Name: Luna Morgenstern
Nationality: German
Occupation: Singer, songwriter, producer
Current Release: Luna Morgenstern's heartbreak hotel EP is out now.
Recommendations: Art: Julian Simon – Dancin’ With The Devil; Music: Saya Grey – QWERTY II

If you enjoyed this Luna Morgenstern interview and would like to stay up to date on her music, visit her official homepage. She is also on Instagram, Facebook, and Soundcloud.   



When I listen to music, I see shapes, objects and colours. What happens in your body when you're listening? Do you listen with your eyes open or closed?

Interesting! I don’t necessarily see objects or shapes, but it’s definitely a full body, sensory experience.

My favourite way of listening to music is on the floor, speakers on the same level as my head and with my eyes closed. It feels like such an intimate and meditative experience, and I can fully immerse myself into the music while listening.

But I also really enjoy listening to music on the go, on the bike or in the metro for example. It’s a completely different way of experiencing music. I’m in my secluded world with my headphones on while being surrounded by people. I love that juxtaposition. Everybody in their own little world protected by their headphones.

Sometimes I wish that there was on an app with which I could tune in to what people are listening to around me, just to find out in which movie they are playing at that exact moment in time.

Entering/creating new worlds through music has always exerted a strong pull on me. What do you think you are drawn to most when it comes to listening to and creating music?

I think music has just always been my main way of expressing myself. Making music fills me with joy, it’s like a rush and when I’m in it, it’s hard to stop.

Technically, I know what I’m doing, yet every time I create something new, there is this element of surprise. It just feels like an infinite array of possibilities.

Also, it just makes me feel so good right? It highlights and reinforces every emotion. It’s a drug essentially.

According to scientific studies, we make our deepest and most incisive musical experiences between the ages of 13-16. What did music mean to you at that age and what’s changed since then?

I was definitely trying to find my musical identity around that age. Getting lost in the early interwebs, researching and illegally downloading music for hours and hours and making mixtapes for my friends with my finds (they still have them haha). We were a close-knit friend group and we influenced each other a lot, passing around CDs that we burned off each other.

That’s why I simultaneously listened to Nirvana, Missy Elliott, The Pixies, Goldfrapp, My Chemical Romance, Kaskade, Eminem, Britney Spears and Destiny’s Child – to name a few. In a time where people still really identified with one genre and didn’t appreciate genre-bending collaborations at all, this was quite special I think.

That’s how I encountered many different genres from an early age, which has definitely influenced they way I make music today. I just love to blend different genres and I’m happy that it’s common practice as of today.

Tell me about one or two of your early pieces that you're still proud of (or satisfied with) – and why you're content with them.

I still really vibe with ‘Tonight’ and ‘nobodylovesmelikeyoulovedme’ off of my debut EP Taking The Blow.



‘Tonight’ still feels like a coming off age cinematic moment, which is what I’ve gone for when I wrote it back in 2020.

And ‘nobodylovesmelikeyoulovedme’ is a snapshot of my emotional state after losing my mother and has become a portal to her in a way.



Both songs have continuously been a part of my live show and I have gone through quite an evolution with them.

I listened to the EP a while ago to prepare for another interview and I was actually surprised by how different they sound compared to my live version.

What is your current your studio or workspace like? What instruments, tools, equipment, and space do you need to make music?

I have a very minimalist set up. I work mostly in the box, using a focusrite 6i6 interface, a Rode Mic and a set of Adam monitors.

I do have my first actual studio space since a couple of months, which I share with a couple of lovely musicians. This has really upgraded my way of working, just because I finally have a designated workspace and am surrounded by analogue gear, which is super inspiring.

But at the core I really love my minimalist, portable bedroom-producer set up. It’s nice to know that I could make music from anywhere, you know?

From the earliest sketches to the finished piece, tell me about the creative process for your current release, please.

I wrote the songs for heartbreak hotel while going through an intense break-up and each one is a real-time account of the emotions and phases I lived through.

