INTERVIEW: Vanessa Worm
Photography by Ruby Harris
Vanessa Worm on all things spirituality, getting in touch with the renowned Optimo team, and moving back to New Zealand…
It’s been eight months since I last spoke to Vanessa Worm (real name Tessa), and in the grand scheme of time, that’s not very long. However, in the life of an artist on a career hot streak living through the peak summer season of events and music festivals, it’s a bloody long time. Back then she told me her first ever gig at Club 6 in her hometown of Dunedin, NZ was the best show she's ever played. Here we are eight months later, and that same question might recall the time she played to a packed-out crowd at Meredith Music Festival, or her booking for the Animals Dancing NYD event alongside Tim Sweeney, Lena Willikens, Tornado Wallace and Sleep D. All in all, she's been ticking off goals left right and centre, and frankly, we're just lucky to witness her creative evolution, proudly cheering from the sidelines.
Sitting somewhere between spaced-out experimental dance music and punk, she is easily one of the most exciting artists to come out of the local circuit. First and foremost, she identifies as a live musician and performer, a longstanding history playing with bands as a singer serving as a foundation to forge something unique. Think brooding, ambient, emotive and intricately curated productions, paired with her own stunningly ethereal vocals.
Despite wanting a catch-up with Tessa merely to soak in some of that effervescent optimism she exudes, the purpose of our virtual rendezvous was to discuss her highly anticipated debut album titled Vanessa 77. Released on the globally renowned Optimo Record Label, one could look at this release as a turning point in her flourishing career. It’s already receiving the tick of approval from Resident Advisor, DJ Mag, and The Vinyl Factory, and was named Triple R’s Album Of The Week. Vanessa 77 is making quick work of spreading itself to the furthest corners and edges of the music community.
Tessa, it’s good to hear from you! How has life in iso treated you? Have you picked up any new hobbies in isolation, or are using this time to make lots of music?
I haven’t really made any music since about September last year! My track off the album titled ‘In Heaven We Are’ was actually the last track I made, and then I stopped making music completely so that I could get my creative juices back. I only really started making music again about 3 weeks ago whilst in isolation. It’s been a lot of emotional purging and spiritual growth during this time as well, which has been my main focus. And I’ve also started painting! In saying that, I don’t always necessarily feel pressure to do things - sometimes I want to sit and just be, especially right now.
Photography by Ruby Harris
So you’re originally from Dunedin in New Zealand, and you relocated to Melbourne to make music. Did your change in location see a change in the kind of work you were creating?
When I was making music in Dunedin and first started out as a producer, my work was quite experimental and more on the punk side of things. Then when I got to Melbourne, because there is a much wider club scene here, I was definitely inspired to make more dance music. But I found that when I was going out to clubs I was always a little bit unsatisfied, because coming from a live-performance background, my favourite part [of a gig] is actually seeing people perform. I love dance music, and I love to dance, and I love the party scene - I just wished there were more acts performing and singing and doing things in the crowd. That’s what kind of inspired me to do that sort of thing myself.
So that’s why you identify mainly as a live artist right? Because you’re incorporating both those worlds that you’ve been apart of?
Yeah definitely. I’m a singer and performer, who mostly plays backing tracks in the background, and I perform with the people in the crowd to kind of help make people feel a little bit more freedom. I want to make the audience feel like they’re a part of the experience with the performer, and express themselves in the crowd.
‘At the time I was feeling quite vulnerable, scared, and frightened. The track as a whole was kind of the embodiment of me moving through fear, and allowing myself to sing.’
Photography by Ruby Harris
Congratulations on your album Vanessa 77! How long have you been working on this project?
Thank you! Keith McIvor (from Optimo) asked me to do an album for the Optimo label at the start of last year. I kept trying to start on the album, but because I felt like I was supposed to be making dance music at the time, I kept getting stuck. It took me ages to find my feet. I hired a studio for a month, and that didn’t really encourage my creative side at all. And then in June last year, I’d had enough of being in a rut, and I found these pictures online, printed them out, scanned them into Photoshop, and did some weird things to them. I learned to push myself outside of my creative boundaries through Photoshop because I knew I had a particular way I like to edit photos and artwork, so I was like ‘I’m going to do something completely different to my images than what I’ve ever done’. I stuck them up on my wall, and just stared at them, and that really helped me let go musically and creatively.
One night I just went into the music room and no one was home, it was like midnight, and it just started to come together. I got my guitar, and I just sat there and sung for ages, and that was the first track on the album (144). That song really broke me out of my musical creative block. Then it wasn’t until maybe September or October that ‘In Heaven We Are’ was made, which was the last track, so the whole project came together in a few months.
So you’ve got a history using a variety of visual mediums then?
It’s kind of just skills I picked up in high school doing art, and photography, which I’ve always loved quite a lot. And now that I’ve started painting while in isolation, I didn’t realise that art could be a way for me to unblock my creativity. It’s turned out to be one of the things I need the most at the moment.
It takes a lot of artists years to find something to aid that process of unblocking.
Exactly, and it’s something I want to keep developing.
The words that come to mind within this album are spooky and haunting, especially on tracks ‘Bones and Blood’ and ‘Cave of Creation’. Is that the kind of mood you were trying to create on the album, or what was your intention?
