GET FAMILIAR: MILA V
As a small, independent brand, almost all our business is based on personal relationships. One longterm friend of the brand is the Multi-disciplinary artist Mila V, who has just released her first single and music video for the track entitled "The Craze". After posting the project on our blog, we sat down with her in Amsterdam's Westerpark to tune in, catch up and get familiar with what her relationship towards music is like.
First of all, how are you?
I’m good! Releasing The Craze has been a very exiting experience so far.
Being from such a dance inspired sound, the new single being released while the clubs are closed almost makes a completely new space for the sound to exist?
Yes, I think its kind of an experiment anyway, cause I started out producing instrumental tracks and than when I started writing lyrics and adding my vocals, it kind of gave this pop twist to it, so it can exist in two different spaces I think. Maybe know people are more prone to listen to this kind of style at home, than another friend told me she loves running to it. But I honestly can’t wait to hear it in a club, my mom told me the other day she listened to it 8 times in a row on full volume in her car so she could understand what his music would be like in the club haha.
You have a very analog sound so for the gear nerds out there, can you let us know what you’re working with?
So the drums come from an Roland 808 with a distortion guitar pedal, I also got to borrow my friends Elektron MK 2 which is sick, hope to own one myself one day. The other sounds come various synths, I have a Yamaha AN1x and recently scooped up a Korg prophecy for quite cheap which was great ! Most of the acid comes from a TD-3 and the weird noise comes from a Moog Grandmother my friend owns and I have the 0-Coast Make Noise, I’s so small but so powerful, I would really love to get more into modular synths and euro racks.
You make clear aesthetic choices with your work and how you present it, is this something that you think of when songwriting or do the music and visuals come together in post production?
I don’t have the visuals in my mind when I am songwriting, but it’s more like a kind of daydreaming once I start making demos. I sometimes also don’t fully know what the song is about until I listen to it afterwards and realise, and then this kind of narrative is there that can fluctuate and flow into visuals.
Where did you like to go out before all of this?
I liked going to Garage Noord, but I think mostly I am lucky to have friends like Mairo, who would take me to wherever he was DJ’ing, and had some of the best times of my life.
The latest single has such great potential for a live performance, when can we expect to hear such a thing from you?
I’m doing a Future Intel live set stream show on Thursday, I would love to give an all round visuals and everything live performance to an actual crowd, so hopefully I can soon.
Future Intel? Can you tell us more about the show?
Its on the 29th of April at 22:00 and I will be doing a mixture of things that are on my EP and some older productions but also fragment of new demos. I will also be doing my own visuals and it will be a mixture of instrumental live set and singing.
You get such a confidence boost from having such a tight group around you all doing creative work. Does this hold you together as a social circle?
I think what holds us together in the first place is not the creative work, but the love and wanting to see others grow and do well, but stemming from that a lot of us support each other and work together which is very cool.
You are now also managed by Mo, how does having management change your creative output?
I don’t think it changes my creative output but I think what I like about working with Mo is that you have someone to bounce ideas of and also someone who is really in this with you together and can make sure there’s a structure in place that is sometimes harder to stick to by yourself.
How did the move to London affect your creativity, being in a new space after being in one that you grew up in must change your perspectives?
I think my move to London affected my creativity cause there were so many new impulses and people, I was really young and I did not know anyone so it was also quite daunting and overwhelming in the beginning, but I would not have missed it for the world and all the people I met and the things I did have inspired my a lot.
After coming back to Amsterdam and exploring new avenues, what did you feel like the London experience allowed you to realise about this city?
I think what I really like about Amsterdam is that it’s relatively small but still operates on an international level. It’s easier to get things off the ground here.
Who do you dream to work with in the future and in terms of collaboration, who have you been working with lately?
I have been working on a collaborative project with Mayo, she’s a really sick producer, more EBM vibes and slower BPMs. And also I have made two Italo tracks with Rimer London that are really different from my own stuff but really fun!
What can we expect to see from you in the future?
More music, more visuals, more shows. I’m ready to keep growing and built my own little world.
Photography by Andre Amponsah
Words by Passion Dzenga
