Embrace the half light, where dreams take flight.
Liv Monaghan delivers a truly comforting acoustic jazz work. Read our discussion with the artist below!
Describe your sound in 3 words
Honest, Soulful, Poetic
Tell us a few things about First Light. What is the main idea behind it?
It’s my second album. This is an exploration of inner worlds. It is unapologetically feminine. There is a gentleness in the overall production that I wanted to be like an elegant flower or a very soft inner whisper.
Artists and people that have influenced you?
When I very young, pre school age, I watched a lot of ballet recordings. I sometimes say that I was raised by the ballerinas because they left such an important mark on me. I loved their costumes and their grace and the drama of the music.. I remember being about 4 and being deeply shocked by the scene in Gisele where she dies of a broken heart, I can still remember this feeling and sit in it – I am fascinated by time and how we move through it, and moments like that that I can dive back into actually connect me with my child-self iwhich I need to be aligned with to create. I also love Joni Mitchell and Emily Dickinson.
Can you tell us about your journey from Ireland to Paris and how living in different cultural environments has influenced your music?
Moving to France helped me come back to my self. I think when you’re surrounded by the cultural norms that you grow up in and are always exposed to and when you lean into that, especially in teenage years, you can lose your true self and you can become bland and sort of like everyone else, because it’s so comfortable to do so. It’s also encouraged. Moving to a country with a foreign language, where I knew no one, actually gave me the space and safety to align with what I believe is my true self.
As a lover of the “left-behind” and “old things,” how do you draw inspiration from the past while creating something new and relevant for contemporary listeners?
When I say I like old things I mean it like I like collage and thrift stores. I use memories and thoughts like some artists use newspaper cuttings to create an image. I pull from the past to give old ghosts a new chance. I re-tell stories to put lonely souls to rest.
If the music of Liv Monaghan was a film, which film would that be?
Oh, do you mean a film that’s already been made? I love that film Aftersun. It was one of the most beautiful things I’d seen in a long time. I don’t think my music would necessarily be a good soundtrack for that movie, but I relate to and admire how Charlotte Wells created something so close to magic in the subtlety of that very tender and very heart breaking film.
If you could change anything about the music industry, what would it be?
Only one thing? I think it would be nice if they valued quality over stats.
One thing we should know about you?
I’m a big fan of cats and equality.
Thank you!
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Follow our Spotify Playlist “Reinvented Eclectic” feat. Liv Monaghan
Secret Eclectic 