7 Answers From: Adryelle
A conversation with Adryelle.
Hi Pal,
Welcome to 7 Answers From. This is a newsletter where I have conversations with artists, composers, producers and other creatives in and around the Christian alternative indie scene by asking them 7 questions.
Bio: Adryelle spins a musical web of ethereal beauty and energy that bounces across alt, synthwave and dream pop boundaries. Both a songwriter and producer, she follows in the footsteps of female musical revolutionaries like Kate Bush but clearly blazing a trail all her own.
Described as “stunning, cinematic, beautifully crafted” by Planet Stereo Live, Adryelle draws inspiration from the electronic roots of the 1980s--pulsating beats, angelic choruses, and thunderous percussion. Dreamy. Trance-like. And utterly gorgeous.
Raised on the moodiness of Nirvana and The Cure, traversing through the Baltimore Goth scene, Adryelle reset and relocated to California. The bright Los Angeles sun infused her songwriting with a certain brightness, bringing hope and delight to the still-melancholy feel of her melodies.
Introduction
I’ve been a fan of Adryelle’s music for years now, starting out with her debut album, Kingdoms & Communities which came out back in 2020. I have a personal bias for her unique sound because it shares stylistic origins with the music of my formative years.
Irrespective of your musical background or tastes, there’s something in this conversation for everyone as she peels back the curtain to share her experiences as a Christian artist making alternative music. There’s plenty of heart, desire and fight in these answers and I hope you enjoy listening/reading to this glimpse into her world.
The Conversation
Q: Hi Adryelle. Happy new year again. How’s the new year been for you and what lessons have you carried into 2023 from the previous year, particularly in your Christian walk?
My year has been going well thus far. Last year was pretty crazy, lots of hard lessons learnt. But it’s helped me become stronger and to take what I do more seriously. As for my Christian walk, I think realizing the importance community is something that I have learnt. Things are birthed in community and healing takes place there as well.
It is something that I am learning to be more intentional with because it takes effort. Sometimes as an introvert, it can be a bit more difficult; but I’m learning.
Q: I am quite intrigued by your music because you create music in some of my favourite genres – shoegaze, dreampop, synthwave, and electronica. Can you talk to me about what drew you to these sounds?
When I was in high school I really got into some underground Christian electronic music as well as secular goth and 80s music. Bands like
The Cure,The Smiths,Joy Division,Depeche ModeandNew Orderwere favourites and I became obsessed with New Wave and 80s post-punk.I also grew up listening to a lot of CCM — Christian Contemporary Music — and I was always interested in hearing unique songs, stories and sounds. From the CCM sounds in the 90s, I was fond of artists like
Amy Grant,Crystal Lewis,DC TalkandNewsboys. There was a lot of variety in that scene, I think, and it was all focused on Jesus and stories of faith.Also, in high school, some friends of mine introduced me to a lot of stuff from this record label called
Flaming Fish Recordswhich also happens to be the label that my first album was on for a period of time which was super cool because they had faith-based electronic artists likeThe Echoing GreenandJoy Electricthat were also being distributed through that label.These were all just different — somewhat darker — sounds that I found myself being attracted to.
Q: It’s been almost three years since your debut album, Kingdoms & Communities, but you have released quite a number of singles and have had some collaborations since then. What are the things that you look out for or consider before collaborating with other artists?
As far as collaborations go, I like to look for similarities — similar audiences and similar beliefs. Still, I have done some secular collaborations and I’m not against it.
I think its a great way to reach people for sure which is what we are called to do. Those are some things I look for when it comes to collaborations.
Q: How important do you think it is for Christians to have music to listen to in genres that are not always considered for congregational worship?
I think it is important for Christians to have music to listen to in different genres. I look at it this way: we are a body and we are not all the same. We’re not all hands or all feet. We all have different songs, different stories, different gifts, different walks of faith and different ways to express that.
Our histories and backgrounds reflect different sounds as well. Culturally, we are very diverse. Congregational worship is a form of Christian music but if you look back to the 90s where CCM was it’s heights, there were many Christian artists which were different from congregational worship musicians. These artists were writing about their lives and faith it gave people different perspectives to help them know they weren’t along in their own walks.
