A MESMERISING THREE-AND-A-HALF MINUTES OF ACOUSTIC MINIMALISM, SUMIE’S SHOW TALKED WINDOWS (FROM HER DEBUT ALBUM, OUT VIA BELLA UNION ON DECEMBER 3RD) HAS TO BE A CONTENDER FOR TRACK OF THE YEAR.

Born Sandra Sumie Nagano in Gothenburg, Sweden, she first began recording her songs in 2008, a few years after becoming a mother. Unlike her sister Yukimi, who fronts electro-pop outfit Little Dragon, Sumie has pursued a more solitary musical path: “I love minimal and delicate music, so that felt like a natural direction for me”.
Well-travelled Sumie released TRANSIT, a handful of recordings via Bandcamp, before resettling in Gothenburg and waiting to work on her debut album “until it sounded like I heard it in my head”.
After meeting ex-member of Cocteau Twins and head of Bella Union Simon Raymonde, Sumie decamped to German pianist Nils Frahm’s studio in Berlin to begin recording. Producer Dustin O’Halloran has given her songs a beautifully dappled light and shade, with the occasional subtle enhancement from his own piano. Befitting Sumie’s bloodline, the resulting album traverses both current Scandinavian and Japanese folk strains, yet is also utterly timeless. In this brief but beautiful Q&A Sumie reveals a little of her writing and recording process, and talks about the enchanting SHOW TALKED WINDOWS… 

SHOW TALKED WINDOWS FEELS AS IF IT’S VERY INTIMATE – BUT IS BEING UNDERSTOOD IMPORTANT TO YOU, OR DO YOU PREFER THE MEANINGS OF YOUR SONGS TO REMAIN YOURS ALONE?
I think we all have our own personal interpretations in any shape of art. I know I do. Even if I know what the artists is saying, it could be very different. That’s one part of the beauty in art. Being understood is to have the listener finding their own thoughts connected to the work – and that’s good enough for me. But, for me, SHOW TALKED WINDOWS is about how we display our lives to others – and how we wish or want other people to see us.

ALTHOUGH IT’S DELICATE AND DREAMLIKE, THERE’S SOMETHING OF THE OUTDOORS ABOUT IT… PERHAPS BECAUSE OF THE ‘SPACES’ IN THE SOUND. IS LOCATION IMPORTANT IN YOUR WRITING?
I am inspired of the places I have been to or visited in my past, and that does affect my writing. Of course, I would love to have an environment that is perhaps more geographically isolated from the city – like a house in the countryside or by the ocean… But I have done most of my work at my apartment here, in Gothenburg. And that works fine too…

YOUR MOTHER IS SWEDISH / AMERICAN, AND YOUR FATHER IS JAPANESE – THAT’S AN INTERESTING COMBINATION OF CULTURES. WHICH ASPECTS OF EACH MIGHT HAVE INFLUENCED YOUR WORK?
I have always thought that the cultural differences are very interesting. Growing up with two different cultures has given me a personal way of being who I am, or how I do things. So, I’m sure it has transcribed into my music in some unconscious way – but I can’t really point out where it has marked my music…

YOUR MUSIC HAS A TIMELESS QUALITY, SO I WONDERED WHETHER THERE IS MUCH CONTEMPORARY MUSIC THAT INTERESTS YOU, WHETHER ‘WHAT’S GOING ON’ IS EVER A CONSIDERATION?
I can get very inspired by artists that use the visuals in their works, and the contemporary music scene has also always been interesting. However, I can really enjoy a good pop song from ‘what’s going on’, too…

WHAT WERE YOUR EARLY EXPERIENCES OF MUSIC?
My earliest experience with music was after seeing my first musical at the cinema as a young girl. I was pretty spellbound by it, and I would often dream away in that world – so it started there… with me taking dance classes. Art and music played a big part in our household, since my father is an artist (Yusuke Nagano, he made my album cover art). There always was music coming through our stereo.

… AND LATELY?
Lately I have found some older Japanese music artists from the 1950s and 1960s that my father used to listen to, and also there are some newer artists like Eddie Marcon, that I really like and can relate to.

YOU BEGAN RECORDING YOUR OWN SONGS IN 2008…
I have always felt at my best inside the creative circle of things. Writing poetry and short stories is something I had done for quite some time before adding any music to it. After time they evolved into melodies.

WHY THAT PARTICULAR POINT IN TIME?
It came as a natural thing for me to try to see what I could do with it. I also had a lot of encouragement from my friends and family to do so…

… AND PLAYING SOLO WAS BORN OF NECESSITY AS, WITH TWO YOUNG CHILDREN, MAKING A LOT OF NOISE WAS NOT AN OPTION…
I believe that even if there was an option for me to record my music in a different environment it would still probably sound the same – since my recording process is a ‘capture of the moment’ type of recording process.

WHAT IS YOUR WRITING PROCESS?
That often starts with lyrics – with me writing a verse or a poem, sometimes with just one sentence at a time…

AND WERE THERE PARTICULAR THINGS THAT YOU WANTED TO EXPRESS ON YOUR FIRST RECORD?
Not really. Lyrically, there is no conscious theme that I wanted to express on the record. It’s more of a personal story.

AS I SAID EARLIER, SHOW TALKED WINDOWS FEELS INTIMATE, AND THE ALBUM SOUNDS LIKE A VERY PRIVATE MUSIC, SO I’VE WONDERED HOW YOU MUST BE FEELING, COMING UP TO ITS RELEASE, ABOUT SHARING IT…
Since it has not happened just yet, at this moment in time I would say that I am not sure of how it will feel… But hopefully sharing is good…

WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR IT?
My hopes for the album are that people will find their own way to listen to it and enjoy it.

IT’S COMING OUT ON BELLA UNION, SO THERE’S A COCTEAU TWINS CONNECTION THERE – THE LABEL IS RUN BY SIMON RAYMONDE. YOU’VE SAID THAT HE UNDERSTANDS WHAT YOU ARE DOING…
Simon listened to the songs at the time when I started sharing my first songs, and he has since then been very supportive in the whole process of my continuing and growing to be where I am now. He has the ears to listen and find beautiful things in music. And I am very honoured to be a part of that…

SUMIE is released on December 3rd through Bella Union.