Plum Green - Interview

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Published on Sunday, 24 September 2023 18:52

Born in a squat in Brixton (England), raised in New Zealand, and presently residing in Melbourne (Australia), Plum Green is an artist who can take you easily with her music into the poignant dreamy, dark world. Plum Green has released three EPs, two albums, Rushes and Somnambulistic, and some singles. The latest album, Somnambulistic, was released by Nefarious Industries in September 2021 and is an entrancing nine-track album of dark lullabies. The songs on the album flow on from each other to form one overarching dream as a narrative. It's a protection spell against the horrors of the world without completely ignoring them. Described as luscious, dark and deeply literate, Plum Green's music and lyrics have always had this mix of youthful wisdom, naive worldliness, and corrupt innocence, which makes them heady and intriguing. Her shows are intimate affairs where time seems to draw to a standstill; her sheer ability to hold an audience with just her voice and a guitar is something to be witnessed in person to truly comprehend. Accompanied by guitarist Daniel Cross and bassist Duncan Nairn, there is an intensity to the proceedings. The pair, Plum and Daniel, are often working together in a subconscious state of euphonious symbiosis. We had a chance to talk with Plum Green right after the band concluded its show, which took place in an ancient cemetery in Buje (Croatia).

Interview with: Plum Green
Conducted by: Tomaz, Jerneja
Edited by: Jerneja

Tomaz: Congratulations on the amazing show you delivered tonight. How was it for you?
Plum Green: Thank you! I felt amazing. I feel like I have forged some quite strong bonds with other musicians on this tour. It is very special to have these connections with some amazing European musicians - as a New Zealander. I'm so happy, yeah.

Tomaz: Have you played in Europe before?
Plum Green: Yes. It was in 2018. It was quite an adventure. We were playing in Europe for the first time. It was such a huge adventure that I wrote a novel about it, which I give to people who follow me on Patreon.

Jerneja: But you've probably never played on an ancient graveyard, or?
Plum Green: No, never, haha. It's just so very special. In 2018, we played at Soulkostel. It's a converted church that was a couple hundred years old, owned by a friend of mine and located at the border between Poland and the Czech Republic. He turned it into a music venue. Also, Jarboe of Swans played there. I couldn't believe it when we got there, it was just so very beautiful. He locked the front door with a huge key, and everything felt like a fairytale.

Tomaz: Your latest album, Somnambulistic, was released two years ago... How do you perceive it now?
Plum Green: It's a weird one, and I never felt like this with any recording we've ever done before that. I still really love it and feel very emotional about it. Writing it, I experienced so many huge heights. I felt high from writing it, and the recording process was so beautiful. All of the involved musicians are very close friends of mine. It just went so smoothly. I still feel love and happiness, and I'm still very proud of it.

Jerneja: Do you compose the music and write the lyrics all by yourself?
Plum Green: I compose the songs like a skeleton form. I play the acoustic guitar, so I write the songs and lyrics that way. Daniel Cross, who is my guitarist and producer, helps to fill up the noises. He plays the ambient/atmospheric guitar. Both of us also made a lot of effects to record the soundscapes. We went to a graveyard in Australia, we recorded thunder and lightning, cats pouring, and stuff like that. Some friends of mine told me that the more that they listen to Somnambulistic, the more they hear certain sounds they couldn't hear the first time around. The music is so layered and intricate.

Jerneja: Today, I saw somebody playing guitar with a bow for the first time. Was this an idea of your guitarist?
Plum Green: I'm pretty sure it was his idea, but I'm also sure that it has been done many times before. Nevertheless, he's very inventive and very unique. Daniel thinks creatively all the time. I came to him completely out of the blue, and I think he's a very talented artist.

Tomaz: And what about the lyrics? Okay, you explained one during the show (the inspiration came from waiting outside the liquor store, haha). But what's the main inspiration?
Plum Green: All of my songs have a double meaning. So, they have a service meaning and another one that comes from much deeper. I like to hear from people what they think the song is about. Somnambulistic was mainly inspired by those vivid dreams that I have, especially when I go through periods of sadness and depression. Somnambulistic is a journey for me out of that. It's the darkest, scariest, coldest and sadest part of my life, but throughout the album, it moves in and out into the other side. That's where the songs like "Here We Go" and "Belleza Nocturna" come in. To me, it symbolizes letting go of sadness, letting go of depression, feeling pain, processing it and letting it go. I want to create something comforting for people who are going through the same thing. This is a message that it does get really hard, it does get really dark, it's painful, and life is hard. There's no turning away, you have to experience it, and things get better eventually.

