Virtuoso

Introducing Luna Rae

In five months, Luna Rae went from home recordings to competing as finalists at Vodafone Future Breakers. Not many artists hit so steep a learning curve so quickly. We had the opportunity to speak to the pair, and asked whether or not they had expected it, and what advice they would give to someone else trying to break into the music industry.

“We didn’t expect this at all!” they replied. “Our previous band disbanded, we had no idea where to go, so we came together, and It’s become the biggest plot twist of our lives!”

The two are clearly surprised by how far they’ve progressed, but they stay humble. “We can’t preach a particular way to ‘make it’, really. We’re basically nobodies who’ve been thrust into this industry, but were still at the embryonic stage of our development. We have a lot of aspirations, a lot of things we haven’t achieved yet”, was their response.

For aspiring songwriters and young artists, they said, “the best piece of advice we can give is just try. Use whatever is available to you. The internet especially, is a powerful tool nowadays”.

Massive success is a still a ways away for the duo, and it isn’t for everyone. It obviously comes at a price. When asked about their goals, they said “Honestly? We aren’t making music to sell records. I mean, we are – that’s how a musician makes money – but our first priority is to just make good music. It’s not to please anybody specifically, we’re just trying to improve all the time, to connect with the people that get us. Who knows? Maybe people can relate to what we have to say, and appreciate it for what it is”.

Of course in many ways that relationship between what the artist is saying and what the listener interprets, is what makes music so great. But in terms of doing that – making relateable music – there are many challenges. A lot of groups have a songwriter and a band who work around those basic ideas in order to create something that meets those expectations. We asked Luna Rae about how their own creative process works.

“Really, it depends on the song. For Running for You, the first song we wrote together (the piece the duo used to compete in Future Breakers), we did everything together. We co-wrote, co-composed and obviously co-performed, but it just depends. Mostly Myra will start writing something and Beth will have her creative input with the piano or whatever, and at the end of it we get something that’s a blend of both our styles. We kinda just go with the flow, and somewhere down the line we arrive at what sounds like Luna Rae!”

Finally, we asked the duo how hard the recent attention been to manage. Lots of artists face unfair criticism. For many trying to break into the industry, it can be very off-putting and difficult to deal with.

“Yea, sure. We take inspiration from our influences a lot – after all, they’ve dealt with the industry already – but also we look out for each other. Both our families have been tremendously supportive and the lecturers (Beth and Myra study at Bath Spa University) have been fantastic. Rather than letting this recent attention be something that detracts from our studies, they’ve managed to make it part of them. And our day jobs; doing “normal” stuff day-to-day helps us stay grounded, though it sometimes feels surreal. It’s like we’re living two different lives! As for criticism, we do get the odd troll, but we try to laugh it off, because we’re doing what we love – that’s more than most people can say – and we’re incredibly thankful for that”.

So there you have it. Keep an eye out for Luna Rae in the near future, and follow FTP Digital for more upcoming artists to watch.