Between jazz, honesty and intuition.
The American artist talks about her musical training, her creative process and what she expects from her first meeting with the Mexican public.
With a proposal that moves between jazz, indie and pop with total naturalness, Mei Semones has built an intimate and detailed sound universe, where technique coexists with emotion. A few days before her presentation in Mexico City, the composer reflects on her musical path, from her first piano lessons to the construction of her current sound, in addition to sharing what is coming on her next EP and what it means to play in front of a new audience.
Indie Rocks!: I would like to start by talking a little about how you started playing music, especially the guitar, and your musical training. Can you tell me about your first approaches to music?
Mei Semones: I started playing music because my grandmother bought my sister and me a piano when we were four years old. I started taking piano lessons, mainly classical music. Then, around age 11, I switched to guitar and started taking guitar lessons.
In high school, my school had a really good jazz program, so I started playing jazz there and I really liked it. Then I wanted to go deeper into it and I went to Berklee College of Musicwhere I mainly studied jazz guitar, in addition to the general curriculum that everyone has to take.
That would be like a summary of how I started in music.
GO!: How was the transition from studying jazz to developing this very particular style that mixes pop, jazz and other genres?
MS: I think it comes from both sides. On the one hand, jazz comes directly from studying and practicing in school: transcribing music, learning standards and all that.
On the other hand, when I was younger, before getting into jazz, I really liked bands like Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkinsmore on the rock side.
So, I feel like my current sound is a combination of everything I liked growing up and what I studied. It wasn't something planned, I just started writing music and this was what felt most natural and most true to who I am as a person and as an artist.
GO!: Listening to your music, the changes in tempo, the arrangements and the use of instruments such as strings draw a lot of attention. What is your composition process like?
MS: I write the songs on my own: the chords, the structure, the lyrics, the melody, all that. It first exists as a song on guitar and voice.
Then I brought her to my band, with whom I have played since college. I've known some of them since freshman year, so we've been playing together for like seven years.
From there, we all make arrangements. We have string sessions with the violist and violinist, and rhythm sessions with drums and bass.
As far as writing the specific parts of each instrument, I leave it more up to them. I rather give a general idea of the dynamics and feel I'm looking for, and then we play the song many times until it's ready.
GO!: Speaking of your sound, your guitar tone is very particular. How did you come to that sound and using that instrument?
MS: I have always preferred a softer, rounder tone, with marked bass. It's something I've liked since I started playing.
It also comes from the guitarists I listened to, like Wes Montgomery, Jim Hall either Joe Pass.
I have never been one to use pedals, I usually connect the guitar directly to the amplifier because I like that natural sound.
The guitar PRS It came because, in my third year of university, my dad wanted to give me a professional instrument before I graduated. We went to a store in the United States called Sweetwater and I spent about eight hours testing guitars.
In the end, the one I liked the most was the PRS. I didn't know the brand very well, but I loved the sound of it, so that's the one I chose.
GO!: You are about to perform in Mexico. What do you expect from this concert and from the Mexican public?
MS: I don't have many specific expectations. I just hope that people enjoy the show, that they like it and that they want to continue listening to my music afterwards.
But I do imagine that the public will be very warm, very open and very receptive, from what I have heard from people who have been to Mexico.
GO!: You're also about to release a new EP. What can we expect from this material?
MS: It is an EP of three songs, each one with a different collaborator.
The first one has already come out and it is with Liana Floresan artist in London who is a friend of mine.
The second is with my friend John Roseboroughwho lives in New York.
And the third is with my dad, who plays the euphonium in the song.
The idea was just to make music with people I love and enjoy working with.
GO!: For someone who hasn't heard your music, what song would you recommend as an entry point?
MS: I would say “Dumb Feeling”. It's the first song from our debut album Animadu and I feel like people really like it.
Mei Semones will be presented next April 19 at the La Paz Forum.
