LEOBLU is the artistic venture led by Julia Carlsson, the sonic enchantress whose creative journey begins on the Nordic islands of Åland, and unfolds against the backdrop of Berlin’s music scene.
MOTEL VOID: You come from Åland Islands, that’s a bit fascinating to me! I haven’t met any artist from this area yet… how was it, growing up there? What kind of live music were you exposed to? And is there any ‘indie music scene’ there?
LEOBLU: Yeah, it’s quite a unique experience growing up there. I would describe it as very beautiful, safe, and, for better and for worse, a little bit boring. I was born in Stockholm, and moved to Åland with my family when I was two years old. Then, I lived on Åland until I graduated high school at 18. My whole family still lives on the island now, so whenever I go back home to visit them, I take that Åland ferry back, across the Baltic sea. It feels like quite a cinematic and dramatic way to go back home, standing on deck, and looking across the ocean.
My dreamiest childhood memories are from a small village on Åland, called Ämnäs. Me and my family lived there until I was twelve, when we moved to the “city”, Mariehamn. Ämnäs only have around 300 inhabitants, and we lived in an old wooden house in the middle of a forest, next to a lake. My closest neighbors were 1 kilometer away, and they had a stable full of horses, and a donkey. Sometimes I hung out there, riding the donkey.
Otherwise, I was mostly hanging out with my two brothers. We spent a lot of time outdoors, creating our own imaginary worlds in the forest.
I wasn’t exposed to much live music at all. Mostly from my dad I guess, who would often sit in the living room and play guitar and sing. Otherwise, we barely even had music on at home. Usually just the radio. The first live gigs I saw were at the local summer festival, called RockOff. One of my first impactful experiences there was seeing Lordi perform live. I even bought some Lordi merch; a pencil eraser. I was so proud to use that Lordi eraser when I whipped it out in school.
However, there is a local indie scene as well. It’s very small, but nonetheless, it’s alive, and I think it has such a lovely, supportive vibe to it. Since it’s not that common, making music, especially indie music, on Åland, you really tend to find each other and build a small community; arranging indie festivals, booking eachother, writing interviews in the local newspapers, supporting each other on social media, and simply fostering a general sense of support and appreciation for each other as artists. The small indie venue called Pub Bastun is a real gem on this scene, where they usually arrange a yearly indie festival.
I also, to this day, find it so incredibly heart-warming whenever I still feel included and supported by the local Åland music community. I truly don’t take it for granted, especially since I haven’t actually lived on the island for the past 10 years.
I also think, and hope, that more and more people turn to music and other creative outlets on Åland. I feel like there’s a wave of indie artists, producers, and rappers popping up there, more and more, which makes me so happy to see. It’s actually a brilliant place to be creative, with lots of resources and open space, waiting to be filled with new, creative ideas.
MOTEL VOID: You’re living in Berlin now, when did you decide to move there and how are you satisfied with living & creating there? I’ve been to Berlin several times and I’m in love with the city… Do you have any favorite local venues?
LEOBLU: Ah. I’m also in love with this city. It’s such a special place. I think the seed was planted in my brain when I was touring in South America, back in 2016. I was traveling with a couple other Nordic acts, as a part of a Nordic tour there, and I’m pretty sure that the people I met during this trip changed the trajectory of my life forever. They were just so different from anyone I had ever met prior, and the creative way in which they lived their lives was so inspiring to me. Most of them were either living in Berlin at the time, or had recently moved away from Berlin, but the one thing they all had in common was; Berlin. In my mind, I thought, “if Berlin is filled with creative and inspiring people like these, I have to go there”.
And to Berlin I went. The first time I ever went to Berlin, I had a gig at Urban Spree. It was such a fun experience, and even though my expectations of the city were quite high, they were exceeded by the reality of the place.
A couple years went by, and I ended up living in Stockholm. As much as I experienced and learnt in Stockholm, I never really vibed with the city itself. Or, maybe it was the Swedish “jante” culture. Or a combination. I think I just expected to feel at home there, but I really didn’t.
In 2021, I took the leap; I quit my job in Stockholm, packed two suitcases and my guitar, and booked a compartment on the night train to Berlin, where I threw in everything I owned at the time.
It was the best decision of my life, so far, I think. Since moving here, I feel like I’ve had the space to become more and more like my true self. It’s also been challenging, of course. There is no “one mold” or any set rules or directions for how to live your life in Berlin, which is both a blessing and a curse. It forces you to create your own mold for life, and this can be a painful process. But it’s also incredibly rewarding. I have met so many amazing friends, and found a creative community here of musicians, artists, and inspiring people. I feel really lucky.