Tomaz: I'm especially interested in one song that caught my attention the most: "Eyes Shut". It has a darkwave vibe mixed with indie pop and reminds me a bit of Lana Del Rey...
Plum Green: Oh, really? Oh my gosh, me and my friends were listening a lot to Lana Del Rey, actually. I like black metal, atmospheric and dark stuff, but here and there, I like to hear some pop of Lana Del Rey. She's my guilty pleasure. This is a huge compliment, thank you. With that song, I wanted to leave a little bit to people to unfurl for themselves. For me, "Eyes Shut" is about acknowledging that you are going through something that is too heavy to even begin to process. When you are going through something really hard, you have to break down your life and focus on small, simple things, just to get through the day. When life feels too hard, too heavy, too much,... you have to make things smaller to be able to survive. It's a lullaby as well, so you can have a good sleep, haha.

Jerneja: When you speak, like now, you have a different voice than when you sing. When you sing, it's such a velvety one, and when speaking, a girlish, very young voice.
Plum Green: Yeah, I think it's because of my Kiwi accent. The way that I sing is definitely from my soul. I'm not trying to be anyone else, and I keep my Kiwi accent when I sing. It bothers me, for example, if people sing in an American accent and they are not Americans, if they learned to speak English in America and have nothing to do with America. I try to be as authentic as possible because I think that's the only way you can represent your soul.

Tomaz: Are you already working on a new release, since it's already over two years of your last one?
Plum Green: I've been writing a new album. I'm experimenting and trying to find a sound that I want. I want to do something similar to Somnambulistic, but I don't want to do the same thing. I must progress. I've been thinking that if we do another European tour again, we'll take a drum machine with us. I want also to experiment a little bit more with distorted electric guitars but still maintain the storytelling characteristics of Somnambulistic.

Tomaz: Does this mean we can expect a bit heavier record?
Plum Green: Yes, I hope so. We, as a band, and all the other musicians we are working with, like heavy music, and it would be nice to incorporate a bit of that. But just because we listen to heavier music, it doesn't mean it comes out when we write music. There must be some good balance here.

Jerneja: And, which bands/music do you like to listen to?
Plum Green: I'm listening to a wide range of stuff. There are so many amazing bands. Right now, I really like Wolves In The Throne Room, Rotting Christ, and Thy Light,... but there are so many.

Jerneja: You being from New Zealand, how many opportunities are there to play live shows?
Plum Green: I actually haven't lived there for ten years. I live in Melbourne, Australia, now. Nevertheless, I love to see my friends playing with their bands, and I really enjoy the metal scene they have here. It is very good for R'n'B and rap as well, but for the kind of music we play, unless you are really big, it can be quite difficult. Many huge bands from all over the world come to play live there. Melbourne is a city full of artists, so you are often playing for each other. So, it can be difficult, and we prefer to play shows in small areas. I like to play music in weird places. Anywhere but a bar these days. Bars are okay, but there are so many funny places to put a show on. We are thinking of doing regional tours around Australia.

Tomaz: The album Somnambulistic was released via the record label Nefarious Industries...
Plum Green: Yes, they are an amazing small label from New York. I love them. They are good to us. The label specializes in everything that is unique, weird and that other people wouldn't probably listen to. I would like to release my next record also with them. It's just really hard because they are in America, and as New Zealanders, we can't tour there. They would like to help us with that, but they can't really. There's an option to find a label in Europe which can help us, but we don't know yet.

Tomaz: So you are open for labels?
Plum Green: I wouldn't say no to a label willing to help us. To tour in America is a thing we can't do, but we would love to.

Tomaz: You haven't yet played at any festivals. Are there any plans for that as well?
Plum Green: Well, we were booked at a fantastic Autumn Moon festival in 2020 but then Covid happened, and we couldn't play anymore, unfortunately. We met some organizers on this tour, and hopefully, something will happen. If we have an opportunity to play any festival in Europe we will jump at a chance.

Tomaz: How hard, logistically and all that, is for a musician like you, coming from Australia, to organize a tour in Europe or the USA. What are the major problems?
Plum Green: Regarding America, honestly, for us, the opportunity is there. Our label has offered to organize a tour and drive us anywhere, but we just can't go. We don't have thousands of dollars to apply for visas. Booking a European tour - things have changed since Covid-19. It's definitely harder because many venues we knew have closed down or have tons of musicians who were already booked before and are waiting to play in line. We still managed somehow to book a tour, and everybody was incredibly lovely, welcoming and friendly. We really appreciate all that. Booking a tour is hard, no matter what, but it wasn't that horrible after all.

