Talia Hoit dives deep into symphonic metal with her debut solo album Oceans. In this interview, she shares the inspiration behind its oceanic themes and her creative journey.
1. "Oceans" draws heavily
from the thematic richness of the sea. What inspired you to explore the ocean
as a central theme for your new album, and how does it connect to the emotions
you're expressing?
The
inspiration came from the song “Ocean” and a realization that I had written
many songs over the years with ocean related themes in the lyrics that could
make for a cohesive concept for an album. All the songs were written
independently of each other at different time in my life, but then I selected
them to go on this album because of their common themes. When I had
decided to start my solo project officially, my song “Ocean” was one of the
songs I really wanted to work on with a professional producer. But then I
started thinking about all the other songs I had written over the years that
also had ocean themes to the lyrics. So I looked through all my old songs and
selected more of them to include for a full-length album around the ocean
theme.
2. The
title track, "Ocean," is both the first single and the emotional core
of the album. Could you tell us more about how the song came together and what
emotions or experiences shaped its creation?
It was a
long time ago, so I don’t remember the exact process, although I do remember
exactly where I was when I wrote the words! I was missing someone
who was traveling and had left thinking that I didn’t really care about him as
much as I did, so that’s what the lyrics are about, and what similar kind of
story we tried to portray in the video. I think I wrote the words first and
then sat down at the piano sometime later and improvised some things until the
words and melody and accompaniment became a song. Like many of my songs, I
didn’t write it for the purpose of creating a song to present to the public as
a musical artist. I wrote it because writing is my way of processing
things in my life and my feelings, kind of like journalling, but I usually
always hear music along with the words in my thoughts. It was just a
piano/vocal song at first, although I tried to create a full band arrangement a
few other times before working with a producer on the final version for this
album. The arpeggios in the music in the intro was supposed to be a
musical motif for the waves in the ocean.
3. Your
music blends symphonic metal with deeply introspective lyrics. How do you
balance the orchestral arrangements and the heavy, darker tones to evoke the
complexities of human emotions?
I
deliberately selected symphonic metal for the genre of this album because it
resonates with me, my musical background, and musical tastes, and I feel like
the style supports my lyrical themes well. I love the orchestral instruments so
much because you can express so many things, and the heavier guitars and drums
help to create the right intensity and mood for what my songs are about, at
least in my opinion and for how I feel it as an artist. The orchestration
is something people probably expect from me and for my music, but the heavy
music component is what people don't expect as much. I feel like it's
needed for my songs, whenever I hear my songs without that piece, it doesn't
feel right to me. That balance is always dependent on what the song is trying
to express. There have been times when a song has a great arrangement but
it just doesn't fit the emotion of the lyrics and so we have to add more
heaviness or add more orchestration or change the tone of the instrument to
evoke the right feels for what the song is about. Regarding this
particular album, it should be noted that although I do personally write a lot
of orchestrations for symphonic metal in my other band and some forthcoming
solo project music, the music arrangement specifically for "Oceans"
was mostly in the hands of my producer, Frank Pitters, who I had wanted to work
with because of his specialty focus on this genre. These songs on
“Oceans” are mostly much older songs of mine that I had never yet produced to share
publicly, many of which I wrote before even knowing symphonic metal was a
thing. I provided him piano/vocal demos that he would expand into the full band
arrangement. We worked together on deciding what ideas would fit best, but the
great arrangement you hear on this album should really be credited to his
amazing talent!
4.
Working with a stellar lineup of musicians like Mat Plekhanov, Roland Navratil,
and Max Stoner must have brought unique elements to the album. How did these
collaborations shape the overall sound of “Oceans"?
These guys
made all the difference in the world to the overall sound of my album. Their
performances are really impressive to me, and of course they are expert
professionals and specialize in this style of music. I think the sound of the
album was really impacted both by their experience with this style of music as
well as their skills as musicians. It definitely turned out so much more
amazing than I had hoped for. Max did a really great job with the
guitars and bass to make my songs feel driving and more metal while still
conveying the underlying feel of how I originally intended the
songs. I’m a big fan of guitar solos and the ones that Mat recorded
for the album are so expressive and you can tell they are very technically
challenging but it still sounds effortless, and each one really fits the mood
of the songs well. Roland is a really great drummer, everything is so tight
with the music and drives everything forward with the right energy and
heaviness in different places, not to mention very cool drum fills. And
again I would have to say that the producer Frank Pitters was really the key to
the overall sound, because we worked together for a long time on the music
arrangements first, and then these particular musicians were his choices for the
final recorded performances. Frank also created and performed all the
orchestrations and keyboards outside of a few parts of my original keyboard
midi files that I think we kept from the demos.
