artist – and so she thinks https://andsoshethinks.co.uk CREATE:COMMUNICATE:CONNECT Thu, 10 Sep 2015 13:52:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://andsoshethinks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/cropped-FAVICON-90x90-1-32x32.png artist – and so she thinks https://andsoshethinks.co.uk 32 32 Introducing…Hero Fisher https://andsoshethinks.co.uk/introducing-hero-fisher/ https://andsoshethinks.co.uk/introducing-hero-fisher/#respond Thu, 10 Sep 2015 13:52:00 +0000 https://andsoshethinks.wordpress.com/?p=5012

Hero Fisher‘s new album Delivery is steely, stark, and sexy. Full of edges, the tunes scratch at the skin like only an old lover can, but despite such resonance and immediacy, they’re not necessarily what Hero heard in the first place, and she acknowledges that it can be difficult to get what is in her head in to the instruments and on record. ‘I don’t always hear what I want to hear and so I’ve given myself the job to put down what I can hear in my head and hope it’ll either please me or someone else.’

Her work is more descriptive of an atmosphere rather than storytelling and following a character, evocative and charismatic, raw and dirty. Scratchy melodies and glitchy beats are melded together with pounding synths into resoundingly strong tunes that are not without a hint of sass. Born in London, raised in France, lived in Australia, now living in London and having recorded the album in New York, she says that all the locations have ‘all have different appeals for me although I think the English weather is what’s ingrained in me the most. If I’m imagining a landscape, chances are you’ll find somewhere like  it in the UK!’

It’s been something of a process, and the songs have evolved and developed as Hero has herself. ‘I don’t think it’s possible to foresee what an album will sound like until you decide it’s done. Especially a debut album. I didn’t even have a band when we started! I’m really happy with it though- I think it’s a very special piece of work and I don’t regret a thing. I’m so glad it’s finally out and that I got to do it on my own terms.’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrR7CnS889U
The grungy and dirty sounds to the songs are deliberate and reflective of Hero.’ It suits my mood.’ she says, and it’s a mood well conveyed on single Brutish Words. Her work is very much collaborative, with producers Bradley Spence and Charlie Russell giving the tunes a power, and she credits Saul Wodak who plays guitar in the band with ‘great visions when it comes to arrangements, soundscapes, rifs, and live performances. He also inspires me to branch out and work on other things than my own songs. I’d be lying to myself if I said I was solo.
Whilst touring the UK this autumn she’s also putting the work in writing songs for a new album.  It’s going to be a busy few months for Hero Fisher.
‘See you there suckers.’
Catch her playing acoustic shows at The Star in Tuffnell Park, before a tour with Fufanu.
herofisher
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]]> https://andsoshethinks.co.uk/introducing-hero-fisher/feed/ 0 Ulrika Byrgge https://andsoshethinks.co.uk/ulrika-byrgge/ https://andsoshethinks.co.uk/ulrika-byrgge/#respond Tue, 22 Jan 2013 01:51:48 +0000 http://andsoshethinks.blog.com/?p=180 With a background in industrial and graphic design Ulrika Byrgge unites illustration, printmaking, painting, photography and collage to produce compelling and striking surface decoration in all its forms, from custom wallpaper to prints, hangings and paintings.
Although her current passion is for screen printing, Ulrika practises a number of techniques and likes to’ mix things up. I experiment a lot and a lot of happy accidents happen. I like combining the hand drawn with Photoshop or collaging on the computer. It’s very intuitive, and I keep going…until I get that break feeling. You’re not quite there yet, and then that lifts.’ The lure of fabric as opposed to paper is the way that the’ ink sits in it. It takes a while to settle but when it does it becomes one.’ By absorbing the sound also becomes part of the space, not just a decorative add on.
Design, rather than art, always sounds slightly more removed from the feelings – less real. One rarely hears of a tortured designer. One of Ulrika’s areas of expertise is the creation of bespoke wallpapers, the hangings on the wall capturing the trappings and character for a person. Does she created work for someone else to be looked at, or is it an emptying of the soul, her presence as an artist keenly felt? ‘It’s certainly very emotive and part of me is always expressed. I find it very difficult not to say how I feel, whether I want it to or not. So it is me, but I want to share it.’ By exploring the past, sifting perceptions of the present and projecting future hopes, Ulrika’s work strikes a chord in its universal link with human experience. Take ‘Stretch’ for example, a simple illustration capturing the joy of a new day, or ‘My Perfect Life’, a snapshot of the headf*ck that trying to figure it out can be.

Ulrika is heavily influenced by her surroundings, be that the environment or activities around her. Born in Sweden, she grew up in UK, before a move back a couple of years ago, to the island of Öland. Sharp edges and blacks always find their way in when she is working in the city, whereas nature and the winter landscape is evident in softer work from time in Gothenburg. This is to be expected from someone so curious about the world, inspiration coming from ‘anything that gets my attention. Whenever I’m attracted to something, I just want to explore and capture it – I follow that urge.’
Sometimes the urge wanes, and when this happens Ulrika just has to leave it. She concedes that she works in a slightly anarchic and chaotic manner, but insists that she has to, as to not follow her urge and feeling ‘it feels like you’re contorting yourself.’

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