In the heart of sunny Soho, on a casual Thursday when Spring finally entices everyone to leave their claustrophobic cocoons, Hetta Falzon, a rising London-based singer/songwriter, freshly relocated, arrives ready to present her debut EP, Henrietta. This 9-track body of work emerges as a true embodiment of Falzon’s classical training with a pop twist, vulnerable to a new dimension. You will question: Is she really only 21 years old?
Occupying a bench in a downstairs area at Carnaby’s Nagare Cafe, where the minimalistic design cannot be more tranquil and aligned with the conversation centered around Hetta Falzon, as an aspiring artist, and her introductory project, Henrietta, which settles somewhere between modern Norah Jones and classical Joni Mitchell. Falzon’s songwriting is the main character, with the purposefully unpolished production supporting her resonating vocals into a splendidly delicate and timeless curation of coming-of-age wit, delivered as smooth as a morning cup of coffee.
Henrietta was written over the course of three years; Falzon describes it as “a portfolio of her life so far”. Sitting across her, it is her maturity and passion that really spur a productive yap session about her not-so-favorite recording process, thoughts on being a perfectionist, her honest rundown of the Devonshire, moving to London, dating, the rewards of teaching and much more.
Currently finishing her studies at Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music, Hetta Falzon has recently decided to swap the thriving indie rock scene for the blissfully welcoming environment for singer/songwriters she found in London. One of the main sources of Falzon’s reignited joy is the famous pub, which allegedly serves the best pint of Guinness in London, the Irish pub hideaway in the middle of Piccadilly Circus rush – the Devonshire – where Hetta Falzon is about to play an intimate, secret show. You can also catch at her headline show at Hoxton Hall on March 19th
Tonight, you’re playing a small show at The Devonshire, are you excited? What is your relationship with performing?
I’m excited. It’s quite an intimate show, and it’s also secret. So the only people who are coming are friends. It’s my first show I’m doing with this upright bass player who is sick, and I’m excited. It’s a new era. I’m in the process of figuring out what my live shows are going to look like moving forward. Tonight is the first tester.
I went to this festival Love Supreme two years ago and there’s this woman called Cécile McLorin Salvant. She was fab and she did “Wuthering Heights” and the whole thing was acapella and the bass. It was so moving. I think for so long I grew up playing solo and playing in school concerts solo and then when I got to uni, everyone was telling me I need a band, I need a guitar and drums and bass and keys. I’m still trying to find out where I sit within the jazz combo and the band and the more classical ensemble. I’m just trying to find my own little iteration of it, but it’s hard.
Are you open to experimenting as well?
I’m open, but I think I’ve experimented a lot. I’m doing some headline shows in a couple of weeks and I’m doing that with drums, bass, violin, viola, cello flute, french horn, clarinet, and that’s my dream. But it’s not financially sustainable. So I think upright bass is definitely combining the classical and the jazz influence.
How is your relationship with performing?
I have always loved it. I grew up doing dance. I did dance every day of the week for about 10 years and I actually have the stiffest hips in the world. But I grew up doing dance, some musicals and singing. I played cello and trombone and piano and I always really enjoyed it, but I got quite embarrassed acting. Every time I had to act or speak lines, I felt it was embarrassing. The only thing that I really felt like I wasn’t embarrassed doing was my own songs because no one’s telling me to replicate anything, and I don’t have to worry about not living up to something that already exists because I am creating something new. I performed loads throughout school at school concerts, that was always solo and I loved it. Then when I came to uni, I did some stuff with a band and I love that as well. It’s such a different feeling, but I feel dynamically trapped when I play with other people. I feel like when I play on my own, I have the freedom to do whatever the fuck I want. Not that I will, but I have the ability to ride my emotions and see when I want to change the tempo or when I wan to change the dynamic. It can be really driven by me and not driven by the people around me and what we rehearse.
What is your opinion on the scene in London?
I am in love with London. I’m actually at uni in Manchester, but I moved to London a year early. I’m doing my fourth year long distance because I love it here so much. I was coming up and down last year a lot, and I was probably in both places equally. I think in Manchester, I really found it hard to find rooms where people wanted to listen to music. People always wanted to go out and dance and drink to music. But the only space that I found in Manchester was Sofar Sounds, which was amazing and they made me feel at home in Manchester. I feel like coming to London, there are so many more opportunities for singer songwriters. I think Manchester’s great for indie bands. It was just bands, just noise, but when you don’t wanna make a racket I didn’t find the right place.
But down here, well, the Devonshire, which is where I’m playing tonight, is one of the most incredible community of people. I think it’s the best community of people I’ve ever met.
I hear everyone talking about it, can you tell us what is so special about the Devonshire?
The Devonshire is one of the most famous pubs in London with amazing Guinness. You go through the pub and there’s this little back room. And you have to be invited to get in. It’s just this room that is full of creative people. You don’t have to be famous to get invited. You just have to be creative. And the talent in there is crazy, but it’s the least judgmental place I’ve ever been to. It’s amazing. They do these songwriter nights, people will get up and play a couple of songs, and everyone knows each other. There are always new people, everyone wants to meet everyone. It’s really weird, because you’re in the heart of Soho, but you’re in this Irish club that feels like you’re in the butt middle of nowhere. It is amazing.
