She may have moved around a lot before she settled in Brighton three years ago, but future soul superstar Andreya Triana’s roots are so far in the city that her debut album ‘Lost Where I Belong’ just wouldn’t sound the same without the place. For a start it was produced by Bonobo, former SOURCE cover star and long time downtempo hero of this parish. Song writing assistance came from another SOURCE cover star, sultry singer songwriter Fink, while Andreya credits her musical education to a collective of Worcester musicians, Bootis, who have ended up living – yep – in Brighton. So how come it sounds like nothing else we’ve ever produced?
For someone so young, Andreya is remarkably calm and self-assured, something that’s carried through all of her music. The title track of her LP brings to mind an Eryka Badu who is strong enough not to smooth off the rough edges of real life. It has the same seductive, mature, sensual sounds that Q-Tip coaxed out of Norah Jones for his recent ‘Life Is Better’. Yep, it’s that good. Former iTunes Single Of The Week, ‘Draw The Stars’ meanwhile shows that there’s an inventiveness here that her American contemporaries just can’t match. Like a modern take on the Grimm Brothers’ enchanted forest, it’s the sort of place Bjork might arrive if she was American and caught in a calm reflective mood.
Part of the magic of her album comes from the working relationship she’s developed with Simon ‘Bonobo’ Green. Short of a singer at the last minute when he won Best Album at Giles Petterson’s Worldwide Awards and needed to perform, Andreya stepped in to sing for him at the last minute. Despite (or because of) getting a little bit too drunk, they formed a friendship.
“I’d never heard much of his music,” she admits. “First and foremost he was a mate and I thought, Yeah, it’d be really nice to hang out and do some music. He kept saying, Come down let’s do something together, and I was like, Yeah, whatever. And then we did – and before you know it there’s an album. It was all a very natural process. It wasn’t like, I’ll get with him and it’ll be a really good move. It was just fun.”
Fun isn’t something we’d necessarily think of when it comes to working with Bonobo. He’s well known for being controlled and it’s rare for even those who know him well to hear any of his music before it’s fully realised and pressed onto CD. But Andreya says that rather than being solitary, Bonobo is actually great to collaborate with. Even when Andreya made her contributions to his LP the relationship was 50/50. Clearly they hit it off – she’s the only vocalist that made it onto his neo-classic ‘Black Sands’.
“He didn’t set out to only have me on his album,” she explains. “There were definitely other people he wanted to work with it just worked out this way. The songs that we did together just worked really well.”
You’d think that it’d be different working on his Bonobo album working on her own LP, but Andreya – who has also made tracks with Flying Lotus, Theo Parish and Mr Scruff – says that’s not the case. The more they work together – and ‘Black Sands’ came after ‘Lost Where I Belong’ in the schedule – the easier things are.
“We did the stuff on his album after my own and I really noticed that we seemed more in tune,” she claims. “Once you’re two or three years down the line of working with someone in the studio you just know how it works. The whole creative process is easier. When we did ‘Eyes Down’ I felt a lot of pressure but without direction Si said I did exactly what he wanted. It was just getting a feel for his music.
“Bonobo wasn’t the only collaborator when the where the cogs just slotted into the groove. Her sessions with Fink were more than just productive.
“Fin is an amazing guy,” she smiles. “He’s like a flipping encyclopaedia. First and foremost, every time I go to his house and we have a little writing session I feel like I learn something. He’s so deep into what he does and he’s so knowledgeable that I come away with all of these ideas and am really inspired. It’s like he’d pour as much into me as he could during those sessions.” ‘X’ – the jawdropping end to the LP – is the place that feels like it’s got Fink’s greatest influence. Laidback, relaxed and as self-assured Andreya herself, it couldn’t be more stripped back – just double bass and simple strings for the most melancholic vocal on the album. It’s an emotionally brave end to the album that really makes its mark.
It sounds perfect for the stage and that’s just where it’s heading, as Andreya puts together her first band for taking the album on tour. Don’t expect to hear a carbon copy of the recorded songs though, her gigs promise to be more interesting.
“I want it to represent the album but I also want to get out of that box and those boundaries,” she stresses. “First and foremost if we’re having fun on stage then that’s going to translate to the people watching. So that’s my main priority. I’m finding fun ways or recreating all the sounds.
“There’s no danger of getting stage fright – after touring the world with Bonobo she used to huge crowds, having notched up a summer of gigs at The Big Chill, Glastonbury and a sold out Roundhouse. In fact she’s happier in front of thousands than she is a handful of people.
“I think big crowds are more easily pleased if I’m honest. Generally they’re at a festival all pissed and happy. Smaller crowds can get bored and you can see it.”
With all the talent and charisma we can’t see a problem with small crowds getting bored and she’ll be in front of huge crowds before long. She’s found where she belongs.
FYI
ALBUM: ‘Lost Where I Belong’ out now
ACE 3D VIDEO: tinyurl.com/TownCalledObsolete
WEB: www.ninjatune.net/andreyatriana/
