After the brute force of the
Recent ‘The Human Value’
Interview and the ever expanding
Soundscapes of the more
Electronic ‘Ulpa’ interview,
This interview by Hamburg
Born, Judith aka. Lina Paul
Is something very different
Altogether, which in a way
Shows the ever expanding
And different tastes of ‘Setting
Sun’ (aka. Me) has.
Lina Paul aka. Judith is
Perhaps akin to my friend,
Emelie aka. Everygreen Days
In vocal style, but closer
To Cat Power I guess in style
On certainly her more sparse
Tracks like ‘Empty Stairs’
This is music I found haunting
For the silences in the track
As much as the music itself.
Other tracks like the epic ‘
This wave’s length’ is much
More epic and tense
Stretching out to over nine
Minutes heading out to
Sigor Ros style music
With layer upon layer
Of music building up
Slowly.
For more information
On Judith aka. Lina Paul
– Please -
Look at her website
At:
http://www.myspace.com/linapaulmusik
Thanks to Judith
For her kind words
And I look forward
To hearing more
Music in hopefully 2007.
Cheers
AEN
Setting Sun:
How are things and what’s
Happening at the moment?
Lina Paul:
Oh it’s getting cold and dark outside,
So I prepared myself with candles and
Coffee, it’s a good time to relax,
Cook and hang around with friends
And listen to some good music.
Setting Sun:
Can you next tell us a little
bit about the history of
Lina Paul – what started you off etc, etc?
Lina Paul:
I took my first singing lessons when
I was 17, I wanted to sing in a
Punk band but my singing teacher
Wanted to prepare me to be an
Opera soprano.
Working as an actress for many
Years, I sang really different things,
But always wanted to do my
Own stuff, but didn’t start,
Or just recorded something
On a tape, I couldn’t find again later.
About a year and a half year ago
I moved to Berlin and met "Escape the Day"
and recorded three songs with them
for their record, and in a way,
that and meeting people encouraging me,
gave me power to concentrate
more on my music. Not to forget
a little electric guitar I
got as a present!
Setting Sun:
What are your inspirations
and what have you been
listening to so far?
Lina Paul:
oh I have and had quite
different listening phases:
punk , pop, classic, indie, rock
At the moment I like listening to:
Anathema,
Sigur Ros,
Portishead,
Björk,
Emiliana Torrini,
P.J.Harvey,
Velvet Underground,
Gustav Mahler,
Radiohead,
Jeff Buckley, ...
Setting Sun:
I have been really enjoying
your tracks (some of
which are available for
streaming on myspace.com)
including probably my
favourite ‘empty stairs’ –
which I love partly because of
the space and the silence in
the track..
Can you tell us a little bit
about this track?
Lina Paul:
originally I wanted to make a
second guitar line for
"favours" putting my capodaster
in the 9th fret, I really like
the sound of the guitar with
a capo making it higher,
and sounding fragile in a way.
What came out was the intro of
"empty stairs", which
is somehow a song about Berlin.
Berlin has so much space,
the streets are broad,
but full, houses have huge,
broad stairways, in my house really
old and rotten, and sometimes
it can really feel strange to be in
these stairways, you feel so small.
and there’s me looking for more silence.
It’s a song about being on your
own with your thoughts
and feelings.
(Next are the lyrics – AEN)
Empty Stairs
the drunken flower on my bedside table
makes me think of you
its colour it is lilac
and its inner centre it is
blue
it is blue
the nightbird`s singing badly
it came out of tune
the moon glows in the dark
but that’s a wasted view
a wasted view for me
caus I'm staring at the ceiling
waiting for my lie
to break through
save your tears for another song
call me up tonight
only to say hello
not a thought behind
and now I'm finding myself sitting
on your stairs
a family of leftovers
dancing in my brain
save your tears for another song
call me up tonight
only to say hello
not a thought behind
----------------
the flower is gone now, it couldn’t
stand the dark days (there’s a white
rose now instead)
and the song "favour",
hmm.. I'm not sure, if I’ll ever
finish it.
Setting Sun:
Also interesting to see you have recorded a track
with "escape the day" – namely ‘still’ –
can you also tell us a little bit about this track as
it is certainly a little different from your solo
stuff (but lovely still)
Lina Paul:
I met Lars and florian from "escape the day" because
they wanted me to sing on their record "ghostless",
Lars wrote and sang "still" and we just tried out,
what I could add to it. it was nice to figure out how
our voices could drift up to and apart, it
was a great, relaxed
work and a good time we had.
Setting Sun:
What’s next for yourself? Do you
have a release planned for your tracks
/ maybe even a concert or two?
Lina Paul:
this year was a very full year, and
it’s the first year I started showing my
own music- so that’s all
very new to me. A release
or a concert would be great,
but I have nothing planned yet.
Setting Sun:
Anyway, a few questions to wind down with..
Firstly, where are you from?
What’s the music scene like
where you are from? Have you
seen any good concerts recently?
Lina Paul:
I’m born in cologne but Hamburg
is something like my hometown
and currently I’m living in
Berlin and Hamburg.
so many things are happening
in Berlin at the same
time, that I cant really
tell, what the music scene
seems like here.
I have been to a concert
off "the white birch" a little
while ago, but
it was a very beautiful
concert. A friend of mine
had to draw them for a newspaper
and the only place left,
where we could see something
properly was half behind
the stage-
very interesting view……..
Setting Sun:
What would you like to be
doing when you are 60?
Lina Paul:
going for long walks, sitting in
my garden, between
flowers and strawberries,
making music
Setting Sun:
Lastly, What will you be
doing when you are 60?
Lina Paul:
making long long long
walks, come home, pick a
flower(in my garden?)