I really like your name so I wanted to see if it has a direct translation, as it’s also the title of your debut EP. ‘Henrietta’ in Scandinavian translates to the “ruler of the home”. You were raised in Somerset, went to uni in Manchester, and now you’re based in London. How do you create a home away from home?
I think by having a piano, wherever my piano is, it is where I’m living. I just have one keyboard wherever I’m based. I feel lost when I’m not with my keyboard. Since I moved to London, I’ve gone home a lot more to my mom’s house and she moved house when I went to uni, so the house that she lives in now isn’t my childhood home, but I think it feels like home whereever my mom is.
Henrietta is officially out. Before we get into the concept of the project, could we talk about the recording process, as the final songs are live takes of you and 8 other people in the studio. How did you find this process?
It was really hard. It was really stressful. I really am not experienced in recording. When I was younger, my dream was to write songs for other people, so they would record them and release them, and then I would tour them. That was my way to write and perform and never have to record. I like to do music because I want to really feel deeply. I get that from writing and I get that from performing. But recording feels too analytical. I’ve just never been interested in it. I’m one of those people who doesn’t do things they don’t want to do.
Was it your decision to have an accompanying band in the studio for the music to feel more alive?
I really wanted it to feel alive. Being a small artist, we didn’t really have the budget to do that exactly, having all of us in a room, and getting in a studio that was big enough was not possible. So we did the rhythm section together, and separately for some songs. Then we did the strings and woodwind all live together. And then I recorded my live takes on top of that and it was really hard, but I think we pulled through.
What does it mean to you having a string section in the studio with you? What emotion does the instrument evoke in you?
I used to play cello for a long time, that was my main instrument. So I feel like it’s always been a really present sound in my life. I grew up playing in orchestras, playing in string sections, so it’s really nostalgic, but vital for me. Personally, strings in a song feel way more vital than drums and bass, because that’s what I grew up surrounded by. I write all the arrangements myself. I feel like I say what I haven’t been able to say melodically, I can say through the strings. Because I’m not a music theory nerd, all my decisions I make are based on how it makes me feel and not what is the correct theory. I think that’s way more fun.
I’m not a perfectionist in anything I do. I only do things because I want to feel joy and as soon as I stop feeling that, I start questioning things. I’m not doing it because I want it to be perfect. I want to have fun.
Are you scared to lose that joy later on down the line?
I don’t think so. I think there have been moments where I’ve felt it less like during the recording process. But there’ve also been things that have really reignited it, like the Devonshire. I went down to Middle Farm Studios in December and did a collaborative week. I think things like that when it’s just about creating music for the sake of creating music and not for the sake of a business. We’re just doing this and remembering why we love it. I’ve been really lucky to find a lot of that recently and it’s definitely reignited a lot of joy.
I think this EP was a great learning curve on things I may compromised on that I shouldn’t have. I learned so much from it, but I feel like going into the next project I know exactly what I want. I didn’t play the songs to anyone before because I want to know that I love this. Two years ago, I feel like I got a bit caught up in “do other people like it?”.
Let’s talk ‘Belly Laugh.’ The whole theme behind the song is quite a mature observation and something really worth noting and discussing. It debates the importance of humour and friendship versus respect and kindness in a relationship, but you also propose the question, why can’t we have both. I think it’s a brilliant conclusion. How did you learn to be okay with being so vulnerable?
I don’t think I have that filter or I think I do have the filter, the vulnerability filter and as soon as I hit it I’m like, fuck it, let the gates open. I really enjoy saying things, which I know are quite exposing for myself. I worry when it’s about how other people are going to feel, but I also think when it’s uncomfortable, it means that people probably need to hear it the most. I would never say anything evil. But sometimes think maybe ‘Belly Laugh’ is a bit of a mean song, but also maybe it will give him a bit of a kick up the ass to learn some jokes.
In your opinion, what makes a good online dating profile?
All the boys I’ve dated either don’t like hot drinks or don’t like vegetables, because of the texture. Or like the heat of the drink. And I’m like, what are you, seven years old? So when someone says they like coffee, that is rare for me.
I haven’t been on any dating apps like that for a while. I’m on female Hinge, trying to make friends in Copenhagen at the moment. Because I love Copenhagen, I really want to go out there and spend some time there and write some music there, but I want some friends. I’ve heard that it’s quite hard to make friends out there. So I thought I’ll set my own profile. All my prompts are like, ‘this is just for friendship,’ ‘just be my friend’ and it is working. So I haven’t been on male Hinge for a while.
Can you share your top three icks?
When they have picked pictures that aren’t of themselves. When they have anything topless showing off their bodies. You are obviously here for a good time, not a long time. I do love a performative male. That is my type, especially if they’re performative and not actually doing it. Because I’m like, you are trying, you want to be better and you are doing all these things because you want to, this is someone you wanna be and you’re pursuing that. I think that’s cool. I think that’s cooler than already, being into that.
