Q&A: Inside Wisp’s Own Fantasy World on Her Debut Album ‘If Not Winter’
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY JASMINE AGUIRRE ☆
Photo by Elinor Kry
RAIN, FOG, AND RAW EMOTION — Wisp invites us into her own realm of mystical beauty in her recently released debut album If Not Winter. Natalie Lu, known professionally as Wisp, reflects on her creative process and medieval-influenced imagination for her long awaited debut.
Inspired by a poetry book by ancient Greek poet Sappho, Wisp holds both the album’s name and title track “If Not Winter” near and dear to her heart. Confident in her sound and lyricism, Wisp proudly says “We do this because we love it, and it's our art,” and she embraces the creative risks and vulnerability that came along with bringing her fantasy world to life.
If Not Winter is immersed with encapsulating scenery as Wisp wholeheartedly believes that sound and visuals are equally as important in her art. Her cinematic eye and romantic visual storytelling is beautifully captured in her euphoric visualizer for her track “Get back to me.” Her music video for the grungier track on the album, “Sword,” continues to paint this ethereal and emotional atmosphere that she aims to create for her listeners.
Having previously gone viral on TikTok for her debut single “Your Face,” Wisp’s first album is a reflection of how much she has artistically grown since then as she experiments with different sounds and visions. If Not Winter is embedded with her intimate, whispered vocals, dreamlike textures, and hazy guitar melodies that transport us into her own vivid universe.
Keep reading to learn more about Wisp and her art as she dives into her creation of If Not Winter and its inspiration.
Photo by Elinor Kry
LUNA: Hi Natalie thanks so much for chatting with Luna today! Your debut album If Not Winter is finally here! How are you feeling?
WISP: Of course. Thank you for having me. I’m definitely a bit nervous, but just really excited honestly.
LUNA: I really enjoyed the songs “Guide Light” and “All I Need.” Those felt softer and more sentimental. What kind of atmosphere do you aim to create for your listeners?
WISP: Thank you! It depends. If it's the visual world, or the live set, or the way that my music sounds, because there are so many different ways to interpret what kind of atmosphere you're being put in, but it's honestly a mix of everything. I think that the visuals are equally as important as my music, and I want to tie the two together to kind of transport people into my fantasy world and show them what I imagine my music to sound like, and the characters that I'm writing around the album. It feels very dream-like, and it has elements of fog and rain and mystical creatures and all that sort.
LUNA: Would you agree with it being described as medieval?
WISP: Yeah, I would. I think that the medieval stuff is really fun, and there's so many possibilities to challenge myself creatively to take the medieval thing to the next step. So I think it’ll be something that I continue to seek out after this album as well.
LUNA: What made you decide on the name of the album, If Not Winter?
WISP: I was bringing in this poetry book to my studio sessions called, If Not Winter by Sappho. She's a Greek philosopher and poet, and I would kind of just flip through the pages. I feel like it really helps me write better lyrics through her imagery and the way that she writes about love. So I thought it was really fitting to name the album after that book. And not only the book, but the track, “If Not Winter,” as well, because that was the main session that I was using the book in and when I wrote that track it became one of my favorite songs I've ever written. That track just means a lot to me, so I thought that it would be nice to name the album after those two.
LUNA: That’s really cool that the poem inspired the name and the self-titled song. Do you have any other favorite poets or authors that help inspire you?
WISP: Yes. I feel like poetry is definitely something that I still need to discover more of. Well, Virginia Woolf actually writes really good poetry. Ocean Vuong, he's another great poet, and I also enjoy Sylvia Plath. I love Joan Didion so much. I feel like her books are always such a treat to read. And I also really like Dostoevsky and Oscar Wilde. I love Kafka because I feel like his visuals are very, very striking, and I'm able to paint a very visceral image whenever I read his books.
LUNA: What was the creative process like for you when it came to working on this debut in comparison to your previous works?
WISP: Well, a lot of my previous work was just the EP Pandora and singles, and those are, at least to me, much easier to tackle, because I am putting thought and effort behind them, and they do tell a story, but they stand alone. An album is something that has so many more elements that have to be cohesive and make sense together. So writing the album was definitely a challenge, and finding what I wanted to say not just through one song, but more than 10 songs. They don't have to be about the same thing, but they have to make sense and kind of build this world. So when the listener listens to the album from the first track to the last track, they're kind of being told a narrative throughout the whole entire thing. That was something that was really fun and new for me to figure out. But I think towards the end, and the more that I was writing tracks for the album, the more I kind of came to the realization of what I wanted to say through all of the songs.
