Dora Lachaise & Jonni Slater recently teamed up to create a wonderful new EP titled Weather Balloons, which consists of five amazing new tracks, all with a dark vibe to them. It’s a very unique sounding record, and it sounds all the more better for it. You can find a taste of the EP at the end of this interview if you haven’t checked it out yet.
By Jane Howkins
You recently released an EP titled Weather Balloons. What can you tell us about the EP?
Dora: It’s a collection of five dark duets between Jonni Slater and me. No epic love ballads, but brooding songs about UFO conspiracy theories, the capitalist dream, a criminal pursuit and two love songs that don’t end happily. We were originally inspired by Nick Cave’s ‘murder ballad’ duets with Kylie Minogue and PJ Harvey.
How has the reception to the EP been so far, and where can the songs be purchased?
Jonni: We wanted to create something haunting and a bit mysterious and from the reaction we’ve had I think we’ve managed to deliver that for our audience. We had a great EP launch show at the Old Hairdresser’s in Glasgow at the start of June, with film projections to accompany the live music; that show had a really great atmosphere and we couldn’t have been happier with how the evening went. We’ve also had radio airplay from BBC Scotland and Amazing Radio, among others. The two singles are out on Spotify and other streaming platforms, but the full EP is currently only available from Bandcamp or directly from us at gigs.
A single titled Sign on the Door was also released. What can you tell us about the track?
Dora: In Sign on the Door, I’m an agent of authority chasing Jonni. The atmosphere of the track goes from very calm and quiet as I stake out a derelict building he’s hiding in, to an unexpected outburst in the second verse. I got to sing loudly in a low register, which made me feel like I was channelling Shirley Bassey in Goldfinger. In the end, the track grows quiet again, as Jonni’s behind bars.
Jonni: I was happy with how the video for this one turned out. We gathered footage in a whole range of places over a few months, from old Soviet-era trains in Latvia to an abandoned farmhouse on Dartmoor and a decommissioned prison in Somerset, and wove it all into a story. Narrative videos take longer to make than a live performance or lip-synching, but very satisfying when it all comes together. The video can be found on Youtube.
Do you plan to release any more singles from the EP? Are there any plans to release a full-length album anytime soon?
Jonni: There will be two more singles to come from this record. Bluer Skies, which is all about the unrealistically perfect world we’re promised through advertising. And Keep It in the Dark, a love song inspired by Japanese ideas of beauty. We both have plans for solo albums in the next year, so that will be the focus of the next few months.
Do you have anything else exciting coming up this year?
Jonni: I’m currently working on a soundtrack for a short film by director Sam Coombes. It’s a quirky story about a young woman struggling to say “I love you” to her partner and the whole thing turns into a comically surreal nightmare sequence. The musical references for the film were all old-school funk and soul, so it’s been great fun to work on.
Dora: I’m working on a Christmas single. A Nightmare Before Christmas-type affair featuring an obsessive ghost and a happy or unhappy end, depending on your point of view.
The EP was recorded at Vibey Studios in France. How did that come about, and how was the experience?
Dora: I received an email from producer James Sanger. He’d heard some of my music online and invited us to come and work with him at his studio in Normandy.
Jonni: We took the ferry over to hang out for a week and worked on a few ideas together. James had the idea that the songs should be hard to place in time, and he brought a range of unusual analogue sounds and recording techniques to our sessions that gave us the direction for the sound of the record.
Dora: He dared me to explore the expressive limits of my voice, from a big, confident sound on Sign on the Door to the slightest whisper on Keep It in the Dark. We took those initial recordings away and developed them further back in the UK, also writing two more songs in the same kind of style that Jonni produced.
Your music has quite a unique sound. What/who influences you most as artists? What have you been listening to recently?
Dora: Influences you might hear in my writing are the ethereal atmospheres of gothic metal and dissonant chords from old jazz. My current favourite band is The Amazing Devil – the band of Joey Batey, who plays Jaskier in The Witcher. I also get inspired by friends who write and perform music, especially Catherine Rudie, Siobhan Wilson and Ember Quine, and other art forms such as painting and photography.
Jonni: I’d agree that my biggest influences have been the independent singer-songwriters and bands who we’ve met in recent years. Seeing the creative process and being drawn in to the imaginative lyrics of artists like Becci Wallace has really pushed me to experiment more with my own writing. My musical tastes and enthusiasms have broadened out over the years, from a rock background, through electronic music to jazz and more groove-based music.
You’re based in Glasgow. What is the local music scene like at the moment?
Jonni: There’s a lot going on here. We both moved up recently from Bristol, which also has a good music scene, but we instantly felt very welcome here. There’s no shortage of amazing songwriters and performers in a diverse range of genres.
Dora: I’m going to so many great gigs, from folk and singer-songwriter nights to rap and alternative rock. And Glasgow’s got a busy open mic scene, which is excellent for meeting other musicians.
Do you have any tour dates lined up for the UK?
Dora: We’re making an appearance on the SongSeeds stage at Mugstock in Scotland, in the first weekend of August.
Jonni: I’m also playing a number of shows across the summer as keyboardist for Becci Wallace and for Ant Thomaz, who both have new records either in the making or just released.
Any last words for the fans?
Dora: Thank you for listening!