A Chat with Tanya George (11.12.2020)
Tanya George is continuing to push the boundaries of her music with her latest EP Normality. Wielding her unique vocal-looping technique and her impressive 4.5-octave range, she hits you with impressive arrangement and tracks that will stick in your brain. While pushing the boundaries, she questions the concept of normality in the times we live in through this EP. We sat down with Tanya George to talk about the EP, pushing boundaries, challenges, music and much more!
OSR: Was there a moment or experience that made you think: ‘Yes, this is what I want to do’?
George: I think I was 12 and I said to mum (in a very pre-teen dramatic way) that I didn’t want to do life if I didn’t do music and I wasn’t going to go to school anymore unless I could sing, we both knew then that I’d be singing forever.
OSR: Is there a backstory or theme to your latest EP Normality?
George: I thought the title suited the EP because of how I made this EP. It’s not the normal traditional way to create music. I was questioning a lot about my life and what a normal life is and then 2020 hit in the most peculiar way and it all just blended. I did want my listeners to be like “oh this isn’t your normal everyday EP” (laughs), to make them challenge the exact theme; What is normal? Then 2020 hit and I was like: ahh, this makes so much sense now, Normality.
OSR: Your music pushes the boundaries of conventional songwriting, is this something you actively look to achieve or is it a more organic evolution?
George: It was an organic evolution, I wasn’t proactively trying to find a way to push boundaries it sort of just happened, it was different and it stuck.
OSR: What was your creative process for the EP? Did you start with one track and work around it or did you focus on the concept?
George: The main concept was writing songs entirely via voice but wanting it not to sound like acapella work but rather a real full song made by the voice. I started with one song and then wrote a collection and decided to make an EP out of it.
OSR: Throughout the EP, you use a vocal-looping technique, can you tell us more about this?
George: It’s tricky stuff! Requires patience, time, practice and good pitch. I started it because I couldn’t afford to purchase new instruments so I just sang what they would play under my lead vocals.
OSR: If people could feel only one emotion while listening to the EP, what would you like that to be and why?
George: That everything they go through in their life is part of their journey. Wherever they are in their own life; is where they are meant to be and to trust it will guide them to where they are meant to go. I question normality throughout the EP to push the boundaries and to try to challenge people’s perception about what is normal and to be okay with their normal.
OSR: Do any of the tracks on Normality hold a special place in your heart?
George: The intro. I was extremely upset and emotional when I recorded that. I went to the studio and I was crying, stressed and depressed. I just let it out. It was never meant to be on the EP but I decided to put it there as it was so relevant.
OSR: What is the biggest challenge you faced when creating the EP?
George: Actually having the guts to release it and take a leap into doing something so different.
OSR: If your music was a new addition to the crayon box, what colour would it be and why?
George: A tree green, because it’s fresh, growing and new.
OSR: What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
George: A big debut album and getting the band back on board! As well as more vocal looping originals and potentially involving choirs. Festivals, tours, you name it!
There is a big 2021 ahead.
Thanks to Tanya George for chatting with us! You can find more about her on her website, Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
