MUSICIAN Lucy Kruger has come a long way in just one short year. Since this time in 2011, the Durban born and Joburg-raised songwriter has recorded and released her debut album Cut Those Strings, played gigs all over the country and shot her first music video.
To the outside eye, Kruger, who relocated here in 2011 after completing her Honours degree in drama at Rhodes University, appears to have found the transition from student to full-time muso an easy one. Kruger disagrees slightly. "I went from an intensely structured and rigorous year that was in some ways too stimulating to a completely clean and slightly clumsy canvas.
It has taken me some time to try and find self-discipline and direction." Finding her route led her to recording and releasing Cut Those Strings independently. "It was a dream really" she says when asked about the process. "Three days of pre-production followed by two excessively productive and creative weeks in studio with four exceptional musicians.
Dave Langemann, the engineer, and Schalk Joubert, the producer were a machine of a team who helped me find what I wanted out of the songs. Everyone involved worked incredibly hard and taught me a ridiculous amount. I would do it again tomorrow if I could." Releasing the album independently, which she describes as an "empowering (and often difficult) experience", meant that Kruger often had to rely on word-of-mouth and social media to make people aware of it.
Luckily, the general reception to Cut Those Strings has been positive. "The reviews have mostly been lovely. It has been quite a challenge for me to have to open myself up to criticism in this way I do at times feel misrepresented and find that frustrating. However, it has been very good for me to relinquish control and to see the absolute subjectivity that is inherent in art and public opinion.
What right do I have to prescribe how people should experience or explain my music? I suppose the biggest challenge has been learning to fairly critique and value my own work. That CD and I have had a quite a ride." Kruger has been gigging almost non-stop all year. When asked about her most memorable show, she says: "Wow.
That is so tricky When I first arrived every gig seemed so essential and now they seem to blur somewhat. My favourite gigs are the ones where people shut up and listen. Alma Cafe is a gem of a venue and has never given me a hard time, regardless of the number of people actually in the space.
Those that are there are truly there, and then some sort of exchange can actually occur" Kruger, who struggles to define her sound and suggests that "today I am going to say indie folk", is influenced by artists like Tori Amos and Joni Mitchell, women singer songwriters who often buck conventional notions around how to succeed within the music industry.
A similar independent spirit is clear in Kruger. "I am rather weary when it comes to music videos. I know how important they are in terms of getting my music out there as the audience craves visual accompaniment to the music, but it is precisely because of this that I am somewhat hesitant. I realised that my audio imagination is far clearer and not always linked to the visual.
I do not want to prescribe a visual to a song that guides the listener in a way that limits their personal experience or interpretation. And this whole long and boring explanation is the background to why I decided to make my first music video in such a simplistic manner". That video is for her single Heart of Stone, a black and white affair shot by Barry de Villiers of Roundabout Films, which is gaining popularity on MK and Youtube.
Despite her hesitancy around the medium, Kruger is also working on a video for her song Shudder. "I don't want to say too much about it as it is being edited as we speak, but I can say that we discovered the most exquisitely disturbing location..."
Reflecting on 2012, Kruger says: "I think this time, now before the New Year begins, will be very good for me in terms of reflecting on what I have actually experienced and achieved in 2012. Over the last four years (at Rhodes) I started to develop a very specific focus point and way of thinking about the world and this year has thrown me off balance a little.
That is a good place to be." After the release of the video and a plan to tackle releasing Cut Those Strings internationally, Kruger is uncertain of what 2013 will hold for her. "I want to get in the car... and play. In all ways. I would love to start thinking about a second album." Catch Kruger at Up the Creek outside Swellendam on the weekend of January 31 to February 3.
Story by: Genna Gardini
Picture: Pierre Rommelaere
Caption: CLEAN CANVAS: Lucy Kruger will perform at Up the Creek this year.
Source: Cape Times