5. With
ten tracks, the album covers a broad spectrum of emotions, from love and loss
to triumph and steadfastness. Was there a particular song on "Oceans"
that challenged you the most creatively or emotionally?
Yes, there
was actually another 11th song intended for this album which never made it over
to my producer because I got too stuck on it to be able to finish the last part
of the lyrics, and so I put that song away for another time! But I
have to be honest that all the songs were challenging for me in different ways.
For example, the song Beautiful was one I never originally intended to show
anyone let alone record it and release publicly, so I had to get over
that. The song Infinity was one that I had made a demo for a long
time ago, but the first friend I showed it to told me it was not any good, so I
did not touch it again for years until I decided I personally still liked it
and wanted to try it for the album. But I won’t lie, I was actually
scared at first to send it to my producer, but then it ended up becoming one of
my favorite songs on this album. VastDeep was challenging because I always had
the words and melody that I would sing with music in my head, but had never
written or created any actual musical accompaniment for it in reality yet, so I
had to try to create a demo from scratch to send over to the producer that
would communicate the feel of the music I heard in my brain that had never
existed in actual sound waves before. And then of course all of the lyrics and
stories behind the songs are emotional so I would never know if it was going to
affect me or not while recording my vocals. I generally did ok
keeping composure, but maybe a few times when listening back to things in the
studio I was happy the sound engineer would step outside for a minute and
hopefully not see me crying a little.
6. The
ocean is often seen as a metaphor for both beauty and danger. Do you see
parallels between the unpredictability of the sea and your own journey as a
musician?
Yes, for
sure. Everything in my musical life lately has been completely
unpredictable and nothing has gone according to plan. I have struggled to even
get the plan in place a lot of times because everything changes when you least
expect it, or things go awry, but then sometimes the unexpected turns out to be
an amazing opportunity or something really great. More often than
not, it’s stormy seas, and then you get somewhere for a little bit that’s like
the beautiful sunset on calm waves.
7.
You’ve mentioned that you want listeners to feel the music deeply, much like
the ocean's depths. How do you hope your audience will connect with the themes
of "Oceans" on a personal level?
I really do
hope that people connect with songs on a personal level since all the themes of
the lyrics are about personal things. It’s great of course if the
music serves to entertain people, but that wasn’t the main purpose for which I
wrote the songs or why I was motivated to try to get them professionally
produced and share them publicly. Of course I will never probably know how my
music impacts people, I just hope that for some it brings some sort of
meaningful experience they can resonate with.
8. As
someone who has been classically trained from a young age, how has your
background in classical music influenced your approach to songwriting in the
symphonic metal genre?
I think my
background is the reason why symphonic metal resonates with me a
lot. I do like other styles of metal also, but since I don’t play
heavy guitars or do heavy vocals I end up being more of a listener and fan than
a musician in those styles. The keyboards and more classical or clean vocals
are the ways I can actually contribute in the making of the music. So I think
it’s not so much that the classical background influences me in symphonic metal
songwriting but rather that the symphonic metal genre gives me a place for my
songs and a place to be creative in my own way, because for a long time I was
writing things that did not seem to fit anywhere. My themes and lyrics need
heavier and more intense and darker music than the classical or pop or singer/songwriter
styles can handle, but my singing, playing and songwriting is very melodic and
classically influenced so it needs a genre that embraces the pianos and cellos
and melodic vocal lines and things like that. Also, in my other band and in
some upcoming solo music, I am composing the full orchestrations, and I like to
approach it like I’m creating scores as if there could someday be an actual
orchestra that could play along with the metal band versus the software
instrument tracks.
9.
Looking forward, with the release of "Oceans" on November 21st, 2024,
what are your hopes for this album in terms of its reception, and what can fans
expect from your future musical projects?
This
may sound funny, but first I am hoping that a lot of people will actually get
to hear it with there being so much noise and oversaturation of music in the
streaming sites and social media and everywhere. It is my first
commercially released solo album, so I am working hard that I can find ways to
get it out there to as many people as possible to be able to hear. I absolutely
hope people will enjoy it and resonate with it and am wishing for a lot of
people to enjoy discovering a new artist for the first time. I also
really hope people will want more music because there is actually a next
recording that is already presently happening in the studio! Also, fans can
expect some performances, as I have been working hard with some awesome friends
to bring this music to the stage in the near future with a live band!
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