EnnieLoud The Best I Can Interview

Find Strength Through Introspection

Sweet without being saccharine, sentimental without being mawkish, 'The Best I Can' is a poignant reflection on the twin poles of femininity, and the quiddities of being human and vulnerable. Framed as a series of statements to one's weaker self, 'The Best I Can' is a slow bounce hinged around a minimal and addicting bassline. Written by Cassandra, whose R&B tinged vocal recalls the halcyon days of Lauryn Hill, the song was produced by band member Fabio Rizzoli, aka BeeOff, and recorded and performed by the band at the SAE Institute of London. Beau Vallis (Kelly Rowland, Pharrell, Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg) assists Fabio with the mixing and masters it himself. On 'The Best I Can' EnnieLoud have found a style that mixes neo-soul melodics with the ambient soundscaping of artists like Portishead and Goldfrapp, adding technical flourishes used by live DJs - drum and bass filters, synth arpeggiators and samples. The video was directed by Juanmi Cuesta and choreographed and performed by Italian danseuse Colette Gasparini. It follows a young girl as she dances with tireless passion in the immensity of a disused warehouse. 'The Best I Can' is a sincere expression of inner-strength, a genre-defying testament to self-definition in the face of very human doubts.

Interview with Ennie Cassandra and BeeOff

Question: How would you describe your music?

Ennie Cassandra: I think it is pretty hard to describe our music as a fixed thing. It depends a lot from what we start with. Sometimes it's a mood, sometimes it's a question, sometimes it's an answer. Maybe, we can describe it like a layout of colors, sounds and images that change constantly influenced by our inspirations and situations. Deeply Soulful in an electronic soundtrack btw, if we talk about it essentially as a genre.


Question: Can you tell us about The Best I Can?

Ennie Cassandra: The Best I Can is a sincere and spontaneous ode to perseverance, taking the form of a dialogue between the strong and the weak in all of us. For the first time in my life, I have needed to write something to encourage me, against my fear and weakness. And the words came out naturally, just like you would do with a journal, written in one go, without hesitations. It's absurd, how people can find out an inner strength in some hard situation, even if they are so fragile. I mean, we can learn to be strong, even if we are not. We can be strong, and we can do it, for our dreams.


Question: What motivates you most when writing music?

BeeOff: I really enjoy the creativity and the satisfaction that music production comes with. There's something magical about creating and putting sounds together, experiencing the result and adjusting in on the base of that experience.

As someone famous said (can't remember who): it is like painting onto silence.

Ennie Cassandra: Writing songs is like breathing, walking for me. It's a part of me. It's life. Sharing music is like sharing a part of me, my stories, my daily life. So, I wish people to feel our songs as theirs, because they are true.


Question: Do you prefer performing live or recording?

Ennie Cassandra: Both. We love performing and every time we gig, it's always a different journey. Recording is also an important part of our music creating process. We create our songs in studio. We really enjoy to check the perfect sounds , the grooves around the words. The studio session is also a test . If a new song can give us so much vibes , during the creative process, it will be the right song to release.


Question: Which is your favourite song to perform live and why?

Ennie Cassandra: At the moment it is "My Faults" because it has a very strong energy while keeping a relatively low sound density. This give us space to play around a lot with effects and modulations and Cassandra can liberate deeply her soulful energy.


Question: If you could have anyone, in the world, attend a show, who would it be?

Ennie Cassandra: I must confess that I honestly would like to have as many people as possible, indistinctly: common people, artists, baristas, painters, teachers, poets. But if I could have, I would have been liked to play in front of Charlie Parker who drinking a pint of beer with Martin Luther King , Virginia Wolf and Amy Winehouse.


Question: Which music/artists are you currently listening to?

BeeOff: In this moment I'm really intrigued by the German electronic artist called "Recondite"

Ennie Cassandra: Micheal Kiwanuka !! I love Celeste's voice. In my playlists , I have also music from Goldfrapp, Saint Vincent and John Coltraine for my "blue moments".


Question: What or who was your inspiration to go into the music industry?
Ennie Cassandra: My dad's vinyls inspired me a lot when I was a child. I started to dream listening to music, imaging worlds , stories, and colors. The album Rapsody in blue of Gershiwn, in particular, impressed me a lot. Anyway, after dreaming, I have started to learn writing and composing songs. Probably , when I have realized to be able to do it well, I've seen "the road" to go into the music industry. Now, the only thing that I know is that I need to express my art and I do work every day for it.

BeeOff: My love for music production started by attending DIY sound system events, in which people organizing the party also producing their own sound specifically for the self-build sound system. Dub reggae and DIY techno parties were my favourite.


Question: If you could collaborate with another artist, who would it be?

Ennie Cassandra: I'd love to collaborate with N.E.R.D, Celeste, and with some urban artist as MoStack.


Question: What is the biggest challenge you have faced along the way to your musical success?

BeeOff: Learning how to be organized with my work: keeping everything labelled and traceable as well as limiting the time I would spend on a certain track in order to bring it to and end point.

There is still a lot of margin of improvement, but this has definitely been the hardest challenge in order to improve my career as a music creator.

Ennie Cassandra: Learning the art of patience. Working every day, without making questions, but trying to give answers through music . Rome wasn't built in a day. It's the same for the music's affairs. To reach a goal, you have to work hard and be patient.


Question: What's a typical day like?

Ennie Cassandra: First of all, soya cappuccino, one shot, please.
Then the rest - that includes everything around music: Composing, writing , social media's stuff, sharing posts, events, rehearsals , gigs, developing some drafts of arrangements with my band. Dance lesson three days a week. Some pints of beer of course, to clear my mind.


Interview by Brooke Hunter