Village Raw - ISSUE 4

VILLAGE SOUNDS RAW
you’ll be sitting trying to think of a name
but you’re just seeing this pink cloud with
orange slashes in it – I can see the name,
but I don’t know it.
What does my voice look like?
It looks like narrow tubes of autumn colours,
not just one colour… It’s quite dark,
not because I think you’re dark, but perhaps
because you have brunette hair –
it’s somehow representative of what you
look like too. Every word is a slightly different
thing and intonation changes how
it looks.
SATURN
RETURNS
Yazmyn Hendrix is an
a capella artist who uses
her voice and a loop
station to create textured
musical environments.
After several years living
in Brighton, she recently
returned to Hornsey, where
she was brought up. Her
first single, Stay With Me,
was released in November.
Interview by Luciane Pisani.
Photo by David Reeve.
Why music?
You know when you feel like you have a
purpose? Music’s mine – that’s how I feel
about it. Also, my parents are musical. I
tried to find an instrument that was right
for me and I finally found the trumpet,
but really I always wanted to sing but
never had the confidence. I’d been writing
songs my whole life, but never sang in
front of anyone.
What are your influences?
I’m influenced by a lot of different music.
I love jazz, I love blues, gospel, folk and
pop. Everything I do is quite soulful. I like
to make something which is easy enough
to listen to and follow.
How do you write?
I write in a lot of different ways. I could
get out my loop station and just kind of
vibe off it – it’s on the spot, it’s instant.
Sometimes I do things like listen to a conversation
on the bus, listen to the rhythm
of the words… But improvisation is probably
my favourite way.
How did you find out you experience
things differently?
When I was about 19 I was at a friend’s
house – we were watching this video and
I said, “Oh, it looks like this song.” They
said, “What do you mean, ‘It looks like
this song’? It looks like the video for that
song?” And I said, “No, it looks like that
song.” That was how I discovered it – my
friend knew what synesthesia was and I
was like, “Oh my God, this is a thing!”
What does it mean to be synesthetic?
The definition is a crossing of the senses
– and, to me, it just means that some
things are blended into one kind of sense
rather than being two separate ones.
That’s just the experience that I have –
everyone’s experience as a synesthete
is different. And it can be really useful –
like I can remember phone numbers and
I can remember names, usually. Although
sometimes it’s really annoying, because
Name a song that’s important to you.
Grateful by Hezekiah Walker. It’s a gospel
song and I usually start my day with it. It
always looks the same – waves of voices
which are mainly green, but there’s also
hot pink. It goes up in harmony, and different
parts come in – they do the low
part and then they do the high part. Visually
it’s really interesting because spatially
it’s all around me. It’s like another
dimension. If I close my eyes it’s more
prominent, and music has more clarity
than speech – it’s more present. If I’m at
home in my room and I listen to a song,
it’s very much filling my head.
Where are you now with your music?
This is a super exciting point in my career.
I’m releasing an EP next year called
Saturn Returns. It’s about life, death, my
inner self, and my outer universe. From
the day you’re born it takes roughly 27
to 30 years for Saturn to return. There’s
all different kinds of astrological ideas
about what this means, but perhaps it’s
a point where you can reassess things if
you want to make a change in your life.
The track Stay With Me is a conversation
with my inner child. I’m also doing collaborations
with Adam at The Boathouse
Studio – an awesome studio in the middle
of nowhere, the middle of nature – and
we have some exciting things coming up.
I also have a five-track collaborative EP
coming out with a Brighton-based rapper/piano
player called Mrisi. •
You can find out more about Yazmyn via her
website and various social media channels:
www.yazmynhendrix.com
Yazmyn recorded a live version of Stay With Me,
which you can view at: www.villageraw.com/yazmyn
interesting, local, ethical & sustainable shopping
12 1