Karmel Jäger Interview: Trafalgar Square

Karmel Jäger’s newest single ‘Trafalgar Square’ marks a departure from her classical roots. Jäger is resolute in her craft, forging a new identity that slots perfectly into the electronic-dance scene. Poised vocals and punchy, precocious production is somewhat atypical of the genre, but makes Jäger’s track all the more alluring. We chat to Karmel Jäger about diving into the new waters of the electronic world. 

How do you think Trafalgar Square and London have shaped you personally, not just musically? 
My time in London has had a big impact on me, both as a musician and personally. Trafalgar Square was a particularly special place for me, as I often sang nearby, at St Martin-in-the-Fields or the National Portrait Gallery, and would walk through Trafalgar Square on a rehearsal break or after a performance. It’s also near all the musicals and Collesium so if I would go to see a show I’d be in that area too. All my time in London, in such a historic city, with such a rich arts culture and such talented musicians, inspired me in so many ways.

Following a comprehensive undertaking in classical singing, Jäger turns her focus toward modelling an EDM sound. 

Do you think your improvements in this new style of production has been rapid or more gradual?
It has felt slow along the way, but looking back it’s all been a bit of a whirlwind. I was just talking today to a friend who I met at the Electronic Music Conference a bit over a year ago, and remembered that when I met him I’d just bought my first DAW (Ableton) and didn’t know what terms like ‘sidechaining ‘or ‘headroom’ meant! It still feels like slow progress day to day, but my understanding is that it’s more about just spending the hours training your ears and getting used to knowing how to fix any problems with frequency clashes and the like.

Do you think developing in the classical sphere prepared you better for this newer route music wise or more personally and belief wise?
I think what classical singing has done the most is teach me about hard work and the long, slow journey most people who find success have had to go on. Just today I was thinking how I’d really like to be so much further along my journey than I am, but it’s not reasonable or realistic for me to be further along than I am. Classical singers put hours into so many different aspects of preparing their music; from perfecting their languages, to memorising huge amounts of music, and also being great at sight reading highly complex music – not to mention dealing with performance nerves!

All of this isn’t just something you get good at, and then you have suddenly ‘arrived’ either. You’re constantly learning new music and being asked to perform the way the director wants. Whenever I start to think that what I’m attempting to do is too hard and that I won’t be able to get as good at music production as I want to, I just remember all the hard work I did in order to build a classical career, and then think I just need to transfer that hard work into electronic music and all will be fine!

Can you talk about how you were guided to heavier, more electronic based music whilst having a focus on classical training?
I remember exactly how it happened! Whilst I’ve always loved clubbing and had a strong appreciation for EDM, I was always going to be a classical musician. One day, I was recording music for a video game at Abbey Road Studios and I remember being struck that the composer was a woman, as I had almost exclusively performed and only ever recorded music by male composers! I decided I wanted to be a female in that space too, and didn’t like the inequality in that sphere I’d suddenly recognised. I went home to start composing a classical vocal piece, but ended up writing a song on guitar instead!

I realised this might be something I had a gift for that I’d never even considered before. I had my first song produced by someone in London, but upon moving to Sydney was encouraged to produce my music myself. I got excited about this idea also because music production is another field heavily dominated by men. This led to DJing – though I realise most people start with DJing and then move to producing! It’s all felt like quite a natural progression oddly enough.

How eclectic was your music taste during your time as a classical singer?
I like so many different styles of music. I’m slow to write anything off actually. I appreciate anything that moves me and that I find any artistic integrity in. There is some music that I think is too basic and obvious, and some lyrics that make me cringe, but anything that is well written and well delivered I appreciate.

I like pop, grunge, trance, rnb, trap.. One of the only genres of music I had basically written off as not being for me was country music. Then I started watching that TV show ‘Nashville’ and I was like, oh no.. I think I like this music too!

