making weird sounds and like, jumping around. And it’s been super fun. Because I feel like for so long, I was disconnected with my body and really wasn’t paying attention to it was very much in my head and of the achieving mindset. And so some of the practices that I use now are what I just mentioned, to really get out of my head and more into my body and have fun and not care what I look like and just to let it all hang out. And that’s what I do after being in the studio for a long time.

 

Q) What do you hope listeners take away from fully exploring Enoughness?

 

A) I have a takeaway that they are enough. I hope the takeaway that we are our own unique beings, we are special, and we deserve to feel loved. We deserve to feel that from ourselves. We deserve to feel love from other people. But it starts with ourselves. And that’s really just the main thorough line throughout this is that takeaway; just focus on that. And it sounds a little like ambiguous. But really just like the act of telling yourself I love me and that’s how I created my track. I love me it was like a mantra to myself. But I started saying that every day and reminding myself and it just it takes it’s a practice. It’s like something that we have to continue to do. Also, like some of the embodiment work and movement work and just like even just like hugging Myself and giving my body love and visualizing love around me and doing some chanting and mantra work and affirmation work has really helped me on my journey.

 

Q) As one of the pioneers of live show programming, what have you missed most about being on stage?

 

A) I miss the interaction with the audience. I’ve missed the way that they respond to my music and the way that they give me feedback and the way that we interact. When I’m on stage. I miss just being able to express myself in a room full of people. And that feeling that I get that emotion that I feel when I play my music live. Yeah, I think that said it.

 

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

 

A) I’d like to collaborate with Imogen Heap. She is an amazing artist who I really admire, who is very much in the forefront of music technology like myself and we share a lot of similarities. And I just really love her voice and her artistry and her presence.

 

Q) You’ve toured all over the world. Where are some of your favorite places to perform and what makes those locations so significant to you?

 

A) Probably my favorite places have been London. I really just love the vibe in London. I love how London receives my music. I always enjoy performing there because I feel like they have been welcoming and have an open mind and like it when I get pretty weird with my music as well. So, I would have to say London is probably one of my favorite places to perform. And also in Berlin. Berlin is another favorite of mine. I love the music scene there love the underground music scene there. And I have an affinity for Berlin just because the software that I use Ableton Live was made in Berlin and is operated the company is operated out of Berlin. So, there are a lot of supporters that I have there. And they’re also people that really get all of the nerdy technical stuff that I’m doing on stage.

 

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

 

A) I’ve actually been really into my friends group called beautiful chorus recently, and it’s really, it’s a lot of like mantra affirmation style music very. Chill, very contemplate IV. And so, I’ve been putting that on a lot, especially at night when I need to wind down

 

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

 

A) Social media is a necessary platform these days, especially if you’re creating music and making music and putting music out there that you want people to listen to. So, I try to use it for promotional purposes about my music to share concepts and ideas to hopefully inspire others and give them lift them up. And apart from that I like to look at social media and see get inspired by other people and what they’re doing and gather inspiration for my own art and my own business and career.

 

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

 

A) I would just like to say thank you so much for supporting me and all the different avenues and things that I do and thank you for listening to my music and for the feedback that I’ve gotten on it and I hope that it resonates and speaks to them. Or I guess I should say you I hope it resonates and speaks to you and provides you some solace as we move through this crazy world together.

 

 

 

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