Surgeons Girl (uk)

Bristol-based musician Surgeons Girl's airy sound is based on analog synths, vocals and piano sounds. For her dreamy sets, the musician draws inspiration from acts like Suzanne Ciani, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, and club avant-gardist Laurel Halo. The results are progressive-driving, yet spherical-harmonic tracks.

How is the overall vibe in your city?

We're in full lockdown at the moment here in the uk so everything feels disconnected. A bit like walking around in a video game with not many NPC's. Bristol is a city that's defined by its venues, markets and theatres so it just feels very empty.

Can you elaborate a bit on the mood you’ve been in, while recording your set?

In a lot of ways quite free, as many things have stopped still, which has really benefited the music. I'm quite improvisatory, so having that time has made recording sets or mini jams quite enjoyable. On the other side of that I've found I've needed to be disciplined in not over thinking and returning to things that are finished just because I have the time and lack of other stuff to think about in my day to day.

How do you feel about the overwhelming presence of digital / social media in comparison to the lack of social time IRL?

For the most part it quite suits me I think. I'm quite private and don't need huge amounts of social interaction. I studied piano my whole life so I amm quite used to being in a practice room on my own everyday. Also, as I'm relatively new as an artist , social media is generally quite positive for me currently as it's a nice receiver to responses to my music. 

Does this at some point influence your musical production? The lack of the crowd? How?

That will be interesting to find out with my next release. A Violet Sleep, my current e.p was written to be played live, on set ups and equipment that is meant to be used live. There's a practicality for performance in how they were conceived. So as I start writing my next group of tracks that naturally is going to change I think. There are definitely a couple of tracks I'm already thinking would be challenging to work out in a live setting. Ha! 

The Elevate Festival 2021 theme is Momentum. Which social or political cause would deserve more Momentum?

For me, the one thing that really resonates with me is economic disparity and inequality. I'd  love to see that talked about more. The serious inequality  in wealth and the sheer volume of people whose lives are negatively impacted by economic hardship  and all that means in terms of lack of opportunity and deprivation is awful. Yet across the world we see people choosing to vote in governments that just make this worse and worse. I think this is something that's universal to us all and if tackled would benefit everyone. 

Lockdown Grooves is part of Re-Imagine Europe, co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.
In Cooperation with FM4.