The new generation of trip-hop has a name: Babeheaven. Through this unique artistic project, the two Londoners, Nancy Andersen and Jamie Travis, have managed to seduce us, in just a few tracks, with their melancholic groove and a definite gift for conveying strong emotions that give us goose bumps! A few days before the release of their first album, Home For Now (Awal), the duo gave us an exclusive interview.

La Vague Parallèle : Hi Babeheaven! For those who are not lucky enough to know you yet, could you introduce yourself in a few words (name, role, and even zodiac sign!)?

Jamie: My name is Jamie Travis, Nance and I write the songs in Babeheaven and I play keys live. My sign is Sagittarius, Virgo rising. The opposite to Nancy’s!

Nancy: My name is Nancy– I am the singer in Babeheaven and a Virgo.

LVP: How would you describe your music?

Nancy: We make “post-rave” music. The music you put on in the car ride back from a party, or at 6 a.m. when you’ve been up all night and are feeling a little fragile. It’s mellow but heavy!

LVP: What are the secrets of your creative process for composing?

Nancy: When we write normally, Jamie will start with a beat and we will find something we both like, then play some chords. We work through till we find something that evokes a feeling. Then I write melodies and hum parts I think will work whilst writing lyrics. The rest is history.

LVP: What is your music gear? More instruments or more plugins?

Jamie: On this album we used quite a bit of analogue gear, just as we really wanted warmth and a vintage sound. For drums, we used the MPC-60 and SP-1200, stuff that Pete Rock and J Dilla used back in their day, as well as live drums and samples. I have my Fender guitar that I used on most songs, and probably the most constant pedal was an old Boss CE-1 chorus pedal, and some other pedals our producer Simon Byrt, has, that make it sound great. We also used loads of old synths, no plugins or vst for them. Stuff like an old 80’s Roland RS 505 synth, an SQ80, Juno 106, a little cheap Casio keyboard and some other stuff, but yeah, definitely, older gear over plugins!

LVP: Listening to your tracks, we perceive trip-hop, electro and soul influences. Who are your favourite artists?

Jamie: There’s obviously too many to name but Portishead, Moby, John Frusciante, The Beach Boys, Air and The Strokes are some of my favourites I’d say. Those influences can probably be heard in our music.

Nancy: I listen to lots of different things – I think it’s hard to narrow it down. I’m always trying to keep up with new stuff but I also listen to a lot of classics. We both love Air and I have always felt super connected to music by Zero 7, but I think we have a pretty broad music taste.

LVP: If you were told tomorrow that you could collaborate with any artist in the blink of an eye, who would it be and why?

Jamie: I think maybe Fatboy Slim, as I’ve always wanted to make a song like Praise You. Something that is played at a party and makes everyone dance. It’s been a dream of mine! So maybe the collab could make that dream come true. But there’s soo many people I’d love to collaborate with.

Nancy: I think I would choose James Blake. I like the way he writes hypnotic vocals parts that pull you in and builds up around them. It’s so simple but amazing.

LVP: What are you listening to these days?

Jamie: I’ve been listening to the new James Blake EP, with Mount Kimbie, which is sounding good. Also some Burial and also some sixties stuff like Crosby, Stills & Nash as I recently watched a documentary about Laurel Canyon in the 60’s. Lady of the Island by Crosby, Stills & Nash is unbelievably beautiful. Normally I don’t listen to that much 60’s music, but recently I have.

Nancy: I really love Slauson Malone’s new project. I think it’s super interesting.

LVP: Now let’s talk about your new record, Home For Now, that will be released on November 20th. So, how does it feel to release your first album?

Jamie: It feels great, it’s something we’ve wanted for a long time, and I’m happy to get it out there, and then to start to work on the next one. It’s an extremely satisfying and challenging process, and it’s the biggest statement you can make about yourself and your work. I’m very happy.

LVP: Home For Now gathers new songs but also older songs. Can we say that it’s a little bit the thread of your emotions of the last four years?

Nancy: It’s for sure a thread of emotions. It touches on lots of things that have happened to me, lyrically – and the progression of being pretty much a kid to now (I feel very adult).

LVP: If you had to choose only one song on the album, which one would it be and why?

Jamie: Maybe November. I think it sums up what we are about right now. The vocals are really beautiful, and instrumentally I think it’s hopefully quite a unique mix of things.

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LVP: Your album is a journey to the heart of the things that define us as human beings. For you, what does it mean to be human in 2020?

Nancy: Being human in 2020 is the same as it has always been for me. It’s staying in touch and not losing touch.

LVP: To create the visual universe of Home For Now, you called on several artists (Margot Bowman, River Cousin, Sacha Beeley), how did these collaborations came about?

Nancy: I have known Margot for a long time, she is one of my sister’s best friends. When we were deep in lockdown, she got in touch and we met up and came up with the idea for the video. It was perfect timing as she normally works and lives in America. She has an amazing eye for details!

I have been following River Cousin on Instagram for a long time, and it felt like this was the perfect time to collaborate with him.

 

Sacha reached out to us whilst we were on a hunt for an animator and I thought her work was amazing! She had done some work for friends in the past which I had always liked, and came up with some beautiful stuff.

LVP: It’s difficult not to talk about the health crisis at the moment. How has it impacted / is it impacting your life as an artist?

Jamie: The positive for us during this crisis, is that it gave us the time to solely work on music without any distractions. We would meet up and work most days, and that led to us getting a lot done, and being able to move forward with an album sooner than if this had not happened. The album might not have come out till next year, for example. However the negatives are huge, like many artists we were supposed to play SXSW festival and then go on a 2 months tour of the USA. Financially we have lost a lot from the crisis stopping our touring, as well as the experience we would have had as people.

LVP: Despite the current situation, have you still planned tour dates or shows in 2021?

Nancy: We have a show booked in for the 23rd of February at the Village Underground, as well as a European tour supporting Rhye!

LVP: A year ago, the Parisians had the chance to see you at the Supersonic (I was lucky enough to be part of it!). Are you planning to come back to France?

Jamie: We love Paris and France, we’re playing Casino de Paris there with Rhye as part of their tour on 25^th April next year!

LVP: Speaking of shows, by the way, when and where was Babeheaven’s first one? Do you remember what it felt like?

Nancy: Our first show was in one of our friend’s houses, we played a lot of our first shows in friends’ basements. I had such bad stage fright, somehow playing for friends can be even scarier than playing for strangers. We had written a bunch of songs and been rehearsing for weeks. When we first started, I played bass and sang, so it was even more to think about. The whole thing was so naive and fun (in the end). We recorded the audio from the show and I still listen to it sometimes! We have come a long way.

LVP: Do you already have projects in mind for the future? Is there a topic you would like to write or compose about?

Jamie: Well, we are already thinking about the next album and are excited to start exploring where we will go musically. I like the idea of consciously challenging and changing certain elements of how we write or what we do, etc., to see if something new and interesting can come from it.

Nancy: I’m excited to start a new project. I don’t have any major ideas of what it will be. But sometimes, it’s better not to overthink things.