Looking At NLX Interviews

Why: I have analysed various interviews with the artist because it will help with gaining knowledge about the things she likes, her character and how she works.

Interviews with NLX

Through researching on the internet there has been an interview with NLX on a website called culture blues.
The first thing that I have discovered is that NLX’s song ‘Find Love’ is featured in the trailer of feature film ‘Off World’ which was also winner of the reel world film festival for best picture.

 “The film is a fictional documentary about the life of a young Toronto man named Lucky whose life changes dramatically when he journeys to his birthplace ‘Smokey Mountain’ which is now one of the most densely populated urban landscapes In the Philippines, a vast slum surrounded by a mountain of garbage 12 stories high, the methane gases from the mass of garbage is where the place got it’s name. Lucky grapples with memories of his past in attempt to define himself, and reconcile his affluent Canadian upbringing with the hard-bitten existence of the children of Smokey Mountain. Guided by Julia, a worker at a local NGO, Lucky discovers a living brother who has managed to escape the life of a scavenger, but still lives in the slums surrounding the dump. Without revealing their relationship, and in an effort to fill the gap between them, Lucky immerses himself in the culture of Smokey Mountain and his brother’s life, uncovering still more tangible links to his past. Finally revealing himself to the family he had no idea still existed, Lucky finds more than just the answers to his questions about his origins. He uncovers a spirit of hope and a rare beauty that grows wild even in the most squalid corners of our world; ultimately bridging the distance between the life that lies before him, and a past he only narrowly escaped.”

The film is Canadian which links to Natasha Alexandra was born, the film also portrays a very bold statement about poverty in less economic developed countries, which would suggest she is passionate about the situation.

When asked about her CD she replies…
CB:  Is there an essential track we should be listening to off Bitch Get Fit?

NLX:  Oh,**** Essential track? Can I look at the CD? [she looks at the CD] I’m really proud of the CD, I love it to pieces, so that’s really hard. I’d say Young Love. There’s Find Love and then there’s Young Love. Find Love is more epic and it’s the last song on the album so it’s like the light at the end of the tunnel. But the whole CD is a big, big story. I didn’t want to just put the first three amazing songs at the start, I wanted it to be like a story, something with a context. I’d say Young Love sort of sums a lot of that up.

Recently NLX has made a video for young love, (see analysing music videos document) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlgCzEK9ZwY

Natasha was quoted saying “I like stuff that’s a little darker, a little more guttural. I like stuff that really makes me feel. They were really heavy.” Giving a good insight to what sort of person she is, she seems to be very intone with her emotional outlets etc.

Later in the interview…CB:  Greatest Canadian musical export:  Celine Dion or Avril Lavigne?

NLX:  Wow. Why those two? Well, I’ll take Celine because I’m a sucker for a story. And I’m a sucker for anybody who loves their music, and what they do, and I love to hear about people’s journeys. She came from nothing, her family was like **** poor. She was one of what? Fifteen children?

From this we can start to gather the unique-ness of Natasha Alexandra, how she enjoys people, artists, music, for it’s background, story and mostly how things developed.


Another interview with NLX is from the website spinner music. Firstly the interview begins with understanding Natasha’s gigs and performances.    

”What kinds of clubs do you usually play? You could play folk or rock clubs.
I can play pretty much wherever I can get a gig, depending on the kind of sound I want to project. I prefer to play bigger venues that allow me to do a lot of the general instrumentation and have drums and a bigger sound. But living in New York, I find it's just easier to pick up and go to a place that has a piano or bring my keyboard. I play tiny little listening rooms in New York a lot. I play the Rockwood Music Hall often and a place called Café Vivaldi. They're really great listening rooms that allow you to come out and let the songs just do their thing.”
We understand from this that the artist is not concerned with touring or doing large shows, she is merely concerned with the best outlet for her music sound is, not the money or publicity she gets from doing said gigs.
”I think sometimes music kind of gets glazed over and a little more palatable, and I really like when things are a little more raw and emotion can be felt. “ – NLX

“How would you describe your sound? 
I would describe it as dark pop. A lot of people seem to describe it as a dark pop sound. It's a lot of highs and lows. It is storytelling, but it's got a lot of heavy sound. Whether they're empty sounds or they're full, they still have that solemness to them, I think. They're definitely not three-chord pop songs. Usually people either love it or they don't get it. I think you have to be open to a lot of different music. Sometimes people just like happy happy songs, and that's not what I do.”

Having then understood what she see’s her sound to be, and how people feel about it, it would be reasonable to suggest that this needs to be addressed when making the music video, it will have to compliment the song, not necessarily in a straight forward story telling narrative but definitely to a degree of artistic nature, as we could already say the song itself tells enough story, the video could somehow act as another artistic outlet for that, which is unusual, as its often the other way round with most artists and songs.

When asked about the reason she named herself NLX, she replied…
”I just got sick of people getting my name wrong. They kept writing "Natasha Alexander" or "Natacia Alexandira." And I always wanted to do music that was not necessarily in the singer-songwriter vein and that folky kind of lo-fi vein. I wanted to have the opportunity to branch out, like a Nine Inch Nails or like a Wilco, to have that curtain, to have that mystery. [It] kind of give myself that carte blanche to make whatever kind of album I want.”
 “I like something that has a tone I can relate to or has an interesting production quality, I feel addicted to a synth line or a melody line or a beat. I'm the person who will not play the song through, I'll keep rewinding and rewinding to those three seconds or something.”-NLX

How this will help with my studies: This will help me with my studies because by looking and analysing these interviews i can gage what kind of person the artist is, and furtheron by doing this i can also understand her values, by knowing this i can see the kind of things to incorporate with her album cover and video.