Exclusive Interview with 'Echos' | Illustrate Magazine

Echos falls into a genreless mist of both cinematic post-rock style instrumentation and left-of-center pop writing. Often self-referential and coated in bitter-romance lyricism, Echos brings the angst of 2006’s emo days and reinvents it with anti-pop pop music. Having been working with online promotional mecca ‘MrSuicideSheep’ and his label ‘Seeking Blue’ — Echos has seen the fortune of millions of streams, impressions and eyes on their music. They are releasing their second full length album this summer and plan to tour in the fall. Check out the Exclusive Interview with ‘Echos’ below.

1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how you got started?

ECHOS (Lexi): I’ve been writing songs for as long as I can remember — I would fill my journals with poetry and songs and always felt a calling in my soul to share my stories with the world. I was in a few bands in high school and we would play at a bunch of local coffee shops and venues — it wasn’t until I graduated that I started reaching out to producers and ECHOS was formed shortly after when I met Tal and we’ve been creating music together for almost ten years now (wow I feel old saying that)

2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?

ECHOS (Lexi): I started singing lessons when I was 12 and my vocal coach helped me develop my range over the years. I never had any formal training in writing or playing guitar (which I’m still trying to get better at ha) I used to listen to songs and pay close attention to their structure and that is how I began turning a lot of my poetry into music. I would actually write them down in different colors to help me remember the melody

3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘Artist’?

ECHOS (Lexi): My musical influences are all over the place. My parents are very into music — my mom was a DJ and my dad has always had an ear for up and coming artists and would show me new bands all of the time. I remember listening to a lot of Alison Krauss, Evanescence and Modest Mouse as a kid and once I got into high school my inspirations expanded into the likes of Cocorosie, Animal Collective and Daughter. I feel that I was drawn to all of these artists because they all have a way of such depth and honesty in their lyricism and performance — something I really strive to do with ECHOS. I want to share my experiences through music as if you’re reading my diary – or perhaps even your very own. I feel that all of these artists have inspired me to be the artist I am today – to express myself without filters, to not be afraid to experiment and to write about the darker parts of myself that I wish to let go of — or perhaps live in symbiosis with, without letting them take over. I sing a lot about my relationship with depression and anxiety and I feel these artists have shown me it’s okay to put those things into music and that it helps other people feel less alone. I remember growing up I felt so confused about these darker emotions but hearing songs about other people experiencing them and healing from them made me feel less alone and gave me a safe space to process those feelings and that’s always been my goal with ECHOS — to create that same space for kids to feel safe in who they are and to know that it does get getter

4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?

ECHOS (Lexi): I feel that the key elements are the contrast between light and dark. In our upcoming record AFFIRMATIONS we explored themes of writing songs that felt happier but the lyricism is a bit on the darker side — I think our sound is a blend of light and dark, alt pop with electronic elements

5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as INDIE?

ECHOS (Lexi): I definitely feel like I did a lot of this in the beginning of ECHOS – finding my voice and the way I like to sing by emulating other vocalists I felt connected to and that told stories in the way I aspired to as well — I do feel over the last few years I’m finding new pieces of my voice I’ve never explored as well as thematically with the context of how I tell stories but it was so important for me to have those blueprints from artists I looked up to because in some way it showed me I was allowed to explore the same. I’m extremely extroverted but also incredibly shy and it took me a long time to feel comfortable in my own skin as a person and as an artist so I feel like the process of finding myself came from learning from them and I’m so grateful for it. I hope in some way I’m able to do the same for other aspiring singer/songwriters

6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative and entertainment?

