Ravens Brain

Present yourself to the readers

Hi, I’m Louise Connor and I’m the singer for Lola + the Cosmic Getaway. I write the songs and ponder life’s peculiarities.
Hi, I’m Joel Hewitt and I’m the producer/composer and extremely average guitarist for Lola + the Cosmic Getaway. I also pilot the Getaway vehicle.

What’s the story for FIRE IN THE DARK ?

it’s a mixture of different tales to be honest. Inspired by our combined love for the unknown; the cosmos and so forth, and our irrelevance within it. It’s also about creation and how we unravel as individuals during our time here.

Who composes ?...How does it work in the duo ?

It works in two ways actually. Often Louise will come to me with a guitar hook or a Keys/Synth melody and I try and turn it into what is basically on the record.
The way it happens is that I will come up with the musical idea through using a looper pedal and try and sketch ideas out. Then I will hand it over to Louise and she will write a melody to it. It’s definitely a joint effort.
When we’re ready I will record all the parts myself, mix it and even do the mastering at the end. Basically I’m trying to improve as a producer so it’s a real labour of love for me.
I think the best way for me to come up with sounds is via my MS20 synthesiser by creating our synth Bass lines and then adding some nice rhythmic beats. I enjoy that the most I have to say.

Who writes the texts ?..What are they talking about ?..How does inspiration come ?

I write the lyrics in their entirety. In fact I’m quite overprotective and adamant that it’s only my thoughts and words that are transcribed and made into our songs.
What they are about? Well, I kind of leave that up to the listener. All I can say is I combine both fact and fiction; from the personal and not.
Inspiration comes by naturally through most things, usually by me being alone but it can be conjured up by the most inane things, but also depending on what frame of mind I’m in. It’s a very natural process...

Why the name LOLA + THE COSMIC GETAWAY ?

This is fairly straight forward for us... I usually call Louise “Lola” and we’re both always talking about things that we both don’t fully understand so we came up with a name that is quite fun, about a subject that is quite daunting when you get deep in thought about it.
Hence, Lola + the Cosmic Getaway (the + is important)

What are your personal musical tastes and your influences ?

I’m into music that’s mostly inspired by the 60’s and 70’s with artists like Led Zeppelin, Hendrix and Joni Mitchell but I can equally be influenced by more modern day versions of that sound with the likes of Tame Impala, Lana Del Rey and a whole host of world music, whether that may be Indian to middle-eastern or more ambient electronica in the form of Grimes and Fever Rey.
I’m a massive fan of ambient soundscapes and film scores. I was hypnotised by the Vangelis score of Blade Runner and that turned me on to this otherworldly sound that I like to try and incorporate into our music from time to time.
Artists like Makeup and Vanity Set and his record 88:88 are huge in my eyes as well as Bat For Lashes and The Brian Jonestown Massacre for their constant change of sound from song to song where they themselves delve into the most creative instrumentation.

What's your best live memory ? And why ?

We played last year (2017) at a fairly small venue in Sheffield, UK called The Red Deer. We tend to go down much better in cities rather than small towns such as our hometown in Grimsby/Cleethorpes.
The feedback from everyone there was fantastic and really makes you feel good about what you are trying to achieve with music.

In studio, what was the ambiance for the album FIRE IN THE DARK ?...etc.…

I think from the onset we wanted to try and create an atmosphere for the record that placed the listener within a world of their own conjuring really. I wanted to create a soundscape that features fairly dark palettes of sound accompanied by often quite visceral percussive elements. Often the songs take you from something quite small and strange in sound to fairly large and sprawling with the way they finish up. I think the opening song Delusion via Illusion demonstrates this the best.

How does it work for the design of the CD ? and why this title ?

Were both fans of cosmic collage work from the likes of Mariano Peccenetti and Gareth Halliday so we knew we wanted to go down these lines but with our own take on it. As Joel is a Graphic Designer and Photographer we wanted to take photographs from our travels, as we love to visit places in our free time, and turn them into our own cosmic collages. All the designs are our own.
If there are any hawk-eyed readers out there you may recognise parts of Manchester within the artwork of our album singles and the album itself.
The name Fire in the Dark comes from one of the songs on the record but it sums up our love for the unknown and the discoveries that have yet to be made. Also we love the German TV show ‘Dark’ and we both think the song would work well on its soundtrack!

What are your projects ?

We play a lot locally with a stripped back version of our full sound. Myself on Guitar, a load of pedals and Louise doing her haunting and delicate vocals.
I also like to create samples and warp sounds so that we can constantly use them in our songs. I have ambitions of film scoring in the future and continuing my progression as a producer.
I’m content with this at the minute but I’ve always been performing solo as ‘Lou’ in the past.
However, I love the challenges from Lola + the Cosmic Getaway. It’s exciting!

What do you expect from the future ?

We don’t expect anything really. We’d just love to travel the world and play music. We know that might not be the most interesting answer and is probably the most predictable but we honestly love travelling and playing to audiences unknown would suit us down to the ground.

What's your motto ?

“You’re as free as you want to be”

Website to remember

You can find us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter until we make a website.

What would you like to say to the readers ?

Thanks for taking the time to read about us. Hopefully you’ll get the chance to hear us play live one day. If you listen to our music, go for headphones, as you may encounter a comet or two shooting across the soundscape.

What question, I did not ask you and would you like me to ask you :-) ?

What topping do you prefer on your Pizza?
Just Mozzarella, but it MUST have a BBQ base!!!
We have both travelled the globe and we only seem to find the infamous BBQ base pizza here in the UK!
Please get aboard the BBQ base train, humans!
Haha!