Sandra Sumie Nagano makes delicate hauntingly beautiful music. Her self-titled debut album comes out on Bella Union on December 2 and we were lucky enough to have a little chat with Sumie about her seemingly late decision to make music, her sources of inspiration and future hopes.
Sumie started recording music in 2008 after having taught herself how to play the guitar. Even though music and dance had always been a big part of her life, she didn’t start making music until after having children. ”The choice to make my own music wasn’t a sudden decision, I have always been singing in some form. But to write my own music and actually show it to others was a bigger step for me,” she says.
Sumie’s little sister Yukimi is part of electronic group Little Dragon, so musical talent seems to run in the family. ”None of my parents are musicians. But my father is an artist, so I guess the artistic expression has always been there as well as a big interest in music,” she explains.
As she is a self-taught guitar player and most of her writing takes place at home, the minimalistic and acoustic sound was something that slowly emerged rather than a conscious decision. Her inspiration comes mostly from the cinematic world. ”I am very visual when I write, so I think that movies affect me and my music a lot.” On the question, if there is any movie in particular which has served as inspiration she mentions “In the mood for love”, a movie directed by Kar Wai Wong from 2000. “It is an extremely beautiful film with a very good soundtrack and it has that 40s-50s feel to it,” she explains.
About a month ago (Oct 19) we had the pleasure to record her first ever show in Stockholm at the Royal Dramatic Theatre. Enjoy a non-album track called “Let’s Get Lost”.
Sumie is based in Gothenburg and grew up with a Japanese father and a Swedish mother. Although in hindsight, she recognizes certain Japanese influences in her music, this was never really her intention “When I listen to music my father sends me, Japanese music from the 60s which he used to listen when he was young, I recognize my own music in it,” she says. “I never thought about it during the creation process, but it is certainly the same minimalistic expression. If I do find music similar to my own, for the most time, it is Japanese music.”
“Sumie” is released on London-based record label Bella Union. The man behind it, Simon Raymonde, and Sumie got in touch via her MySpace-site about 3 years ago. “At the time, I had not started performing live, so MySpace was the only external channel I had for my music,” Sumie remembers. “Simon gave me a lot of positive feedback, so we kept in touch. When the album was done, I sent it to him and he wanted to release it.”
Listen to an exclusive album stream below, out on Bella Union December 2.
Sumie collaborated with producer Dustin O’Halloran and pianist Niels Frahm, and the album was recorded in a studio in Berlin, courtesy of the latter. Sumie and O’Halloran first met a while back in Berlin where they recorded a song together. After that, they felt that there was great potential there. “Dustin has been helping me out a lot, giving me feedback and pushed me into writing and creating new songs. Sometimes, that part is hard when you do everything by yourself, so he has been very helpful”, Sumie says. Once she had all songs together, O’Halloran introduced her to Niels and they decided to record the album in his Berlin-based studio. The recording process was quick, after two days of studio work, “Sumie” was basically done. “The album was recorded live. Niels and Dustin wanted to create that 60s-70s acoustic sound, when the musicians normally used to record in a small room,” Sumie says.
Sumie’s very gentle nature suits her music so well and it is refreshing to hear somebody so talented speak so humbly about her art. ”Right know, I wish for people to like this album and that I get the opportunity to make a second one. This is all very new to me, so it’s very exciting! I really enjoy meeting all the great people working in the industry, who are just really interested in music. I just hope I get to be around for a while”, she says.
So do we.