Posted on February 9, 2010 - by Mark Zonda

Tighten Up Your Tie, Button Up Your Jacket, Listen to Felili

Felili was a nice discover on the broad indie underground often way too dark to discover brand new gems lost between (my)spaces and tiny productions. They still deserve a lot, and the chanteuse Felili was able to persuade me with her kweel musical taste (Amy Winehouse, Neneh Cherry, Charlotte Hatherley could easily find a suitable place in her songs) and an album clever enough to blend different sounds and genres without losing personality. Here’s our little chat with the artist.

Mark Zonda: Felili, a new artist on the scene! How did your passion for music began and which are the musical directions that your project is following?

Felili: it all began at the age of 3, my mom showed me how to play my short stack of 45s, which included Olivia Newton John ‘Lets get Physical’, Lionel Richie/Diana Ross ‘Endless Love’, Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do) by Christopher Cross, and ‘Ebony and Ivory’ by Stevie Wonder/Paul McCartney.  i could play those records over and over, acting out the songs and performing for my family.  it became a thing.
As far as musical directions, the project is taking the direction of a new pop sound that is 3 dimensional, human, and genuine.  its sound is very reflective of my co-writer/producer/instrumentalist, zach landreneau, who is responsible for all the beats, and also of tony maimone, who co-produced ‘hotel’ and mixed the album, bringing the reggae soul, that i love so much.  both artists have a wide range of talents, tony has even played with jeff buckley!!  ‘the moon’ also reflects my wide range of influences, it took a while to make sense of it all and create a style.   i hope to take this project on the road and share a fun, live, danceable set, where people are feeling my lyrics and singing along.

Mark Zonda: “Let’s get physical” is a great track and had always some kind of strange appeal on me. Just think that the funny thing is that I discovered that song on summer 2002! What’s the perfect reciepe to write a song built to last in time?

Felili: I don’t think there is a recipe.  to me, thinking about a recipe when you write a song could give you just the opposite, no?  because whether a song is timeless requires that time passes in order to tell, kind of funny to think about when i wish for my music to last in time.  but there is no way to know, you can only make the music. it might depend on the who is playing or singing the song.  artists like stevie wonder, write a lot of music, a lot.  not to mention his gift of performing.  do you think he set out to write music people will like for decades?  probably not exactly. he seems to love what he performs as if it is his favorite timeless music.  when we recorded hotel, it was produced in a small time frame towards the end of the production.  we didn’t have any idea that we would end up choosing it as the first single.  tony told me a story about tina turner and the song ‘what’s love got to do with it’; how it was the last track recorded, squeezed into the tailend of production, and that tina didn’t like it or somthing like that.  but it ended up being such a timeless hit.  i would have to say that ‘let’s get physical’ now gives me more of a nostalgic feeling, then say, listening to shugie otis, some of his tracks still sound sound fresh and new.

Mark Zonda: Do you remember when you wrote your first song?

Felili: Yes i do.  It happened for me a little late, at 22.  I wrote a song using the only chords i knew on the guitar, E, A, D

Mark Zonda: What was your first song about? Do you remember the day you wrote it?

Felili:my first song was called ‘october mourning’, about being in an unhappy relationship that you somehow can’t get out of.  it is a dark, bluesy track and it really set me up to continue my songwriting.  i had never written about myself before, and it all came out of a stream of consciousness.  was a new feeling, i felt vulnerable and strong at the same time.

Mark Zonda:  Who are your musical heroes and which one impressed you the most?
Felili: Nina Simone, Diane Cluck, Bob Marley, Radiohead, Fugazi.  Although each one i mentioned has impressed upon me the meaning on individuality, originality, purpose, and soul, Diane Cluck is hardly well-known and her music is so honest and raw, and she doesn’t seem to bother with all the hype of growing her fanbase.  Its just about her music, her voice, and her words.

Mark Zonda: Don’t know anything about Diane. Introduce me to her music…

Felili: Diane Cluck! She has a unique intensity and musicality.  i saw her once play solo and she blew me away.  Ibought one of her CD, sleeve was made with pink construction paper sewn together.

Mark Zonda: Which are your relationships with Hotels, and what lead you to write that song?

Felili: Despite the upbeat feeling, this song is in many ways about false empowerment, as the singer is in denial of needing true loving relationships, justified by this idea that she is stronger for it.  And there was a time when I truly felt like I was all alone, and really thought that was the way it was supposed to be.  The ‘hotel’ is like a symbol for a place of false contentment, where the secret is that I’m afraid to be love and be loved.
Deep huh :)

Mark Zonda:  Tell us a little about the musical scen on brooklyn. What’s notable in there?

Felili: Brooklyn is full of artists and scenes and i have to say it has been a process finding a scene I belong to as I have always been one to enjoy and appreciate them all.  Definitely there is an DIY avante garde scene that is quite notable; people throwing their own rooftop parties showing experimental films with live performances of all sorts.  My sister, Bunny Rabbit, has been part of a growing scene that I call electro-beat new-age expressionism, a sort of manifestation of visual art meets music that NYC is famous for…she is hot.

Mark Zonda: Then I guess I should be introduced to your sister as well!

Felili: Well I guess so!  Her name is Bunny Rabbit.  Here is a link to her most recent project called Follower: (www.myspace.com/followerfollower)  Her first album, Lovers and Crypts was released under the Voodoo Eros label.

Felili – “I See”

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