Ever since hearing Andreya Triana on Flying Lotus’ “Tea Leaf Dancers”, I have been unable to stop listening to her. Floating in that gray area in between musical genres Andreya always keeps me guessing on what she will bring to the table next. Here is a recent interview I had with her….
Q: When did you first become involved with music?
A: I think its safe to say I’ve always been involved in music even from the days of primary school getting heavily involved in school productions and making mix tapes at home so its just grown from there.
Q: Who are your inspirations?
A: I’m inspired by artists that have their own strong creative identity, have consistently produced good music and have also had long and successful careers. People such as Bill Withers, Bjork, Prince and Stevie Wonder are four such artists that inspire me and that I also look up to.
Q: How did you manage to hook up with Flying Lotus?
A: The track ‘Tea Leaf Dancers’ happened totally randomly! We were both selected for the Red Bull Music academy in Australia in 2006. There were so many collaborations happening on a daily basis between us all I’m sure we all had about 15 different tracks on the go! Flying Lotus just passed me this beat on a CD as we were passing in the corridor so I listened it and liked it. We got some time in the studio and I came up with lyrics on the spot. I remember the whole process of making that track being really quick.
Q: What was it like being part of the Red Bull Music Academy, and being around so much talent?
A: It was a life changing and mind blowing experience to say the least. We were 30 people selected from all over the world so everyone bought their own unique talent to the whole experience. The academy put people in front of me that I would never have dreamt of working with, so you couldn’t help but to learn something new from each person. Also the lectures we had really inspiring and gave me tips on my creativity, the music industry and everything in between. I heard music I never would have listened to and worked with people I never would have thought to work with. I came home a changed person!
Q: Will any of the producers you have previously worked with (ex. Flying Lotus, Aaron Jerome, Kidkanevil) be doing any production on your new album?
A: No, so far I’m really blessed to have worked with some amazing people but really felt my album had to be about a self expression coming from me only. It’s a good experience doing collaborations but that’s different from writing a song from scratch that you’ve put your heart and soul into and that’s exactly what I wanted for my album. I knew that I needed to find one person that I could sit with and work through my ideas and luckily Bonobo has stepped up to the job and I’m incredibly happy with the way its sounding so far!
Q: When will your album be ready and are you involved in any other projects?
A: With this first debut album I really didn’t want to rush it but it’s really taking pace and will hopefully be done by May. I also have two other projects I’m working on which are The Dreamscape Soul Sessions; a live art and live music collaboration with my friend Sri McKinnon. I’ve been doing my Freeflo sets for a few years now (live acoustic set using only a sample to sample voice) and wanted to add a new element so Sri will be drawing live on a huge canvas on stage with me. My other project is a psychedelic / rock project called Annie & The Duke, our EP will be out within the next two months. It’s been lots of fun to do and really different from the music I’ve worked on so far.
Make sure to hit up her website to check out tracks from Annie & The Duke and her upcoming project with Bonobo!