Q & A: Folia
Slowing bubbling away at exfoliating, luxurious synth-pop is Folia. The duo have crowed their winning achievement to be new single Maybe (I Don’t Know What Love Is). It’s a lush embellishing of soaring vocals and intricate production. Folia deserve your attention, which is why we had to find out more about the duo. Claire and Calvin spoke about soul mates, emotion and collaboration.
The song speaks of one person in a relationship moving fast than the other. Is it tough putting yourself out there in a personal manner like releasing this song?
Claire: Actually, I think it is quite the opposite for me. I have always been extremely open in expressing my emotions and what I am feeling and I think this comes out in my writing. I have tried keeping my emotions to myself but it just isn’t my thing—I’m definitely an open book!
Do you believe in soul mates?
Claire: I believe we have potentially dozens of soul mates! With 7 billion or so of us, I don’t think we have just one ‘soul mate’, but many. Whether we ever cross paths with them or not is a different story.
Calvin: No, I have never really believed in soul mates. Although we tend to find some comfort believing that we do and will somehow find them one day. I believe the longer you are with someone and the more you spend time with them, you just feel like they are the right person to be with without having to label them as a ‘soul mate’.
The film clip is beautifully shot. Any shoutouts you want to give for its work and where was the film clip shot?
Claire & Calvin: Yes! It was shot in the gorgeous Warbuton Redwood Forest. It was a chilly winters day so my (Claire) feet froze and I was sick for about a week after (worth it!). It was also a challenge navigating all the visitors, though, and we had plenty of people having a peek. The video itself was shot by the wonderful Han Cheng. He was a Sydney based videographer but has just moved down to Melbourne. Highly recommend him to any artists looking to work with someone who is as passionate about the project as you are!
There’s so much emotion in the vocals. Who do you take influence from when shaping your voice?
Claire:Thank you! Wowww good question. I try not to take too much influence from one particular vocalist as I try to stay as true to my own voice as possible, but I am definitely inspired by female vocalists who just stop you in your tracks and give you chills all round (e.g. Billie Eilish, Hannah Reid, Vera Blue).
The production work is incredible. Do you attempt to tell a story with the beats as much as through the vocals, too?
Calvin: Oh, thank you. I definitely try to tell a story through the production as a whole, just as much as Claire does with her vocals and hopefully giving her vocals justice. I think we go through the same emotive process in songwriting but just carry it through a different medium. I’m a huge fan of instrumentals that make us feel something as if it were a story within itself.
How much is Folia a collaborative process? Are the lyrics written to the beats or vice versa?
Claire & Calvin: It is absolutely a 50/50 share in the creative process! It also really depends on the song as to what comes first. Often I (Calvin) will send some beats and Claire will write to it (which is her preferred method), or Claire will have a random harmony in mind and will send it to me and I will shape a track around that (probably my preferred method!). For Maybe (I Don’t Know What Love Is), the beats definitely came first. Once I sent Claire a sample of the track, she wrote the lyrics for the song in about 10 minutes.
Anymore live shows on the horizon?
Claire & Calvin: Soon! But we are taking a little break first! We’ve both been flat out working our full time jobs and getting a few songs finished (including this one!) so we are both off on a little holiday! We are fortunate enough to be supporting our dear friend Lottie Liams at the Northcote Social Club in October though, which we are pumped for!
