Waterflower is one of music’s genuine mavericks – the Latvia-based singer, songwriter and producer has already garnered attention due to her extraordinary soundscapes and use of plants and flowers to generate musical tones but she now turns to a subject close to her heart for her latest release, Find It! speaking out for many in the LGBTQ+ movement who tirelessly look to express themselves freely.
With a sparkling back catalogue already under her belt, demonstrating her immense creativity and infinite experimentation, Waterflower (Sabine Moore) has continuously established herself over the last four years as an exciting new talent. Pushing boundaries and making music so original and different from her contemporaries that she stands out from the crowd; her new album is like a journey through her very soul.
Find It! came about at a point when Sabine was exploring new song structures and establishing the avant-pop sound of Waterflower. Originally, inspired by 80s-period Madonna, the song tells of daring to be different, finding your true self and letting it shine. The stunning music video was filmed, with typical Waterflower irreverence, at a Soviet observatory in Latvia. With extraordinary colour-matched interior, it has the feel of the set of the original Star Trek TV series! Director of the video, Laima Graždanoviča:
“The music video for Waterflower’s track “Find It!” was inspired by surreal poetry, avant-pop and artist Sabine Moore’s creative work. The video is like an internal dialogue, a journey towards a mysterious corner of consciousness, outside of time and space, outside of social norms. The fear of being one’s true-self can manifest in all sorts of forms, so the rainbow spectrum created by light and prism became one of the guiding principles on the path to finding and daring to be oneself.”
Check out the video for ‘Find It!’ – BELOW:
Having studied art, Waterflower brings together visuals and music to create an otherworldly aura similar to that of FKA Twigs and Bjork, oddly enough, something that even put her in contention for Latvia’s Eurovision 2019 entry! Sometimes working with living plants, either extracting their ‘generated melodies’ via electromagnetic pulses being sent to synthesisers or even using them as a ‘living keyboard’ (playing plants live on stage), Waterflower’s way of working is worlds apart from your everyday producer.
“As a conceptual artist I use many symbols, but one of my favourite art techniques for performance is something like Brian Eno’s creative strategy – to create a mechanism, run it, and see what happens. I start my Waterflower shows by connecting nearby plants. I never know how they will behave before the show, or how they will react to my touch. Experiments with different plant species intrigue me greatly.
I started working with plant synthesizers in 2015, when I saw the Kickstarter project for the Ototo synthesizer. I decided that this is what (..) “Waterflower” is all about, playing with plants as synthesizer keys. The technology used in Ototo also works with other materials, but plants are my choice. The other plant synthesizer I use is a MIDI Sprout. It measures the electromagnetic changes (impulses) in a plant and turns them into notes. Then it is up to me to find the most suitable instrument for these sound patterns. In each concert space, these plants create different melodies – I am very interested in that.” Waterflower
Innovative; experimental and somewhat extraordinary, Waterflower’s originality shines on the new album. From the jagged synth textures of ‘Find It’ and ‘Chemtrail’ to the more delicate swirls of ‘Dawning’ and ‘Internal’, the album is an exploration through Waterflower’s fascinating mind. Sabine’s vocals remaining a crystalline, haunting constant throughout the album and shine bright on the first single Palm Vs Palm; a beat-heavy cacophony of delicate strings, wobbling synthesizers, thudding drums and deep electronic bass sitting perfectly under her signature effortlessly controlled vocals. The song gets its title from the palm tree, as the song was composed by recording the sounds of a palm tree.
Now based in Latvia, she has lived in London, Berlin and even Helsinki; Waterflower has toured Europe heavily having a chance meeting with one of her hero’s Brian Eno and appearing on line-ups at Positivus Festival, Ladyfest Tallinn and Leigh Folk Festival. Already with rave reviews from the likes of The Playground, Direct Actu and Resonance FM, Waterflower’s new album ‘Balta Gaisma’ is released September 28th.
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