LUNA: What kind of themes or feelings did you try to explore throughout your debut?
WISP: I explore a lot of themes of affection. It's a lot of self doubt, guilt, insecurities, just me being very vulnerable and writing from a very raw and real place in my heart because I feel like that's what will connect to the listeners the most. I think that they all make sense together, because it's a reflection of how I've changed and how I've grown ever since starting music, and all the life experiences that come with doing music and living the life that I'm living right now. It's been cool getting to explore different themes and kind of write about whatever comes to mind, and what I feel like is very compelling and moves me to just write naturally.
LUNA: Were there any challenges when creating this album?
WISP: Yeah, definitely in the beginning. Just figuring out what I wanted to say on the album. For the most part, I feel like the more that I wrote, the easier it got. And there were times where, at least towards the end of the album, where I felt like it wasn't finished and it wasn't good enough. And there have been so many times where I felt like scrapping the whole thing and starting over because I felt like I wasn't getting it right on the dot, but I just had to learn to be patient with myself and not take the negative signs as “Oh, I have to go back to base one and I have to start over.” I think I was just really hard on myself during this whole process of writing the album, because I want it to be perfect. You only get a debut album once, so I didn't want any of the songs to be something I would regret releasing. But once it was nearing the end of the album, I was listening back to it a lot, and just being proud of myself for the first time. And that was definitely the biggest hump for me to get over … being confident in what I'm making.
LUNA: Do you ever feel pressure as an artist when it comes to exploring your sound, or sticking to one genre?
WISP: I don't think so. I feel like maybe a small group of people will expect something out of you or want you to stick with what you started out making music as, but I feel like most artists, myself included, we do this because we love it, and it's our art, and it's the way that we express ourselves. So we can't make good art if we listen to other people and just follow what people want you to do. So on this album, I was definitely trying to just be myself and experiment more with different genres, because I like listening to a bunch of other genres of music, and everything that I listen to influences the music I make myself.
LUNA: Were there any specific artists that influenced this album?
WISP: Yeah, Adrianne Lenker is a really big one. I feel like her lyricism and the way that she structures her songs is really inspiring. I was watching a bunch of her interviews as well, and her cadence and just the way that she speaks about making art is really mind opening. I feel like she's someone that I looked up to throughout this whole process of writing the album, and it really pushed me to just write better lyrics.
LUNA: There’s this back and forth between your sound being labeled as Shoegaze or Nu gaze. How would you describe your sound? What do you feel most comfortable with?
WISP: Honestly, nowadays I would say, Alt-rock, just because I don't want to fit myself into one specific sub-genre or a box that people may have a definition for already. I kind of just want to do my own thing without constraint, not because I don't think my music is Shoegaze or because I don't think it's something else. I just know that there are connotations and there are specifics attached to Shoegaze and other sub-genres as a whole, so if I did put myself into that box, then I'm not sure that I would fit it exactly, and I don't want to. I'm just kind of doing my own thing and making whatever I think sounds good.
LUNA: You’ve played a few festivals already, and Coachella too. Is there a favorite performance you’ve done so far?
WISP: Yeah, I think that one of my favorite festivals I've performed this year was the Kilby Block Party in Salt Lake City. The crowd was just so energetic, and everyone was moving around. It was just a really cool, fun vibe. And I feel like it's pretty rare to get that from festivals.
LUNA: Do you have any pre-performance rituals you do before going on stage?
WISP: Yeah, I honestly just talk with my band and we do a little chant just to prepare ourselves. But for the most part, I can't lie, I go non-verbal a lot of the time, and I just like having some peace and quiet, a moment to myself.
LUNA: Is there any specific or favorite song on the album that you're most excited for your listeners to hear?
WISP: Yeah, I think “If Not Winter.” I'm really excited to see what people think of that one, just because it's my favorite track off the album, and it means so so much to me. I've been talking about this track to my friends for so long and listening to it almost every week, so I really hope that people like it. But it's one of those songs where I love it personally, so much that even if it goes under-recognized, and it's not necessarily one that's highlighted on the album. I'm still going to love it, with all of my being, and hopefully one day someone will find an appreciation for it, if not now.
LUNA: Lastly, what are you looking most forward to on your tour for the album?
WISP: We're doing a bus tour for the first time, so I'm really excited for that. I've never been on a bus and I’m excited to decorate my bunk. I'm excited to go back to Buc-ee’s and Waffle House [laughs]. And I guess after tour, I'm excited to just start writing the next album, or whatever project it is that I have in mind.
