The Hypnotizing Ak.ela
The ‘Warriors & Weirdos’ group on Facebook has a lot to answer for. Being a fan page for Norwegian singer/songwriter Aurora is obviously a plus, but as I’ve written before, it also leads to other artists submitting their own work which is always well received by some fifteen thousand followers on the page. Here is another such artist, by the name of Ak.ela.
Ak.ela spent her childhood years moving from Lancaster, California to Bury St. Edmunds in England before settling in Alaska by the age of eight. Ak.ela was part of a choir from middle school through high school, and sang the U.S. National Anthem at a baseball game aged 13, a performance she wasn’t aware she was going to be giving until she got to the game!
At the conclusion of high school, Ak.ela sang a self-penned song at her graduation, made all the more surreal by surviving a potentially life threatening car accident that very same day. Though she spent time in her teenage years playing in bluegrass bands (a popular genre in Alaska), her move to Portland, Oregon cemented her own style. She won studio time and began to upload songs to her Soundcloud account, the first being ‘Yours’.
‘Yours’ begins with a striking piano note, but the touches of keyboard immediately take away any notion of this being a piano/vocal only piece. Ak.ela’s voice is layered and passionate from the start amongst percussion and programmed drums. The piano gives over to the synth and string parts, atmospheric and verging on haunting. A co-write with Ethan Trimble, Tyler Trimble and Tim Skellinger, it is Ak.ela’s voice that holds the piece together. The song’s opening lyrics, which are also repeated throughout remind me of trip-hop, like something Massive Attack would do – ‘You don't know pain until its yours, and now you're hurt, it could be worse they say, but what is worse than endless pain?’ It’s almost like Yours is a remix of something else, but it isn’t. This is the song, and an intriguing introduction for the budding Ak.ela fan.
Part of Ak.ela’s plan for 2020 was to take a trip around Europe in the summer. Of course this plan was scuppered by the pandemic, but she decided to reallocate the funds to make her first music video instead. Produced by Neon Nights Media, you’ll see some familiar imagery in masked up people but also a social side to life we’ve all missed. The hazy and blurred images coupled with the creative lighting suit ‘Hypnotize’ well.
The track itself is more assertive in the beat, more electronic with no sign of piano this time. The vocal production really suits Ak.ela’s voice, at times twisting away in reverb, other times up in your face, like it’s fading in and out. You couldn’t say that there are exactly sections to Hypnotize, more like the whole thing is a trip in a constant state. I can imagine this being remixed for a club, or having several remixes that each highlight different points that are great about this track.
‘Age Of The Goldman’ is a different animal entirely. Though still laced with a programmed beat, there are more natural elements to this. I get the feeling this was written on piano, with the padding of chords playing throughout, but there’s also acoustic guitar in the introduction. The thing that really took me aback was hearing an electric guitar solo, a moment entirely unlike anything present in Yours and Hypnotize. Aside from this, the instrumental still evokes a Massive Attack vibe, particularly the programmed drums. Towards the end of the song, Ak.ela stretches her voice further, which I hope to see more of someday - she certainly has the capacity for it.
1. Ak.ela is a unique name - where did that come from?
Well there are three hidden meanings in it! Akela is actually my middle name and its hawaiian for graceful and noble. It also means lucky which I consider myself to be. Before I moved to Portland, Oregon, I lived in Alaska and the abbreviation for Alaska is AK. So I put the period in there originally as a home artist name of where I was living. But I also had this beauty mark on my leg when I was younger that I kind of loved, but it kept growing bigger and sucking all the pigment around it so I got it removed. Now that I have it removed, all of my skin around the area of where it was placed is a perfect white circle of no pigment. So now its a beauty mark in my name!
2. You released the music video to your single 'Hypnotize' last year, how did the writing process begin for that track? What was the inspiration?
It actually happened fairly quickly. My bandmates back then were making tracks and we thought it would be fun to do it together. They only had a snippet done and I started writing lyrics to it. After awhile, it reminded me of my World of Warcraft character I had when I was a preteen and during the battlegrounds, there was an attack I could use on my opponent that was called fear where I could put them in a hypnosis to run the opposite direction of where they were trying to be so it kind of was built around that idea, haha.
3. 'Hypnotize' has great production behind it, who helped you put that together?
I met a man through instagram! I saw him do other videos for a friend of mine and figured I would reach out to him. His name is Joey Mors and he is the owner for his business called Neon Nights Media! He directed the entire thing and he was sooooo beautiful and so efficient at what he did. I also grabbed a few of my friends to be extras and to help with the production and I am so very thankful for every single one of them. It was my first time ever doing a production and I couldn't have asked for a better team.
4. Originally your plan was to go travelling in 2020, but that turned into the video for 'Hypnotize', what was the filming like for that shoot?
It went by incredibly smooth and it only took 8 days of actual shooting which I thought was great. Joey already had a script written up for it and from there, it felt like it all came naturally from the production to all the actors involved. I was amazed & entirely happy with how it all went.
5. There's a song on your Soundcloud called 'Yours', would you tell us more about that track?
That one is my most personal song out. It was written about a time in my life where I felt that I couldn't do anything right and then I told those around me, they would tell me that it could be worse. I was severely depressed and struggling with finding the light in my life and it just made me feel really stuck and that I had to apologize for my feelings. It didn't feel good. But writing about it made me feel a lot better and moving away helped immensely.
6. I love that guitar solo in 'Age Of The Goldman', who plays on this track?
The guitar solo on that track is absolutely beautiful! Unfortunately, the man who played it, him and I had a falling out. But Jon Delaney is who did the guitar solo and I still absolutely love his musical talent. The other people involved were actually his cousins! Tyler and Ethan Trimble and we also had our good friend Tim Skellinger.
7. Where does a phrase like 'Age Of The Goldman' come from?
Again, it was mostly based off a play of words that came to my head once I heard a little bit of what the music production sounded like. But in the end, it really talks about the greed of the world. Wanting it all and it being a bit more on the evil side that life can throw your way and how it can manipulate an army of people to follow in the footsteps of greed.
8. I've enjoyed asking this question particularly during the pandemic. What would an Ak.ela live performance look like without any budgetary or time constraints? Go crazy!
Ooooo! This is a hard one! I LOVE costumes. Imagery would be a huge part. I love connecting to my audience as well and a lot of emotion and facial expression would be present. I want the audience to feel what my songs mean and I think being emotionally available is a huge part to making the audience feel like apart of it as well. I think that would be my main focus. Making my audience feel.
9. Whether or not it will come out, what was the name of the last song you wrote and what was it inspired by?
I currently, as of last week just got a new producer and musical partner to continue our musical career! His name is Eric Florence and he is a beautifully classically trained piano player and we are currently producing our track for a song based off of sleep paralysis! I’ve had it almost my entire life and more often than not, it would happen multiple times a night. It’s a really terrifying feeling so I wanted to write a song about it.
10. What are your plans for the rest of 2021? Is there more music ready to be released?
As of right now, music is in the works! Nothing ready to be released quite yet but in the very near future, will be! I am also currently working on my second music video for the Age of the Goldman and I am absolutely entirely excited for it! For this year, so much of my soul will go in to making more and more music now that I feel I have a steady team. And I am really excited to have one of my dearest friends, Zabyth and her partner also my coworker, Myrk as the stars in Age of the Goldman! I can't wait to share it all with the world. ♡
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Follow Ak.ela on Facebook and Instagram @ak.elamusic.