Do you think it’s expanded more since then? 
I think the main thing that’s changed is that I’m now down this rabbit hole of EDM, I’m finding there are so many ‘genres within a genre’ that I am able to appreciate more aspects of EDM than I was able to before I started DJing and producing it myself. It was the same with classical music actually – It’s one thing to listen to a nice piece of music, but if you’ve actually studied it and performed it yourself, you are able to appreciate much more of the nuance involved.

Was there a particular event or occasion that shifted your mentality and gave you belief to take on this new chapter?
What actually made me feel like I was going to be capable of producing my own music, was a conversation I had with Ella Fence at BIGSOUND. She was involved in producing her own music, and that made me feel like if she could do it, I could do it too!

The more women I meet in this space actually is what makes me believe that I can do it. It’s really true actually, the idea of needing to see it to be it. Now that I’m opening my eyes more and more to this industry, of course I’m inspired by so many Australian women who are killing it – Alison Wonderland, Anna Lunoe, BRUX and Nina Las Vegas are just a few who come to mind.

Can you talk about flipping the song upside down and adding the element of surprise towards the end of the track?
This is something I’ve realised is a big part of my ‘sound’. The element of surprise! It’s not something I aimed for consciously at all, but it’s something I seem to do with all my tracks! Hopefully it doesn’t become predictable – we’ll see!

Have you been more apprehensive or embraced making a significant decision like remoulding the structure of the song near the end?
I love anything unexpected within music. In Bach or a Schubert piece comes to mind as well – you think you know where the music is going, but then it takes an unexpected turn, and I really appreciate and admire that. I embrace that sort of thing and hope that people listening to my music appreciate it as well! I also spend a bunch of time going over my tracks, making changes and sometimes totally redoing parts. That’s usually how these unexpected moments come about. I get bored with what I’m doing and want to throw something new in.

What has the process been like of using your voice differently?
I started by just doing whatever I wanted – there was a lot of freedom in not just doing what I was told anymore! Then I realised I can actually apply my classical technique in a lot of ways. For example, I know that when I’m nervous it’s great to have a plan of attack.

With classical singing I had a good plan of what to do when I was nervous and I’m starting to apply more of that pro-active approach to my ‘pop’ style of singing as well. I’m also enjoying using a classical style of singing on some of my tracks. I’m working on one at the moment that has some operatic backing vocals in it!

How has the adjustment been, and trying to find a balance between being secure in your vocal and pushing the boundaries?
Pushing the boundaries is great if it’s done ‘safely’. I think pushing the boundaries is something that should come from an emotional place though. If you’re secure in your vocal technique, you can take some risks and it often pays off.

How has this direction of music given you more freedom and opportunity to experiment?
It’s given me so much more freedom. I imagine it’s more like how it would be as a director or conductor, in the classical world. Performing was all I knew though, and I was very rarely in charge of things and was used to just doing what I was told. I actually can’t believe how much freedom there is in electronic music – from choosing what you play as a DJ, to writing and producing any song, any way you want. Of course, you do hope people like it and want to listen to the end product too!

How do you think lessons and being taught music and instruments helped guide you in the more technological aspect of music?
I think it makes me approach my production from a certain angle. I’m used to orchestral music or vocal music with a lot of layers, and that’s probably why my songs have 60-70 tracks in them! Which gets super hard to mix too. I can’t really imagine not being trained in music and starting to write and produce it. But many people do!

Deadmau5 famously says he’s not a musician, but he sure is! In terms of the technological aspects, that’s been a totally new thing for me. But since it relates to music production now and I can see how valuable knowledge in this area is for making good music, I’m super interested now and want to be a kick ass audio engineer.

Lastly, how does this give an insight into the style and sounds of your EP?
I am still choosing which tracks to include in my EP actually, but it’s shaping up to be quite a different sound to my previous tracks. I’m planning to release another track that’s in a similar style to these two before putting out the EP though. I have some heavier, darker music that I’m working on and I think that will be the direction I’ll head in for a while. After that.. who knows!

Listen to Karmel Jäger’s ‘Trafalgar Square’ above and on all streaming platforms. 

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