Name: Julie Kuhl
Nationality: German
Occupation: Singer, songwriter
Current release: Julie Kuhl's new album Clouds Of Grief is out via Asmara.
Vocal Music Recommendations: “Tamino” is a great artist with such a unique voice. He manages to build the instrumentals around his voice, so that it supports the voice.
 
If you enjoyed this Julie Kuhl interview and would like to stay up to date with her music, visit her official homepage. She is also on Instagram, and tiktok.  



Do you think that some of your earliest musical experiences planted a seed for your interest in your voice and singing? How and when did you start singing?

Singing and making up melodies and songs has always been part of my life. I was always fascinated by the English language and before I was able to speak it I made up worlds that sounded English to me.

I grew up in a very music loving family that supported my interest in music from early on.

If you're also playing other instruments, how does the expressive potential of these compare to your own voice?

I play the piano and the guitar - mainly to support my vocals. Combining vocals with other sounds makes it more interesting, that’s why I enjoy playing in a band or why my newest project sounds more produced.

Since I’m a singer songwriter I mainly have my vocals in focus and like to build everything else around it. But an instrument on its own can be super expressive. I’ve written songs that are completely without vocals and sometimes when I feel some sort of emotion but don’t feel like singing.

Just sitting down and letting only the instrument reflect on your emotions can be super therapeutic. That’s how many of my songs start.

Singing is an integral part of all cultures, and traditions. Which of these do you draw from – and why?

Yes, that’s the beautiful thing about vocals and music in general. It’s so diverse it never gets boring.

I’m a huge fan of the middle eastern singing style and I’m heavily influenced by jazz, soul and hip hop music, which is originally black music.

What were some of the main challenges in your development as a singer/ vocalist? Which practices, exercises, or experiences were most helpful in reaching your goals – were there also “harmful” ones?

I learned most of my technique through just learning by doing. Later I was part of a children choir, where I think I learned most of it.

When I started to write my own songs and started to express my own emotion with my own voice, I struggled a lot with it. I only listened to male singers at the time, and I didn’t really see the point in singing, when I didn’t
like the sound of my “female voice”.

It was really life changing to discover female artists in the genres that I liked. It turned out I didn’t have a problem with female voices I just hadn’t found the right music for me yet. Since that day I draw most of my inspiration from women in music.

How do you see the relationship between harmony, rhythm and melody? Do you feel that honing your sense of rhythm and groove has an effect on your singing skills?

I love rhythmic music. Drums usually are my favourite part in songs, but it really is the opposite of my strength in singing. I would say I’m quite quick with come up with melodies and harmonies.

The rhythm in my singing style on the other hand is something I don’t care that much about. I usually sing lines in a different timing every single time. Usually, I like that and I also see it as my singing style but sometimes certain lines have to be exact in order to deliver the feeling properly.

That was the great thing about Clouds Of Grief and working together with Gianni Brezzo. It’s pretty much an upbeat project with several talky singing parts and poppy hooks. For both I believe rhythm is the most important thing and Gianni Brezzo was really great in sharpening my lose melody ideas into an exact timing.

What are the things you hear in a voice when listening to a vocalist? What moves you in the voices of other singers?

I believe the thing that makes vocals such a special instrument is the ability to deliver the emotion and feelings. To me a song is good when I feel like the person singing the song truly means what they sing.

And I don’t necessarily mean lyrics. It can also be humming, singing very loudly or very quietly, voice cracks, flat notes, tight or really lose timing, lots of vocals or just on take. I just really like when a singer thinks about how to use their voice differently in order to deliver different emotions.

How would you describe the physical sensation of singing? [Where do you feel the voice, do you have a visual sensation/representation, is there a sense of release or tension etc …]

Singing is always a relief to my body and my mind. Singing or making music is such a therapeutic thing - you can really feel it in your body.

I often realize that my shoulders are super relaxed after singing for a while because singing forces you to get into a good posture, which makes you feel better overall.


Julie Kuhl Interview Image by Robert Winter

What kind of musical settings and situations do you think are ideal for your own voice?

I like to sing softly and to have a focus on emotion. So, for any kind of live situation, it’s always import for me that my voice doesn’t get lost in a huge sound cloud.

Which means a stripped-down version of my song and a mic in front of my mouth, ideally in a dark room (somehow people are way better at listening to my music when it’s dark) are the perfect circumstances for my voice.

When it comes to produced songs, the situation is a bit different because you have different abilities there. You can have a full sound and still have the attention around the voice. That was one of the goals that we tried to achieve with Clouds Of Grief.

We have a speaking voice and a singing voice. Do these feel like they are natural extensions of each other, ends on a spectrum or different in kind?

I’d like to believe they are a natural extension of each other.

On my song “Purple Eyelids” I used my normal speaking voice at some point and songs like “Damage” or “Clouds Of Grief” both also have talky parts.



That’s the great thing about singing. It’s so varied.

From whispers to screams, from different colours to dynamics, what are the potentials and limits of your voice? How much of your vocal performance can and do you want to control?

Even though most of my songs are pretty much in the same spectrum, which is a little bit quieter and whispery it’s important for me to have control over my own vocal performance.

In my opinion the main job of a singer is to deliver the emotion properly. So, I might choose a whispery voice again and again, but I want it to be an artistic choice and not the inability to do it differently.

For example, on my last song on Clouds Of Grief I belt at the end. It almost sounds like crying. I wanted to express desperation and anger, so of course I sing differently than when I sing a song about being in love.



When you're writing song lyrics, do you sense or see a connection between your voice and the text? Does it need to feel and sound “good” or “right” to sing certain words? What's your perspective in this regard of singing someone else's songs versus your own?

I see myself first as a songwriter and only secondly as a singer. That’s why I was never interested in singing someone else’s songs.

Even though the combination of singing and composing is still my number one priority, singing other people’s songs is something I recently started doing again, because it’s
a great practice to try out different singing styles.

Strain is a particularly serious issue for many vocalists. How do you take care of your voice? Are the recipes or techniques to get a damaged voice back in shape?

I’m not the right person to ask that kind of question. The most important thing is the right technique and warming up your vocals before singing.

But I never had any singing lessons, so I have actually no idea what I am doing.

How has technology, such as autotune or effect processing, impacted singing? Has it been a concrete influence on your own approach?

I haven't really used it much yet because it never felt right for any of my song. But I’m not generally against it.

On Clouds Of Grief we’ve been more willing to experiment with vocal effects because it suits the whole sound of this project.

For recording engineers, the human voice remains a tricky element to capture. What, from your perspective, makes voices sound great on record and in a live setting?

It depends on the person. For Clouds Of Grief I produced my vocals on my own in my bedroom. I think that was a good way to capture the emotions.

You are braver with trying out new things. Because if it sounds horrible you can just delete it, and no one will ever hear it.