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| (Photo Credit: Sierra Eleby-Francis) |
Music has the power to completely alter your emotional state of mind within a matter of minutes. Morgane Fouse, who goes by the name GANOU, offers a calm and tranquil sound that can soothe you, even when you're in the worst mood.
I recently had the chance to sit down and chat with Morgane and talk about her inspirations, what it's like singing, writing, and producing her own music, her recent album release party, and more.
Check out the interview below
I'm gonna start with an obvious question *laughs* Who would you say are your main musical influences?
I love this question; my first influences were everything that I listened to when I was a kid. I didn't know this until a couple years ago, but my dad would play The Roots when I was little, like their first album; that's where I got the hip-hop influence from. He was also playing Jazz all the time, so growing up with Jazz I got really into Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan; they're my idols singing wise. My mom would play like African music and Reggae and also really crazy instrumental classical musical. I think that's where I got my love for reverb and space and stuff because we would go on long car rides and we would listen to music where there would be like wind chimes, and I don't even know how else to describe it *laughs*. In elementary school and high school, that was all just radio stuff and coming out of high school, I got into IDM and EDM. I love the way it makes me feel, I just love getting up and dancing *laughs*. Going into college my first boyfriend got me into Indie music and that's when I found out about Bon Iver and he was first artist that I really connected with that was able to bring out emotion in his music. My biggest influence is probably James Blake; I remember listening to him and he just had that reverb/space music, but his voice is amazing too. I have trouble hearing lyrics, so when I listen to people like Bon Iver and James Blake, it didn't matter what they were saying because I got so much emotion out of their music as a whole.
What inspired you to pursue music as a career?
When I was in high school, I loved choral music; I was always in choral competitions and different choirs and chamber choirs. Then I got into vocal competitions and eventually linked up with some guitarists who were like "I have these cool guitars, but I don't have anyone to sing with". I started working with guitarists and making really cool music and people were telling me that I should think about doing my own thing, so I looked into it. Luckily, I was a control freak, so I didn't like the idea of other people making music for me, so that's when I dove into production. I immediately started doing some stuff on garage band and making my own reverb delays, and I was like "This is it!". My whole album is like everything that I've done in the last 3 years, so I'm excited to see what I can create in the future.
Being as though you produce your own music as well, is the creative process a little easier for you when it comes to working on a song or a project?
Yes, definitely. Most of the time I'll sit down to write a song with an intent, so it's easier for me to try to recreate that as opposed to me telling someone what I'm thinking. I've tried that a couple of times, but like I said, I'm a control freak *laughs*. The coolest thing about producing is that most times, I'll sit down with an intent or a motive for a song and I end up making a song out of mistakes that I've made from trying to make that song. That's one cool aspect of producing because I don't really know what I'm doing at all *laughs* Most of my songs are mistakes that turn into beautiful things *laughs*.
How has crowd reception been so far at your shows?
It's definitely progressing. I keep thinking back to my first shows and now it's just awkward to think about it *laughs*. It was awkward and the most I got of it was people going "You have potential", which was cool, but probably my last 5 to 10 shows have been really great; I'm starting to see people that I don't even know just come out to support me and the biggest thing now is the feedback between the audience and me. At this point I don't think I have anything to do with my shows, it's all about what the audience brings to the table; if the audience is there to feed me something, that's when I can give that back to them. It's all a crazy cycle and it's really cool to see the support from different artists, so I have to focus on the music, remaining humble, and thanking people.
What would say has been one of the biggest lessons you've learned so far?
Not giving up, that's gotta be the biggest one. Especially being an artist that does everything myself, I'm very critical of myself. I've been working on this album for months and I would just stop because I would listen to it and be like "This is awful; this isn't what I wanna release to people", just being so self critical. Sometimes it was the aid of other people and sometimes it was putting something down for a couple of months then picking it up and realizing that I had to keep doing it. There's so many point where I almost gave up, but there was some driving factor that kept me going. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you hear yourself, if there are people telling you that you have to go for it, you just can't give up.
What inspires you to write songs and to produce beats to go with those songs?
I have no idea, that is inspiration right there. I don't understand what inspiration is, I don't know where it comes from, it just happens. Recently, I've tried to write music and I've failed and I think it's because I'll sit down and go "Okay, today I'm gonna make a song about this", but that's just not how it works. Honestly, all of the songs that I've written, I've gotten motivation out of the blue and a few hours later, I have the basis for a song, and a day later I have a song and I have no idea how it happens. When I try to force it, nothing comes from it, so it's one of those things where I have to dedicate myself everyday to music; if I'm not working on a song, I have to be working on something because I have to keep my mind stimulated. Science just proved that creativity can only continuously flow out of persistence, so I know that if I continue down this route, there will be a day when I can sit down and write a beautiful song about some intent. For now, I'm at inspirations feet *laughs*.
How was the experience of having your first album release party?
It was a complete learning experience; I didn't really know what was gonna come of it. Honestly, I owe everything to other people because when I look back on it, I really didn't do much at all. That album release party was more of a manifestation of the support from others like Meag, Ian, and Kenny; they all made that possible. I got a call from Ian and he was like "How do you feel about an album release party?" and I was like "Okay, yeah, let's go for it" *laughs*. I'm just the one saying yes to all of the decisions and all of these people put it together and it worked. Now that we've gone through it, I feel like it was a learning experience for all of us so next time we'll know how to go about things; like we had some technical difficulties and I'm happy that I was able to point that out. Next time we know to perform with a sub and some monitors and make sure we get the stage on time *laughs*. The stage was literally put together when the show was supposed to start, so it's all just a learning experience. At the end of the day, it couldn't have gone any better, so we were really happy with the result of the show.
Are there any artists that you would love to collaborate with?
James Blake *laughs* I love James Blake. I keep getting this question in interviews, so I'm gonna try to get it out to him. I love James Blake, if there's anyway that I'd be able to work with him in the future, that'd be awesome *laughs*. Also, Teebs is a huge influence of mine; I recently saw him perform at Union Transfer. He performed with an awesome female vocalist and seeing them perform I was just like "I wanna do that with someone" *laughs*. Hopefully in the next year, I'll be able to do things like that.
What advice would you give to anyone aspiring to get into the industry?
Don't give up, that's the biggest one. If you feel like you have a calling for music, the last thing you should do is give up. Also, build connections; if someone comes to you and wants to help you out, take them up on it. I feel like that's a blessing from God, that's usually a sign that you have potential. The music industry is very competitive, challenging, and intimidating, and you can't do it by yourself. You also have to dedicate yourself, so not giving up, building connections and dedicating yourself are the three things that could take you to the next level.
Check out GANOU's latest EP Catharsis below and be sure to follow her on Twitter and Soundcloud