ECHOS (Lexi): I feel like music is an incredibly spiritual experience and it connects us all on such a molecular level. For the artist and the listener. I love that a song has the power to make someone feel seen, empowered, loved, accepted, understood. For me art has always been pure self expression – every song is literally a page from my journal or an emotion I’m feeling at an exact moment (some of the songs on the new record were quite literally recorded through tears) I think my role in music is to open up the conversation about the importance of speaking about my own mental health in hopes that it inspires others to do the same. Feeling doesn’t make you weak — in fact feeling is such an empowering thing and I’ve always felt things at depths I used to be ashamed of but my music and the response to it over the years has shown me that it’s okay to feel and express and that I’m not alone in these thoughts. I’ve had fans tell me that ECHOS has saved them but I always try my best to express how they’ve done the absolute same thing for me. I used to hide a lot of my feelings beneath metaphors in our music but over the years I’ve felt a trust in our fanbase where I can let the guard down and write from those unfiltered places like all of the artists before me that inspired me to express myself in the first place. We have a song on the new record called “Sad” and I wrote it while crying — there’s actually a clip from the demo at the end of the track where you can hear all the cracks in my voice and then lyric is quite literally “when I get sad, it gets really bad” and I feel like our fanbase has given me a place to speak about things I used to try to keep inside. AFFIRMATIONS feels like our most personal record to date and explores themes of what it would feel like to meet my child self and rewrite how I speak to myself and how I view myself. I want to open up the conversation that we are all deserving of love and acceptance.

7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfilment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?

ECHOS (Lexi): I’ve always felt that my music gives back to me in so many beautiful ways. I’ve met SO many amazing people through it, have heard so many stories of how it’s helped people get in touch with their emotions and it makes my heart feel so full. My biggest goal for ECHOS for this album cycle is to be on the road a lot more so I can share these stories in a live setting. Performing is one of my favorite things in the world — I feel our music is so loud and cinematic it’s meant to be played live so you can feel it at its fullest — performing for me always feels so healing — singing for people fills my soul with a joy I’m not quite sure I could ever put into words (maybe I should try to write a song about that feeling hah)

8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?

ECHOS (Lexi): My creative process usually begins with a feeling I’m having but can’t quite describe — i’ll sit down and either play a little melody on guitar or I will sing something and then go from there before sending it to Tal (or vice versa) My favorite part of the creative process is when I finish the demo and lie on the floor listening to it on repeat and go “OH thats what I was feeling” I often feel like my music is my higher self coming through trying to make sense of an emotion for me in a language that I can understand

9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?

ECHOS (Lexi): I think the biggest thing I’ve had to overcome in my life this far is my own mental health. It’s taken me years to feel okay and I’m so grateful for my support system and my therapists for helping me find a routine that works for me. I’ve spent so much of my life hating myself and feeling like a burden. I feel like I’m finally learning to love myself in new ways and to be more present and grateful for my experience. My hope in saying this is that anyone else out there who might feel like they’ve lost all hope or that they don’t matter is that I promise there are people who care and want to help you. I heard a quote last year in the heart of the pandemic that really pierced my soul and it was “without you, there would be a hole in the earth” and I had never believed that to be true until recently. It explores the idea that there is quite literally no one else like you and that your energy is needed here. It really shifted my perspective and made me take a look at the things in my life I was allowing to cause me extreme amounts of pain. I’m not quite sure where I’d be without the support I’ve received over the last few years. I think this might be the happiest I’ve ever been and that in itself is slightly terrifying but I’m learning to embrace those feelings as well. It gets better. Please stay.

10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?

ECHOS (Lexi): I think my most proud moment in my career so far has been finishing Our new album. I was in the darkest place I had ever been in over the last two years and I didn’t think the album would get finished because I had lost all ability to even want to leave my bed. I’m so grateful for my therapists because they were able to facilitate the help that I needed. It had gotten to the point where I had lost all energy and inspiration to get up and record – I was so ashamed. So many studio sessions were cancelled because I couldn’t get the energy to leave my house but we found a way to work around it. I ended up building a little makeshift studio in my childhood bedroom where I recorded all of the final vocals. I needed to create a safe space to record and that ended up working out so well and I was so proud of myself for being able to do that. Tal and my team at our label (seeking blue) were so supportive of me during that time and helped me gather the inspiration I needed to bring the album to completion.