7ebra

What were the sounds of your youth that influence your music today?

Ella: I think there’s maybe two sides of it. One when we were really small, when our dad played a lot of music at home, like records and stuff. I think that has seeped in some way. English progressive rock…

Inez: Yeah, and also Britpop.

Ella: Yeah, like XTC. There was a lot of that. And then Genesis and…

Inez: Peter Gabriel!

Ella: Yeah, Peter Gabriel. A lot of Beatles too, of course.

Inez: Then in our teens…

Ella: Elliot Smith, Fleet Foxes – I was a real fangirl over them.

I liked a lot of Dylan LeBlanc, he’s like a country guy… You had a period of kind of ambient stuff… electro music.

Inez: Yeah, I can’t remember any names right now. But yeah, a lot of electronic music too.

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When you first started playing as children, how did you decide who would play which instruments? Did it come naturally, or was there a fight?

Inez: I think I was probably just a bit more interested in playing guitar, so I played more.

Ella: Yeah. We started learning guitar at the same time, and then you stopped but actually kept going on your own.

I kept going too, but not as much, so it was natural… There was no fighting when it came to that stuff actually!

You grew up playing together. Your harmonies are seamless. Was becoming the band you are today almost inevitable?

Inez: I didn’t think that when I was starting to make songs, but I think it was inevitable because I’m not really comfortable playing with anyone else.

Ella: But yeah, it hasn’t been a dream of ours since we were kids, like “we’re going to have a band one day”. We played together at home, playing covers, just having fun.

It was more Inez that started writing songs and had her own thing, and then I joined after a lot of nagging! But it all made sense when we started for real.

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For your recent debut album, Bird Hour, you teamed up with esteemed producer Tore Johansson. How was that experience? What did he bring to your sound?

Ella: Yeah, that was really fortunate for us… I think he just brought new life to the sound as well as a sense of taking everything more seriously…

Inez: Yeah, I needed that… A lot. Someone to push us a little bit.

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Does being twin sisters allow you to connect on a higher level during the creative process, causing everything to fall perfectly into place?

Inez: I don’t know… Maybe! We can be very open with each other. But that doesn’t have to be because we’re sisters. Other people who aren’t twins can be that too.

Ella: But yeah, like you say, it’s more direct, you don’t have to be scared of saying stuff.

Inez: We’re kind of scared with other people…

Ella: Yeah, it takes time to be comfortable with someone. And we also have almost the exact same reference points music wise…

Inez: Yeah, the same music taste…

What does the future hold for 7ebra?

Ella: Well, in the near future we have more shows… A couple of festivals in the UK in the summer: End of the Road, Bluedot Festival, Secret Garden Party…

Inez: Not going solo! It would be nice to release more songs!... Although I’m not sure when that will happen.

Ella: We have some ideas going on; a few jams we’ve done… But we’ll see!

Inez: We might change the sound a bit, maybe… Play around a bit more!

Ella: It would be fun to try new stuff!

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