I wrote both of those tracks during a time of emotional upheaval. So for example with ‘Bones and Blood’, at the time I was feeling quite vulnerable, scared, and frightened. The track as a whole was kind of the embodiment of me moving through fear and allowing myself to sing. Which you can recognise in the songs lyrics when I say “I just want to sing”. So it’s understandable that that song sounds spooky, as it was quite an intensely emotional experience. I had a similar experience with ‘Cave of Creation’, which funnily enough I wrote looking in the mirror. I was looking at my reflection, and it was very emotional. It makes a lot of sense that it was otherworldly because, to me, the Cave of Creation is a place in the centre of the earth, like a crystal cave, that records and holds the energy of everything that ever has been and everything that will be. Kind of like the womb. I was trying to tune into that energy, so it’s probably the deepest song on the album.
You’ve obviously got a very spiritual relationship with your music.
Yeah, I do. And I really try not to think too hard about writing, or force it. It’s my creativity is in the moment, through pure experience and emotion.
We hear that you originally got in touch with the Optimo team by sending them a demo early last year. What was it like hearing back from them with such great news?
Yeah, I sent them the whole Z-Time EP back in November 2018. I sent it across to some people called Golden Teacher, and they said it reminded them of an act called Pussy Mothers. Although my boyfriend Eden had originally suggested I send it to Optimo, I saw that Pussy Mothers had also released music on Optimo, and so I reached out to them and it came full circle. It was so exciting hearing back from them, even after I sent it, I was like running around the house like mad, saying “they’re going to email me back tomorrow!”.
There are so many varying elements to your tracks, including a lot of live components, a lot of drum machines, synthesizers, and of coarse your own vocals. What does your at-home studio set up look like?
Well at the time when I was making Vanessa 77, I was making most tracks from bed with a guitar. I also used Ableton and some VSTs in there, which is what made up the majority of my work. For the Z Time EP, I used a Micro Korg and mainly guitar on that too. I have a few other synths, but I mainly have been using guitar and VSTs with good speakers. I do write a lot from bed though because sometimes it’s hard to be free creatively with other people listening in, and my bed is the place where I can let myself go the most.
Do you have a favourite track on this album?
They’re really all like my little babies, I don’t think I can choose! They’re all very special to me.
It was a huge learning experience for myself, having such a polarising response from everyone really helped me cover new ground within myself as an artist. It was a reminder that I’m not creating for anyone, except for myself.
One of your last live performances was at Meredith Music Festival! What was that experience like?
Meredith was the most profound experience. I’ve never played at something like that before, so there was so much bravery involved. I didn’t really practise or do anything to prepare, because that’s the direction my performances were taking at the time. My motto was just whatever happens happens. During my performance, I had this energy about it that can only really be described as, like a maiden almost? Like a young sexy girl vibe haha. It was quite exciting, but because I was also feeling scared and timid I had to put on this persona to make it happen. My voice was really dry that night as well, and the response from my performance was also really 50/50. It was a huge learning experience for myself, having such a polarising response from everyone really helped me cover new ground within myself as an artist. It was a reminder that I’m not creating for anyone, except for myself.
Do you find that you now take criticism well, or is it something you’re still grappling with?
I’m definitely getting better. Like with the Meredith experience, I had this persona that helped me cope with the fear. So I was definitely shaken up, but at the time I was so grateful for the experience, so that really helped me move past the month after the gig when I got mixed feedback. And only very recently have I been able to sit back and re-evaluate everything and the performance, and what I would have done differently. That’s only really happened within the last month, as it took me a lot of self-development to get to that stage.
Vanessa Worm identifies as ‘a live musician, who sometimes DJs too’. The current pandemic obviously completely cancels out the opportunity for you to showcase your new works in a live context. Have you had to reimagine your creative process at all to fit within the digital realm, and do you feel the need to conform to fit the internet?
I do love the internet and what it’s there for, and it’s definitely something I’d like to explore and utilise as a tool in the future, but I’d want to push the boundaries a little bit. I wouldn’t just do a live stream. The feeling I put into my performances wouldn’t be received as well through a stream, and I’d want my incorporation of the internet into my work to push some limitations because a lot of the time it feels very repetitive if you’re just watching stream after stream every day. So I’d definitely work toward it in the future, but for now, I’m keeping it on the low. Also, the internet is a crazy scary place at the moment so I think I’ll just stay away for now haha.
Are you feeling optimistic about the future of the music industry within the current global climate?
I’m definitely a really optimistic person in the sense that, yes I do believe that this whole COVID-19 situation is evil doings, but ultimately I think it’s helping us to break out of the old systems in place, in order to bring something new forward. With the music industry too, sure we aren’t sure how long these circumstances will be in place, but new things are being birthed. When we come together again as an industry, I think there will be a greater sense of community and joy.
What does the next year look like in the life of Vanessa Worm?
I’m actually moving back to New Zealand, I just decided a few days ago! I’m actually really excited because obviously everything is basically back to normal in NZ, so I want to throw some gigs, see some friends, be creative and work for my parents doing wool handling at the shearing sheds. I’m really looking forward to that. Otherwise, if I stay in Melbourne, I feel like I’d just be staying in Melbourne not really growing or learning anything. But I’m definitely excited about the future, and of course, I’ll be writing lots of new music.