AVAWAVES tell us how their stunning cover of London Grammar's 'Wild Eyed' came about
Here's hoping a collaboration could come out of it...
Last updated 14th Jun 2021
We caught up with AVAWAVES - AKA Anna Phoebe and Aisling Brouwer - to discuss everything from their origins as a duo right up to their forthcoming second album, due out later this year.
We felt compelled to bring up their stunning cover of London Grammar's 2017 track 'Wild Eyed', which they released as a single last year after playing it live on tour and discovering their fans loved it just as much as they did.
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Read more | AVAWAVES: An introduction to the classical crossover duo
The original is ethereal, mystical and almost other-worldly, thanks to the songwriting and vocal talents of Hannah Reid - but Anna and Aisling have somehow taken it to the next level. Could there be a potential collaboration with the trio in the future?
"God, I would love that - if you happen to know their manager, we're definitely keen!" Aisling gushed. "Both Anna and I have been massive fans of them even from since before we met, we've always kind of been obsessed with them.
"When we're writing together, we'll often have music on in the background that inspires us, or we'll have playlists that, even if we're just cooking or eating together and not actually making music, that is kind of subconscious inspiration, and London Grammar was always a part of that."
On why they picked this track in particular, Aisling explained, "With this song, it's just got such an amazing melody in general, and I think Anna was really able to make that her own and to really mirror what she does with her voice in a very unique way," she continued, as Anna added, "I'm in love with with Hannah's voice, her delivery... She's such a strong person. The way she performs, she's just like, here it is. Goosebumps. She's strong but so soulful as well. It's not strong in a cold way; there's a depth in the texture of her voice.
"There are so many songs that if you cover it line for line, especially on a violin, they can be a little bit cheesy if maybe there's not enough melody, especially in pop music. But like Ash said, the melody of 'Wild Eyed', and the way her inflections work, the way she approaches notes, it almost sounds a little bit kind of Irish, or kind of Celtic."
Aisling concluded, "We were always drawn to her music, but that song in particular, there's just such a rawness and a beauty and a strength and then just to strip it down to violin and piano... We weren't even going to release it, then we were like, 'Do you know what? It was really fun to play'. We played it live on our tour, and people listened to it live and that made us go, 'Okay, let's release it too'."
AVAWAVES kindly performed the track for our Scala Radio Sessions Live in isolation during lockdown - somehow they were still able to capture the magic, despite not being in the same room.