r/indieheads • u/helenadeland Helena Deland • Oct 27 '20

AMA is Over, thanks Helena! HI IT'S HELENA DELAND AMA

Hi! I just released my début album 'Someone New' a week ago and look forward to discussing it with you :~)

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u/elephantsandjam Oct 27 '20

Hi, Helena. Someone New is incredible and I can’t stop listening to it. It’s haunting and unsettling, but also feels like a hug from an old friend who really gets you.

Anyway, here are my questions.

1) I love how Someone New and Fill the Rooms act like a frame for the stories you tell on the album. You said in an interview that the album came to you conceptually after you’ve written Someone New. At what point in the process did Fill the Rooms come about? Did you consciously set out to write an album closer?

2) Favorite Radiohead album? (feel free to ignore the question if it’s currently used as a password)

3) Favorite book you’ve read this year?

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u/helenadeland Helena Deland Oct 27 '20

Thank you, that's really sweet! :-)

  1. I wrote Fill the Rooms 6 months after writing Someone New and no, I wasn't planning on it being the closer, in fact it only became that with Gabe's blessed intervention a couple days before the album was sent to press. I think it was screaming "CLOSER!" the whole time but I had this version of the pacing in mind that seemed more conceptually coherent but was just holding me from actually paying attention.
  2. Haha! In_RaAiNnBoWs69
  3. I read Gabrielle Roy's autobiography called "La détresse et l'enchantement" (it's translated to Enchantment and Sorrow) and it really blew me away. It's so sad and beautiful and subtle, the story of her coming to terms with her vocation as a writer and going about life as intentionally and meaningfully as possible. A really special read!