My favorite venue here is called Loophole. My old neighbor, Mikey, was working there and invited me to an art auction there one night. And, well, it was like I went to Loophole, and never left. I found an amazing community there of fellow musicians, and so many friends. These days, I also occasionally work there. Mostly in the bar, but I also recently started shadowing some of my sound engineer friends, to be able to work as a sound engineer there myself soon. More women are needed in this space, and I’m eager to learn more and become a better mixer for my own music either way. Anyways, I could write a whole book about Loophole and its influence on me, my music, and my life. I’m really grateful to that place, and to all the hardworking people there who put their heart and soul into the creative and inclusive space that it is.
MOTEL VOID: Your 2021 song ‘still dancing’ is a big hit on streaming services (almost 800k streams on Spotify). Did this success have a big impact on your career?
LEOBLU: Yeah, I actually can’t believe it. I originally released that song back in 2016, under my old artist name Julia Clara. Then, I collected all of my old Julia Clara-releases under my EP called Eskapism, when I changed my artist name to LEOBLU, back in 2021.
That song is really meaningful to me. I wrote it back when I was 18, studying music in Brighton. I think that’s also when my depression started creeping in on me, which might be pretty telling by the theme of that song. Music became my ultimate coping mechanism.
A couple years after writing the song, I was studying in Hultsfred, Sweden, and played that song at a local festival. As luck would have it, my (now friend) Gustav Roth, was also playing at the festival. He’s a really talented musician and producer, who invited me to record that track in his studio in Stockholm.
At the time of releasing it, the song got maybe… a couple thousand streams. But a couple years later, all of a sudden, the song got viral in Turkey. The reason for the sudden virality, was that the song got placed as a part of the soundtrack for the Turkish Netflix series The Protector. After this sync, a lot of people started looking up the song on Shazam, and all of a sudden, it became a viral song in Turkey.
Still to this day, most of my listeners are based in Turkey, and most of my streams are coming from that song. I find it really cool. I’m really grateful for that Netflix placement, and I’m also super grateful to all the listeners, who keep streaming the song, and who also keep sending me lovely messages and words of support. It’s just such a cool and random story, I think, and it also gave me a lot of motivation to keep going. I think I always used to think that I wasn’t good enough, and maybe I still sometimes do, but something like that really gave me some confidence that maybe, just maybe, I’m doing something right.
MOTEL VOID: full moon & snow boots is your new single, could you tell us more about the writing and recording process of this track? And will it be a part of your new record?
LEOBLU: full moon & snow boots is to me, a bit of a hymn to nature; its brutal cycle of life and death, its constant change, and constant beauty. I wrote it in the shower, after eating… mushrooms. And I just kept singing that melody and those lyrics, again and again, showering in the sunlight. I ran out of the shower, dripping, trying to find my phone, to be able to record the melody as soon as I could. These kinds of song ideas usually leave me as quickly as they find me, so I have 10 000 recordings on my phone due to this.
Just like an older song of mine, somewhere., I wanted to fully base the production on my voice, only. I use a lot of vocal layers, and different effects, to create a soundscape that, to me, feels dreamy, airy, and soothing.
I recorded the track on Åland, in my dad’s home studio there. That’s where I recorded most of the material for my upcoming EP Blu Lucid Nightmare, which will be released later this summer.
full moon & snow boots will also be released together with a music video, that is shot by my friend Hannah Gonzalez. We were traveling across California this winter, together with two other friends, Mikey and Manu, and Hannah was capturing the trip on her analog camcorder. It was such a magical trip, and the footage wasn’t really planned to become a music video per se, but looking back on it after the trip, I knew it would be such a lovely fit for this song.
MOTEL VOID: What kind of DAW do you use?
LEOBLU: I use Logic. Sometimes I think I should try something new, just to shake up my process a bit, but I’m so comfortable with this program. And I think, recording and producing should be as easy as possible. The tools are just that, tools.
MOTEL VOID: Any live shows and festivals ahead of you?
LEOBLU: I have a gig coming up at Loophole in Berlin, on the 25th of July! It will be a lil release party for my EP, and I’ve invited my talented friends Arcane (sad disco) and Antonia Estelle (indie folk) to play that evening as well. I think it’s going to be a magical night.
Other than that, I don’t have anything planned at the moment. I’ve been playing a couple gigs at Loophole earlier this year, updating my live set with this new loop machine of mine, and also integrating new instruments to the mix, like violin. So, I’m excited to keep experimenting with my live setup. I’m honestly just a bit lazy when it comes to booking. Maybe I’ve taken this DIY thing a bit too far. Booking agents, hit me up!
motel void 
Leave a comment