Goodbye Grote Bollen is out now!
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Singer-songwriter Alana Jagt has shared her debut album, Goodbye Grote Bollen. To celebrate the release, the musician has shared with MILKY five things she learnt whilst creating the body of work.
"Turns out, my parents once worked in a tulip bulb sorting factory," Jagt shares. "When their time at the factory ended, they brought a cake in to celebrate. Grote Bollen translates to 'big bulbs'... there could be a Dutch pun happening there, I'm not exactly sure, but I eventually came to think of these songs as my bulbs and now I'm saying goodbye to them."
To celebrate the release, Jagt is hitting the road for a headline tour, Kicking off in Ararat on October 12, the run of shows will continue on to Melbourne, Bendigo, Macedon, McLaren Vale and Macclesfield, before wrapping up in Adelaide on November 25.
ONE
The admin side of putting a record out and promoting it, as well as self-managing the band and social media, is a real pain in the arse. It's hard to stay creative when you're trying to juggle those things as an independent artist.
TWO
There are limits. Your body has limits. My body has limits! Being in a studio can be tiring, particularly if it's being fit around tour dates or gig dates. I had to re-do a whole heap of takes due to a vocal issue I developed while touring. So I actually saw a specialist and learned these strange exercises to get my voice back. Even now I can still hear those issues on some of the album tracks!
THREE
I actually learned a piece of family history making this album. The cake on the front cover is an old photo I found, and through that I discovered that my parents had once worked in a tulip factory! The cake was part of their farewell party. And I learned that "grote bollen" means "big bulbs", and now so have you.
FOUR
Always do a trip in the car when listening to album mixes, SO many people listen to music in the car while they're driving around. So if it sounds good coming out of your car speakers that's a good sign you've got a good mix.
FIVE
I learned how to do watercolour paintings via a short course, and I taught myself knitting via an old 1960s sweater pattern that I found in an op-shop. And I at least tried to learn some more Dutch, on the Duolingo app. None of this had much to do with the album but it was pretty effective procrastination. Finishing this project took forever, so the plan is to get the next one recorded and released sooner rather than later.
Goodbye Grote Bollen is out now!