I also think, this is the best time to be single. I’m so happy and it would have to be someone who would just slot into my life, but I know that’s not fair. Also, if they’re the kind of person I want to date, then they would have their own life and I would slot into theirs. So I’m not looking for anything apart from a hot waiter at the Devonshire.
It was your song ‘Sobering’ that received the initial traction. In response to the since then uphill journey, you said you thought you would end up as a music teacher.
I would love to teach primary school music one day. But not more than I would love to be an artist forever and ever, but I love seeing kids light up with music. I wouldn’t wanna be a technical teacher, I would just want to teach people to love music.
I’m actually looking for stuff at the moment that I can do alongside my life, because I taught at my uni. I got this message from this kid when I left to come here to London and he was like, “thank you for teaching me what it means to be a musician,” It made me reflect, that I’m only here because of my music teachers and my dance teachers and all the creative people around me. Obviously big up the industry and my team and they’re wonderful, but like 20 years prior to that, it’s all been my teachers.
Teachers can make you or break you, but they can easily be the reason why someone becomes an artist or what kind of an artist someone turns out to be.
Some of them have been mean, but some of them have been wonderful. I really want to be that for someone else. Maybe there was like 10 positive experiences and maybe one negative. One of them that broke me was the reason I think why I started songwriting. Sshe would always compare me to my siblings. They would both get solos and she’d never give me one. We used to be a singing trio, but I would never be allowed to sing, because I was the youngest. From that moment I knew I wanted to do my own thing where I’m not going to be compared to anyone, because I’m sick of being the youngest child and being compared. I think even the teachers that weren’t the biggest fan of me have really pushed me even further into the “well fuck you, I’m going to do it my own way” direction. Which is I think actually a really important part of my personality now.
Back to the uphill journey. You’re at the beginning of your journey, how are you feeling about the uncertainty of the industry?
I just want to earn enough money from it so I can do it full time forever, which is really fucking hard. I just have a good feeling about it and I don’t know if that’s because I’m a positive person, but I really think it’s possible. I think now, if there’s any time it’s possible, it’s now.
Recently I’ve been thinking a bit about being a woman and having kids, and how that would affect my career and how I would financially support that. That’s the only thing that kind of worries me because I know a lot of people in the music industry have kids, but a lot of the men go on tour and carry on, and a lot of the women take a step back. It’s far in the future, I think, but I’m also aware that it’s probably in the next 10 or 15 years when I plan to be at my peak, at my prime. I think that’s the only thing. But I also think that by that time, the music industry will be very different and hopefully in a good way.
Laura Marling recorded an album with her baby on her lap the whole time. I think all my favorite artists, their most beautiful moving songs are the ones about motherhood like Joni Mitchell and Adrianne Lanker songs. I think you can only write about men for so long before it’s actually not that important. I think if I’m going to grow as an artist and as a person, it’s such a huge experience and something which hopefully my fans will grow with me and they’ll be having kids too. I would love to experience it and then be able to share that.
You’re completing your studies at the Royal Northern College of Music. Was is a no brainer deciding what you want too study?
My mom encouraged us to do everything when we were younger. So she put us in music lessons and I loved it. I was never the musical one int he family, it was my brother, I just enjoyed it. At this school we had an hour a day to practice, and I was technically meant to be practicing cello and trombone as classical, but obviously I was like, fuck that. I would sit at the piano and get up ultimate guitar tabs. Eventually I started writing my own songs. It was a very gradual progression from classical, but I would always sing my classical pieces like a pop song and I would flip my cello and learn ‘Thinking Out Loud’ by Ed Sheeran on my side cello and play it like a guitar. It was so obvious.
We see so many artists speak about things they sacrificed, and the downward spiral of being in the spotlight. What are you ready to sacrifice for music and this career? How badly do you want it?
I want it with every inch of my body. I can’t see that I’d have to sacrifice anything. I think a lot of the artists that I look up to, I think Adrianne Lenker or Laura Marling are really good examples of this. Obviously I don’t know them and I don’t know what goes on behind closed doors, but they’re legends and they’re incredible and they have really committed fan bases and they tour and they make incredible music. They still have a life separate to that. They’re not constantly on social media and they’re not in LA doing all the sessions. That’s the life I want.
My friend Annika Kilkenny. She’s an incredible artist. She said to me a few months ago, the best thing to do is to decenter music from your life. I did that, in the sense that now I treat it like a job. I do it 9 to 5, then I have a flip phone for the evenings and the weekends, so I can’t go on social media and I can’t be contacted by my management or anything. I’ve started kickboxing, which I do three times a week, and that’s my evening activity. I also think I’ve benefited from that creatively because it’s the first time in ages, I have other commitments and I feel sad to have to stop doing music. Or I miss it when I go away. I haven’t missed music in so long because I’ve been doing it all time and I just think I found such a wonderful balance.
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Words: Karolina Kramplova
Photographer: Emily Lindsell