Jerneja: Do you consider moving to Europe - to get more opportunities and potentially more listeners?
Plum Green: We were actually planning to move to Hungary. I know that it's a weird choice. We were there before. We already had our storage ready to put in a container into the sea and travel to Budapest, but Covid-19 hit, and we were unable to go. Things have changed significantly since then, and it has become much harder for us to move. But it doesn't mean we can't continue to tour and communicate with people from here.

Tomaz: One more question about the album Somnambulistic; what does the title actually mean?
Plum Green: Somnambulism is an English word that means sleepwalking. When I was very little, I saw the silent movie Nosferatu. There is one line, actually a voiceover that says: "He rose in a somnambulistic dream". It has really stuck with me, and I used to write the word over and over again. I didn't realize that the word somnambulistic or somnambulism has been used a lot before in music. At least I haven't seen it before. Somnambulistic hasn't been used before, so I decided to make it alive in music. I never made a decision to make any music based on marketing or on what it's easy to say or comprehend for people. I just go with what feels right, and this felt right to me.

Jerneja: Speaking of names and titles... When I typed in Google Plum Green, there was this fruit with its nutrition facts, different cosmetic products, and such stuff...
Plum Green: Haha, yes. My grandparents were Eastern European immigrants; they immigrated to London, England. That is where I was born. Through that process, they changed their names to Green because it was easy for them to say since they didn't know much English. A lot of people around them were changing their names. That's where the name Green comes from, and Plum is the name that my mother gave me, and it has nothing to do with cosmetics. It's a bit unfortunate, I suppose, but I stick with it. I guess the fruit with this name will always be more famous than me, no matter what I do.

Tomaz: I always thought that Plum Green was your solo project, but I see now that it's a proper band. Isn't it?
Plum Green: Yeah. We tried to change the name, but the bass player, Duncan, was really not into changing it. He likes the name Plum Green. Yes, we are a band, and it's not only me, so it's kind of embarrassing sometimes. It feels like a bit of a shame, and I hope that even if it's my name, people will recognize us as a band.

Tomaz: Can you reveal some details about your next album, such as the title, release date, etc.?
Plum Green: Hmm, a friend of mine has been sitting behind the table with me during one of the eases during the lockdown we had in Melbourne, because it was the most lockdowned city in the world, I think. She came over, and we had a drink together. She told me that when she was born, there was a huge storm raging. There was wind and rain, and everything just went crazy outside. I said to her that she was a Stormborn, and I really liked the name. Then I found out the name was used in Game Of Thrones, which I never watched, so I think that I'll have to give up on that. I'll have to do some deep introversion and make some discoveries. Duncan will come from New Zealand to record with us in the studio that we have in our house. Those are the only plans we have so far. I don't know when the album can be expected but hopefully, the next time we tour in Europe, the album will be out.

Jerneja: Do you plan to go with the same strategy regarding releasing singles/videos as with Somnambulistic?
Plum Green: I think that would be wise. What do you think? For Somnambulistic, I was lucky because a close friend of mine made me some really nice music videos. Those videos are very colourful and in his very own style. I like to make music videos for myself, and I think I'll continue making them on my own.

Jerneja: You compose the music with acoustic guitar. How old were you when you started to play guitar?
Plum Green: That's a really good question. I think I must have been a teenager. I remember that I begged for violin lessons. A friend of our family gave us a church organ, and I played that for a while. Then I begged and begged for a guitar. My parents couldn't afford one, but my mother was a school teacher at the time, and she borrowed an acoustic guitar for me. I must have been around 14 or 15 years old. I'm not a very good guitarist. I practice a lot, and I play it for quite a long time now. I also enjoy playing the guitar very much, but I'm not the best player.

Jerneja: Thank you, Plum, and for the finish - any words for our readers and your listeners?
Plum Green: Thank you both for the interview and for coming tonight. It was very lovely to meet you. I'm so excited just to be here. Thank you so much for supporting music. Many Europeans I meet seem to be very supportive, enthusiastic, generous, warm, perceptive and amazing audiences. It's so beautiful to have this experience. Keep the music alive, keep the tradition of going to see the music played live. I'm very grateful.

Live photos by: Tomaz

Plum Green links: Official website, Facebook, Instagram, Bandcamp, YouTube

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