Having graduated from Cambridge with a degree in philsophy, this summer saw 26 year-old Kyla La Grange launch her debut album, Ashes...
Having graduated from Cambridge with a degree in philsophy, this summer saw 26 year-old Kyla La Grange launch her debut album, Ashes. Born and raised in London to a Zimbabwean father and South African mother, La Grange is the latest wave of female musical talent, following in the footsteps of Florence Welch, Grimes and Anna Calvi. Her striking aesthetic and epic, melodramatic sound has been likened to Kate Bush. Having spent the last few months touring, including a performance at Emporio Armani's Summer Party, AnOther caught up with the singer-songwriter to discuss her writing process, musical comparisons and her new four-legged friend.
How has your summer been so far?
It's been really good. We've got a little break from gigging at the moment which is good – I felt a bit mentally exhausted before summer so it's been great to be able to have a bit of space. I got a new dog – a mongrel called Flea. She's very friendly and is coming on tour with us in October.
How does it feel to have such a burgeoning career at this point in your life?
I feel like at 26 I should have achieved a lot more. One of my best friends is a doctor and I feel like my achievements are totally insignificant next to hers. Music can seem quite self-indulgent, sometimes.
"Music can seem quite self-indulgent, sometimes"
Did you always want to be a musician?
I never really thought I could do music as a career, I just loved writing songs. When I was a teenager, if I ever felt sad or angry about something I'd just write it out, either in a song or just words on paper, and it felt like something I had to do – a compulsion I guess. It just carried on from there, and then when I left university I realised I'd spent a lot of time writing and playing songs and that I would really like to continue doing it. I got a part-time job in London and in my spare time I would record and write, and play acoustic nights. It all progressed slowly from there, meeting people along the way.
Most of the songs and lyrics on the album feel very heartfelt and personal – what's your writing process?
I just write when I'm sad or feeling some extreme of emotion. I don't think I'd ever write if I was naturally a very happy, secure person; writing for me is a way of coping I think. The album mostly focuses on relationships I've failed at, simply because in that period of time those were the things that made me unhappy!
You've been likened to iconic female musicians such as Kate Bush and Florence Welch – are you comfortable with these comparisons?
I sometimes wonder about how I sound in relation to other musicians in general, because I don't feel like I have a genre, but not about women in particular. Having said that, comparisons to people like Florence or Kate Bush are just incredibly flattering. I'm not often able to hear the similarities myself, but if other people can then that's really nice – they are brilliant artists.
Ashes is out now through ioki Records/Sony. Her UK tour starts on October 1.
Text by Siobhan Andrews