I mostly produced the songs at a friend’s house, who had given me her studio apartment while she was abroad. Her flat was my personal ‘heartbreak hotel’ so to say. As soon as the door shut closed behind me, it felt like I left the entire world behind, as though I entered a vacuum. And I think you can hear that in the music as well. The intense production can make you feel a bit claustrophobic at times and I think that’s where that stems from.

When it comes to my process, I write and record simultaneously. I usually start with a synth sound that inspires me and create a sketch that I use to drop first vocal ideas on. I collect and sort them, collaging the melody for the topline and then building an arrangement around that.

Lyrics mostly come last for me, I try to stay in an unconscious state of flow for as long as possible, before analysing what I did and wondering what I would like to say with the song.

Once my demos are finished, I take them to my best friend and co-producer Nick Ribbens and we spend a couple of days together to finish the production and take the songs to another level.

What role and importance do rituals have for you, both as an artist and a listener?

I honestly wish I had more rituals. I’m a disciplined person when it comes to my work ethic, but when it comes to creative (self-care) rituals, I’m not so good at making space for them in daily life, although I know that my creativity benefits from them.

In an ideal world, I love to start my day with yoga or pilates and a stroll through the neighbourhood. Grabbing a coffee at a local Späti and just observe my surroundings, the people passing by, having fleeting yet wholesome chats with locals. Writing down some thoughts, images, making note of things I encountered on my walk.

This is what my writer’s mind feeds off – but unfortunately, I skip out on that ritual way too often.

Are you acting out parts of your personality in your music which you couldn't or wouldn't in your daily life? If so, which are these?

Not really, actually. I’m a pretty introspective when it comes to my music and I write about things, that I go through or that move me. I have trouble writing about things which don’t feel true to me.

That being said, I really like to express different sides of me sound-wise, by experimenting with different genres, tempos and styles.

Late producer SOPHIE said: “You have the possibility [...] to generate any texture, and any sound. So why would any musician want to limit themselves?” What's your take on that?
 
I think limitations can be a great tool to evoke creativity, to get out of a set way of working for example.

But I think what SOPHIE refers to is being playful and experiment with sound, which to me is what music is all about. Kind of getting back into a child-like state of exploring and trying new things and learning through ‘mistakes’.

Do you feel that your music or your work as an artist needs to have a societal purpose or a responsibility to anyone but yourself?

I do. This urge to say something meaningful, to get out of my own orbit, has grown in the past couple of years, especially in these times of ongoing political crisis around the world.

I’m struggling with my responsibility as an artist and the feeling of not being in a position of when I haven’t lived it. That’s why so far I have ‘only’ addressed feminist topics.

Once a piece is done and released, do you find it important that listeners understand it in a specific way? How do you deal with “misunderstandings?”

In general, I like that people add their own connotations to my music and give it their own meaning.

There are a couple of songs, where I noticed that I can feel offended when people talk through them at a live show for example and those are the ones I dedicated to my mother who passed away a couple of years ago (‘nobodylovesmelikeyoulovedme’ and ‘Day I Die’).

But I guess that has more to do with the personal notion of these songs.

Sound, song, and rhythm are all around us, from animal noises to the waves of the ocean. What, if any, are some of the most moving experiences you've had with these non-human-made sounds? In how far would you describe them as “musical”?

Wow, that’s deep. I’m a city girl, so I think in my perception the sounds of the city are more “musical” or at least influential to my music.

But I do feel most at home by the ocean and that is definitely related to the soothing effect that the sound of the waves have on the brain. As a matter of fact, I used a field recording of the ocean on ‘miss u’, so in that sense it did become part of my music in a way.

We can surround us with sound every second of the day. The great pianist Glenn Gould even considered this the ultimate delight. How do you see that yourself and what importance does silence hold?

Music is my job, so I’m listening to music almost all day and a lot of nights, too – which is why silence has become so holy to me.

There is no sound with silence to reverberate in.

Do you feel as though writing or performing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Difficult question to answer. Depends on the brew.