An Interview with Shireen
We sat down to talk with the band Shireen! They are the geniuses behind the music in our Kickstarter video and we are in love with them <3!
Website: http://www.shireen-music.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcJGdGK4pTmwwHmnM19NBog
Tell us a bit about your music. How would you describe your style?
Annicke: We call our music Witchpop. Why? We wanted to capture the enigmatic atmosphere of our music in a term that at the same time reflects the down-to-earth magic realism which our lyrics deal with. You can consider the character Shireen an avatar of this new genre : )
From what do you draw your inspiration?
Annicke: Birds and dead birds!
What other artists do you admire / influence you?
Our vocalist (Annicke) draws much inspiration from artists like Kate Bush, Björk and Eivør Pálsdóttir, while the music takes in elements from great bands such as TOOL and Anathema, to name a few.
What previous work are you most proud of?
We are incredibly proud of the whole project surrounding UNMARKED, our debut EP. We have just released a music video for the title song and we could not be more pleased with the result! UNMARKED is a great milestone for our band and a fantastic result of all our efforts so far.
You music has a lot of beautiful imagery, do you write from personal experiences or are you influenced by other things?
Annicke: the lyrics and imagery that they convey have a very personal meaning for me. They come straight from the heart; I have to believe in the story and feelings I sing about! The result is a combination of deeply personal feelings as well as issues that anyone can relate to.
Are there any upcoming projects we should know about? Any shows we can attend?
The biggest event that we are looking forward to this year is the amazing Castlefest in Lisse, from 31 July to 2 August! We will be performing there each day. We are very thankful for this opportunity and proud to be part of such a great festival : ) Besides this, keep an eye out for events on our website of facebook page!
Band Members! If you were Fated in the world of WITCH, what Fate would you be?
Definitely the Djinn! Enforcers of the witch world, they are walking contradictions, and this is what we recognise in our music! When asked to describe our musical style, we have to resort to using world such as atmospheric, powerful, soothing, uplifting, dark, light… That’s what you get for walking on the borderlines between genres, we guess : )
If you could have any magical power, what would it be?
Being able to sing and drink coffee at the same time. That would open some doors.