A Q&A with ALYA

ALYA:  classically trained lyric soprano blends contemporary pop with cinematic drama…

What’s the title of your latest release, and what does it mean to you?
‘Believer’. The song was inspired by the film The Shape of Water. It’s about finding yourself in the eyes of the person who truly loves you – that moment when somebody sees you clearly, and you see yourself in the way they are looking at you. For that to be possible, takes a kind of faith you can’t reason your way into. You have to become a believer.

What was the hardest part about putting this release together, and why?
Letting it go for others to be inspired. The song was made years ago, and the more time passed, the more it seemed not to sit with the rest of the album. However, there’s a point where you have to accept that a song has finished being yours privately, and put it out anyway. That was harder than even recording this personal song.

Who produced the release – what did they bring to it? If you produced it yourselves what do you enjoy most about producing your own material?
Tim Carmon and Breana Marin. I co-wrote the song with Breana a while ago, and Tim brought new life to it – he heard what it could become rather than what it already was. That’s the thing a great producer gives you: someone willing to say “that’s beautiful” (or not), and knows when to say “it’s done.” I needed that. Left alone I will over-arrange, and keep recording every time. I love the building process in producing the songs, seeing it from infancy to full adulthood is fascinating.

What do you want the listener to take away from listening to your music?
Presence – which is why the upcoming album is called In the Moment. Most of us are living slightly ahead of ourselves, bracing for the next thing. I want my record and songs to be able to keep a person motionless but moving emotionally forward. If one song makes a person put down their phone and feel something they’d been avoiding feeling, then the mission is completed.

How does a track normally come together? Can you tell us something about the process?
It starts visually. I’m a very visual person, so a song usually arrives first as an image or a pattern – something I can see before I can hear it. The melody comes after that, to a particular combination of words, and I take it to the piano or the bayan from there. There is always a story attached. I don’t know how to write a song that isn’t about an experience (be it my own or someone else) or the imagination of something and I let the sounds etc. interpret what I feel the words are conveying.

What band/artists have influenced you the most since you started this project, and why?
Classical music and Slavic folk music. Those are the two things underneath everything I write – the discipline and structure of one, the melodic language and the ache of the other. Of course I am a fan of artists such as Adele, Celine and Barbra Streisand (the divas). Beyond that it’s less about artists and more about individual songs – ‘Tears in Heaven’ by Eric Clapton is one I keep returning to, and I later had the great opportunity to collaborate with him.

What countries would you like to tour? Are there any standout venues you’d like to play in?
Japan, without question – I’ve been studying the language and I’ve spent time in Tokyo recently, and the way audiences react to music there is remarkable. The UK is next on the list; the Royal Albert Hall is the obvious dream, but I’d honestly rather play somewhere like Union Chapel first, where you can hear the room breathe. I’d love to make my way to Eastern Europe – singing this material in the part of the world I came from would mean a great deal to me. But honestly, I’ll go wherever my listeners need me. This is ultimately about giving something away, not about fulfilling a wish list of my own.

If you could pick one track for our readers to listen to in order to get a taste of your music, what would you pick, and why?
‘Believer’. It’s the clearest statement of what I’m trying to do – the pop instinct and the classical instrument in the same three minutes, neither one apologising for the other. If somebody hears that and wants more, everything else on my upcoming record In the Moment will have them begging for more.

What ambitions do you have for the band/your career?
To keep making records that don’t sit neatly in one category, and to take them out live with real players. I’d like to prove that an audience for orchestral pop sung properly still exists – I believe that audiences have been offered less than what they truly crave/want. Beyond that: I want to write songs that outlive the release cycle they were made for.

Finally, as you leave the stage, what are your parting words?
Thank you for sharing with me. Please go home and hug, love on, or call the person you were thinking about as you listen to my songs. I wish nothing but love and the best for you all!

Find out more about ALYA at alyaofficial.com