Name: Barbara Lehnhoff aka Camilla Sparksss
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Nationality: Swiss
Current release: Camilla Sparksss's new album ICU RUN is out via On the Camper. Buy the record and merchandise at her own store.
Global Recommendations: At the moment I live in Iseo, Switzerland, a small town south of the Alps, 15min drive from Lugano. The valley is called Malcantone, and there’s a beautiful trail called “Sentiero Delle Meraviglie”, “The Path Of Marvels” in English. I would recommend this experience.  
Topic I am passionate about but rarely get to talk about: Lately I find myself very concerned and anxious about the speed at which we are vibrating. I feel like time and life gets sucked away on computers and cell phones. Our attention span wounded by social medias and the massive overload of content online. And I feel like we don’t talk about it enough, but the responsibility belongs to us as artists to slow down and dictate the quality and authenticity of what we are producing, and to us as consumers to really make an effort to filter and limit what we are “feeding on”.  

If you enjoyed this Camilla Sparksss interview and would like to stay up to date with her music, and live dates, visit her official homepage. She is also on Instagram, Facebook, and bandcamp.

For a deeper dive, read our Peter Kernel interview, which is Barbara's duo with Aris Bassetti.
 


When it comes to experiencing the sensation of “energy” as as a listener, which albums, performances, and artists come to mind?

It depends whether we’re talking about live music or recorded. At home I’ll listen to a lot of calmer music, one of my favourite albums is Julia With Blue Jeans On by Moonface, I feel like it surprises me every time I listen to it.

Whereas live, I’m really drawn to more noisy aggressive sounds, I love the physical impact. Recently there’s a band called Beurre from Switzerland, their live performance just blows me away.  



There can be many different kinds of energy in art – soft, harsh, healing, aggressive, uplifting and many more. Which do you tend to feel drawn to most?

I’m generally drawn to art that inspires me, and triggers some sort of curiosity, whether it be soft, harsh or aggressive. I think it comes down to how much it stirs me up inside and makes me dream, or at the least wonder.

I become very frustrated with art as a “decor”, like “background music”, I feel like it ruins the silence.

I have had a hard time explaining that listening to death metal calms me down. When you listen to a song with a particular energy, does it tend to fill you with the same energy – or are there “paradoxical” effects?

There are definitely paradoxical effects.

I can listen to a metal band, or a noise album, and find inspiration for a new melodic line or dynamic I want to write on a song that might be a complete electro pop track.

In as far as it plays a role for the music you like listening to or making, what role do words and the voice of a vocalist play for the transmission of energy?

I’ve only recently really been interested in the “storytelling” aspect of vocals. For years I loved using the vocals as guitars.

But in the past years I’ve started appreciating the “communicative” power of them more.

That said, it's a fragile balance, because I think that words can often overpower a track. I feel like I always have to be very careful and selective with vocals.

When it comes to experiencing the sensation of “energy” as as a creator, how would you describe the physical sensation of experiencing this energy? [Where do you feel it, do you have a visual sensation/representation, is there a sense of release or a build-up of tension etc …]

I believe it all depends on the state I’m in.

If I’m in a peaceful state and my energy is clear flowing, the sensation is amplified and reflected. If I’m in a negative state I think I’ll often have difficulty experiencing sensations.

When it comes to composing / songwriting, are you finding that spontaneity and just a few takes tend to capture energy best? Or does honing a piece bring you closer to that goal?

I’m definitely a very spontaneous artist, it’s almost frustrating.

I’ll often find myself recording a track just on my phone. Then, when I go to the studio, it just doesn’t sound like the demo. This drives me nuts.

In fact it's one of my biggest dilemmas when working in studio with Aris, my producer. I feel like the more “takes” I record, the further I go from the actual intention.

For ICU RUN, what kind of energy were you looking for?

ICU RUN is a very personal album. I wrote it in an extremely difficult moment of my life, probably the most challenging moment.

My father fell ill and after spending almost a year hospitalised in the ICU department, he passed away. He has always been my biggest hero, and mentor. A beautifully crazy, adventurous soul that never knew any limits in life. So it was very hard for me to witness him suffering in the hospital.

But every time I would visit he had a new “escape plan” brewing. And regardless of the sadness I felt there was a strong tragically comical reality to it. And this is what I think I release on the album: The relation between very extreme and contrasting emotions.

In tracks such as “I Like The Noise,” the first single I released, the contrast between intimacy (in the sense of looking into myself) and projection or proclamation is very present.



And overall I think the album is about extreme emotions, and how they relate; the joy in pain.

How do you capture the energy you want in the studio?

I’m very delicate on this topic. I think it’s probably one of the reasons I release my music under my own label.

Sometimes it takes a single day to write and record a track, like the track “Fatherless” came to be in a very rapid, natural and instinctive way.

While other times I can spend months on a single track, record and record it for ages … This is something no other label would tolerate, or could afford probably;)

What role do factors like volume, effects like distortion, amplification, and production in general for in terms of creating the energy you want?

Live, I like it loud. I like how volume embraces a room.

But in terms of composition, I need a track to work without any effects or distortions. When the track works in a “pure” state, then I know its done, and I can use effects to add timber or decorate it.

What kind of feedback have you received from listeners or concert audiences in terms of the experience that your music and/or performances have had on them?

I’ve released and performed very different genres of album. My last album was an audiovisual album, performed with animated vinyl entitled Lullabies.

With this album I often had people come to me after shows with tears in their eyes telling me about how it awakened their inner child and they felt like they were four years old again. Or people sending me emails about how sensational and dreamy it is to listen to the album at home and fall asleep.

With my more “noisy” albums the feedback after shows is usually more “euphoric”, and I’ll have people come to me after the show in complete ecstasy complimenting the over blow of energy that they felt during the performance.

Would you say that you prefer to stay in control to be able to shape the energy or do you surrender to it and allow the music to take over? Who, ultimately has control during a live performance?

During lives I think it comes down to the connection with the audience.

Both I and the audience have control over the performance. The exchange is what makes the energy vibrate.

The energy that music is able to generate can be extremely powerful. How, do you think, can artists make use of this energy to bring about change in the world?

I think artists should make an effort to keep their work as authentic as possible, in order to feed and inspire people. I think the beauty and power of art lies in its capability to inspire, and I feel like the world needs more authentic inspiration.

Sometimes I feel like we’re getting lazy, both as artists and listeners, and it can become dangerous.