MIMOZA H
Mimoza H is a solo artist originally from Kosovo based in Montreal. The artist describes herself as an independent, autodidact singer/songwriter/multi-genre producer and my music has often been described as “unique, intense and mysterious”. Music has always been a part of her life, as a teenager she was in an all-female rap band BAM, and later became the lead singer of a blues band doing covers and performing in different parts of Kosovo right after the war.
I have been praised for my voice as strong, distinct and enriched with a melancholy and a peculiar elegiac singing style. The latter perhaps is the case by default since I come from Eastern Europe (The Balkans) a region rich with history and folklore and elegy that reaps from ancient history of wars, conquests, victories and empires. My artistic approach is very instinctual as I have my own imperfect ways of creating and because I have no music school background, I feel free of any form and rely on other means (music programming, machines and midi files) to get things moving and flowing for my ideas to have a final result.
Tell us about some musical highlights:
The fondest memory I have is in 2000 in Kosovo when I performed in front of thousands of people during the first Liberation concert held outdoors. It was the greatest concert held just months after the war ended and we performed alongside the biggest alternative music acts of Kosovo at the time. I remember like it was today my heart bursting with excitement and seeing people feeling the freedom for the first time as they all came together, as they danced, cheered and sang their hearts along with us throughout the night.
In September 2016 I released my debut EP titled ‘Uproot’ to some great audience reaction and music reviews in Canada, Quebec and Eastern Europe granting me “Artist to Watch” remarks from CBC Radio Canada Premiere.
I have worked with many great musicians since the start of my solo project, but the highlight would have to be working with one of the most inventive producers Damian Taylor. He is best known for his revolutionary musicianship on many of Bjork’s albums since the beginning of her music career. He did some revolutionary works on audiovisuals and designed unique and state-of-the-art sequences and music programming for some great artists such as Austra, UNKLE, The Prodigy, Robyn, The B-52s, The Killers, Arcade Fire, etc.
Working with him on mixing two of my songs from the upcoming EP was so great and motivating as he really invests himself in understanding the unique sound, the taste and the direction of a project and brings his experience to the table without imposing but rather augmenting to the idea you initially had and then making your song sound beautiful, paying attention to vocals production which was amazing.
Your greatest inspirations and influences?
I am mostly inspired by the magic of life, by the dreams or a twisted reality mixed with reflections of the self and the encounters of personal and social relationships from the past and present. In my writings there could be hints of personal projections of a future from sheer observation. I see life in fragments and moments and tend to focus and exaggerate on details that become the foundation for my creations. Books are very inspirational too (I love memoirs, mythical, astrophysics and motivational books) and the endless wonders of nature. I was born and lived the first part of my life in Kosovo, a country that has been through so much turmoil. I was there during the war and the NATO intervention and this experience has marked me very deeply emotionally and I carry this heavy load everywhere I go. I often feel like I am a bottomless ocean of unexpressed feelings that need to be breathed in and let out and so I turn to music as a channel of tuning in with myself to find peace and calm so that I can then be a better person for myself and others around me. My debut mini-album Uproot was quite an introspective project in that regard. My writing is also influenced by a word, a conversation, a scent, a sound: these are the stimuli for my work and my imagination and memory cells are the womb that hold and nurture these triggers that slowly become my art form.
The sound or genre of my music is not easy to categorize as I always strive to create something new and original that excites me and make songs that I would like to hear. At best I would describe it as a webbed sonic spectrum of organic sounds and electronics creating a blend of alternative, psych-pop, art-rock, and ethereal. As all art comes as a derivative or is influenced from other art forms, in my creations one can hear inspirations that I draw from: Dead Can Dance, Kate Bush, Björk, Fever Ray, Goldfrapp, PJ Harvey, Lhasa de Sela, Emel, Nick Cave, The Cure, Bowie, Trentemoller, Lamb, as well as Southern Albanian music.
Tell us about your latest single, what is it about, and describe it
'PRETTY LIES' is the first single off of my second EP - DRIFT - that I hope to release at the beginning of 2021. It is a 5-track album of which 3 songs I wrote and produced in collaboration with Sébastien Schuller, a French musician well-known for his album ’Happiness’ . Was very excited to get to work with him on my new EP. Working with him on three of the five songs was quite an intensive but interesting experience as we were in one room working 9-5 for several days to write the songs and it was interesting for me to have this challenge as it pushed me to new levels and further sharpened my music instinct, ideas and my writing skills.
This particular song reflects my discontent about current social injustice and business entertainment not to mention the numerous challenges and obstacles in advancing the role and position of women in the industry. When I started writing the lyrics, almost three years ago, I realized the extent of anger I hold inside about the wrongdoings, deceptions and lies.. The narrative of the song compelled me to make the video for it using strong images and statements that depict my frustration with deceitful acts, twisted games and exploitations by the powers that be. The octopus scene is the pinnacle of the story where the tentacles symbolize both sides of the coin. They represent the deep-anchored illusion that upholds the system’s network, as well as the intelligence, the vision and the insights to unravel truths.
How do you feel about the current world situation and how has Covid affected your creativity?
I think in ’Pretty Lies’ video and lyrics I let people really feel my cry for social injustice and how deeply entrenched we are in this complex political and social system that is not working for the good of the people and our communities. There is so much change needed in many levels of our society and we have come to feel at times helpless and discouraged. But we are the ones who have the power to change things around for us and we all need to wake up from our dormant state of industrialism and look for more sustainable ways of living. It is much easier said than done, but it is an inevitable task for the future.
During this peculiar period, I took more time to reflect upon myself and think of new ways of doing things and how to implement them in the future. I got to learn new production skills for my future projects, and was offered to work on new collaborations, which I mentioned, which pushed me to new places and out of my comfort zone. I also found some time to dwell into my archives of old recordings and found little treasures that I started working on. There is something fundamentally wrong with making algorithmic songs to fit the mold and feed the machine at the expense of arts and artists, falling short on the listener’s full experience and worsening our attention span. We should try to find ways to bring back creative music (as there is a lot of it out there but not many know about it). It’s like we are drops of water in the vast ocean and the general audience is spoon-fed only the same music taste from the same artists over and over. I hope we get to find new ways of pushing more new music to broader audiences out there.
Anything else you would like to share with our audience?
To the new audience I want to say thank you for listening and supporting new and upcoming artists and for sharing the love. Please keep sharing and spreading the word when you like something as it is very helpful to independent musicians. I also want to say find your peace and your form of expression by creating and learning new things because they keep us fresh-minded, curious, healthy and positive.
As for my upcoming songs and music, I look forward to sharing the new collaborations I recently worked on during the pandemic as well as sharing my new EP DRIFT which has been awaiting to see the light for a few years now. In the new record you can feel more of an uplifting mood from the debut partly because Sebastien brought his pop structure and style and a different sound to the songs. DRIFT is a transformation, a turning point, and a step further into the process of allowing myself into different territories, into something more playful.