We spoke to Noemi from the incredible new band Willow Parlo! She told us all about their debut EP, artists she would love to work with one day and a lot more. Watch the live session of their song ‘Godless’ here and make sure you follow them on instagram to be the first to hear about new music.
Photos by Nils Hansen
First of all, how are you? Where are you currently? And what’s on your mind?
I’m good, currently sitting by the fire in a beautiful old house by the baltic sea. Right now I’ve got a lot on my mind because we are in the midst of producing new songs. I’ve been thinking about parts that I want to adjust or rearrange, trying to figure out what it’s supposed to sound like in the final production work. Also we’ve got to take care of all the trappings besides the recording process, there’s just a lot to take into account right now.
Could you quickly introduce yourself and your band?
My name is Noemi, I am part of Willow Parlo, I sing and write in particular. It’s my favorite thing to do. I also play the guitar and keys. I am very lucky to be able to play and write music together with Jan Schnoor (drums), Björn Kröger (bass guitar) and Marco Winkler (electric guitar.) One cool thing is that Willow Parlo is still new – we have released music about 9 months ago for the first time- but we’ve been friends long before then. So writing music together now makes it quite special somehow.
You’ve released a wonderful EP last year – could you pick one song of it and tell us a little bit about the story behind it?
One of our Singles is called „Godless“. When I wrote it, I overlooked the fact that people might associate „godless“ with a religious context. I wasn’t aiming at religion at all, but I do feel like there are many things in this world to win or lose faith in- like love, for example. To me, „godless“ rather describes the feeling of disbelief in a lyrical way. We shot the music video in a wild city by the mediterranean coast of Spain. The city was perfectly transporting the feeling that’s described in the song; a drifting melancholy and vastness.
The song „Godless“ is merely a moment of wandering through the streets, lost in thought, overwhelmed by an inner vertigo. It describes the impact that another person had on me. Powerlessness and self-doubt made me feel frantic at one point. But then again, when I had enough of myself eventually, I found a moment to look at everything from a different perspective. I tried to put that emotional shift into words to make the song feel hopeful at last.
Which of your songs are you most proud of, and why?
Our Debut Single „Silver Screens“ has come the longest way. The writing process felt like forever. It was the most complex one to arrange. We made multiple versions before it became what you can find on the EP now. In the end we didn’t want to let any part of it go so we finally released two versions of the song- one of them is about 5 minutes long. That one can be found in the music video. We made the second edit way shorter for it to be easier to digest. The writing and recording of “Silver Screens” seemed like a metamorphosis so I guess you could say that we are proud of that one.
What was the first album you‘ve ever bought?
I think it was Let Go by Avril Lavigne.
If you could live inside of a movie, which one would it be?
The Grinch. If you think about it- have you ever met anyone as pure and genuine as him? And who wouldn’t want to live in Whoville.
Are there any new artists you would like to recommend?
Brockhoff, THALA and Blush Always. All three of them are very cool and talented artists who are part of a young female indie music scene that has been going strong in Germany lately.
Who‘s an artist / producer / band that you’d really like to work with one day?
Phoebe Bridgers & Justin Vernon. One thing I love that they both have in common, is their very own way of telling a story. They have a unique approach of transforming an emotion into music. Also the sound aesthetics in their music productions can be so immersive, it feels like you’re bathing in them.
What are your plans for 2023?
There are a few exciting things to come that I can’t tell you just yet. All I can say is that new music will be on its way soon and we are excited for this year’s festival season. We will announce further details as soon as we can on our instagram (willowparlo).