I think that once a song goes out into the world, it belongs to the listeners primarily and not just the artist. Listeners can become healed through the songs that they hear and there is truth that the listeners can learn. The artist may never know how their song is working, but I think different genres have the ability to reach different people groups with diverse views.
It’s really important for artists to be who they are, unique, and unafraid to branch out with their sounds even if no one else is doing what they are doing. Essentially, don’t be a copy of other artists but share your own stories and perspectives.
Q: Can you talk to me about the major milestones and challenges that you have faced in your career so far?
When I wrote my first music, I was writing and playing everything but I had this idea that I would fail since I was doing everything by myself. I had a bass guitar, an electric guitar, a keyboard and electronic drums and I was recording all of it myself. But as you know, on stage that doesn’t work.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to perform live and I concluded, “okay, I can’t really do this”. So I decided that maybe I should pick one instrument and simplify everything so that I could perform live.
Drifting away from this “
The Cure-esque sound” — because I was heavily inspired by them — I changed my style and did the singer-songwriter thing for a while. But I had so many ideas about sound and style outside of what I was creating and it did not satisfy me because I wanted to explore other sounds.So I started to learn more about production and I went to school for audio and sound. In these classes, I realized that I was one of the few females there. I think navigating that was challenging because a lot of men want to work with me because they want to date me and that got old fast.
I felt like I wasn’t taken seriously and having men tell you what to wear on stage or that I should wear less clothing didn’t help. Simultaneously, I was trying to do music fulltime and I think that it takes a lot of focus and hardwork to get to that place.
I moved across the country from Baltimore to Los Angeles and started over, got married and then I started to build up from there. In the last five years, it’s been a challenge networking and building up relationships again.
However, I feel like I have found community here. I think community is so important because in Baltimore I also had a music community and we would just support each other and go to each other’s shows. Knowing that you fit somewhere and that there is a place for you is really imperative to growth.
For the longest time, I always felt out of place or like there wasn’t a place for me. But I’m realizing that there is and there are people doing similar things.
Finding a great production mentor was also helpful and I recommend finding a mentor to help you learn what you want to do because they can point things out to you that you’re unaware of that can make you improve. I realize now that the road to being a fulltime musician is very different from what I thought and when you simplify it, it’s about finding what you love to do and saying no to the other things.
Trying to do too much and saying yes to everything is more harmful than helpful. This was really challenging because I used to say yes to everything but now I’m realizing that I don’t have to and I think this comes with discovering what I want to do and learning what I am good at. I love music production, I love teaching music and I love songwriting and those are the primary things I focus on now.
I don’t say yes to every opportunity because it is better for me to say yes to the opportunities that improve on those things that I love and I’m good at. That would be my advice to anyone who wants to do music fulltime. I learnt this through lots of mistakes. Still, mistakes are helpful because they make you learn. Right?
Q: When you’re not making music or performing, what are you usually up to?
When I am not making music or performing, my husband and I like to engage in outdoor activities like hiking, running and cycling. We love to cook and I love reading and listening to a lot of podcasts on apologetics.
Q: Your most recent single, Collapsed Lung, is a song that tells us a personal story about your life. Is this a clue about the direction of your next project and what more can we expect from you in 2023?
Collapsed Lungis a testimony song and I’ve written several songs that are related to my story. I plan to release some unplugged acoustic songs for an EP as well - just some acoustic versions of songs that I’ve already released. I’ll probably release them all as singles and put them together into a full project. I’ve always wanted to explore more stripped down acoustic stuff even though I mostly do electronic music, there’s something simple about acoustic music.The testimony songs will be coming through as well. I just don’t have an order yet for them. Those are the two projects I am working on. I have a song called
Knownwhich is coming out this Friday(Editor’s note: the song is already out now at the time of publishing this). It is an acoustic song and will be the first song from the acoustic EP.
A big thank you to Adryelle for taking out time to answer our questions.
Listen to Adryelle here:
Apple Music • YouTube • Deezer • Other Links
Connect with Adryelle here:
Instagram • Twitter • Facebook
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I like her. I like her a lot. Kingdoms and Communities was an awesome album