Name: Amber & the Moon
Members: Ronja Pöhlmann (vocals, guitar), Jonathan Riedel (bass, guitar, vocals), Torben Sdunek (drums)
Interviewee: Ronja Pöhlmann
Nationality: German
Current release: Amber & the Moon's new single "Black Swarms" is out via popup.

If you enjoyed this Amber & the Moon interview and would like to stay up to date with the band and their music, visit their official website. They are also on Instagram, and Soundcloud.



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?

My early musical experiences definitely influenced my interest in music in general. But to be honest, my "first love" in music was not necessarily singing, but playing guitar. My father is also a musician, so I was used to having many different instruments at our house - but when my eldest brother started playing guitar, some sort of spark ignited in me.

I taught myself how to play guitar at the age of 11, and of course I also started singing some cover songs in my childhood room. But funnily enough, when I was 14 I started my first band, for which I also wrote some songs - but for a long time I didn't even think about performing them myself, I just played guitar. It definitely took me a few years before I started singing in front of an audience.

Actually, one of the first songs I wrote (and sang!) ended up on our debut album: it’s called “Palace of Gold.”



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

In my experience, my guitar playing triggers an emotion and opens up a little song world - and then I have the chance to find the right words for those emotions.

It always feels very special to me when both the guitar and my singing voice find their place and contribute to each other. For me, they kind of belong together in the first place.

I remember having that feeling when I was writing “While Everything Else Was Quiet” - it felt like a call and response, a mutual understanding between the instrument and the voice.



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 barely had any vocal lessons before we went on our first tour in March 2023 and supported the band Rhonda for almost three weeks. I had a lot of respect towards the idea of performing every night - so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to rely on my voice.

So a few weeks before the tour started, I took vocal lessons with vocal coach Alexandra Pengler. It was the first time someone had actively worked with me on my voice - it was a really interesting process and helped me a lot. I gained a great awareness of my voice and how it "should and can" feel when singing.

I also learned that my vocal health is strongly related to my mental state - and that many vocal problems are ultimately based on false beliefs that only take place in our heads.

Our new single “Black Swarms” is the first song I recorded after taking vocal lessons. Maybe you can hear a difference?

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

I don't really care about singing techniques or whether someone misses the "right" note - I think it's all about the emotions that are conveyed by one person. If I can believe it, it moves me.

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

I think a lot of factors come together when you're looking for a perfect environment. For me, it really makes a difference if I've slept well or not, if I'm stressed or not, and so on.

Unfortunately, I've found that stage fog is really bad for my voice - that's a shame, because it's essential for any good light show, haha.

For our debut album Things We’ve Got In Common, we withdrew to an old cabin at the stormy North Sea for a few weeks to record my acoustic guitar and vocals - I think this time really corresponds to a perfect setting.

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?

Of course, the speaking voice and the singing voice belong together.

But I have the feeling that I can convey much more with my singing voice. Maybe because I feel more connected to it, because it helps me speak about topics that I wouldn't necessarily talk about in a normal conversation.

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?

I think in general I have a soft, warm and rather quiet voice. Sometimes I try to go a little out of my comfort zone, but I tend to stick with my natural voice.

I definitely wouldn't do well as a rock singer!

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 have a weakness for good lyrics, so that's a very important part for me when it comes to singing or listening to music. I always collect words that I like and carefully place them according to their sound.

Lyrics not only create meaning, they also influence the rhythm and sound. When you've solved the puzzle, that's one of my favorite moments in songwriting.

Maybe you can hear that in “There is a Place” or “Eldorado.”



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?

Yes, that’s true. I try to take care of my voice by doing vocal warm ups before band rehearsal or concerts.

Other than that, I try to keep myself warm, wearing a scarf and drinking a lot of tea with honey in the cold seasons :)

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

This is definitely an interesting development. Especially since autotune has become style-defining for several genres.

For me, autotune has not influenced my musical approach at all. I think that vocal expression is often much more important than the right pitch.

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?

The human voice is something very personal and raw. When I record vocals, I always try to remember the initial emotion I had when I wrote the song. It’s like channelling a certain state of mind. Sometimes it’s easy and sometimes it doesn’t work out.

From my perspective, the most important part is to capture real emotions while recording. Even if the performance is technically great and flawless, it can lose its impact and power if it's too clean or if it lacks emotion.

I remember when we were recording my vocals for our song “Morpheus” - I knew how it should feel, but somehow I wasn't able to get there during the first recordings.



A few months later, when we were recording other parts for the album in Faro in Portugal, it was very late at night - and somehow I knew then that I was now "ready" to record the song. So we recorded the song the same night - and that's the version you can hear on the album now.