Description
The girls in BLUAI name their debut EP 'a collection of six songs that form an emotional, yet hopeful wrecking yard'. The girl band's first effort is an unconstrained and playful piece of work that crystallized in their glorious but furious first months of existence as a band. Yet their debut is also the end of a chapter. Where the songs on Junkyard were still written by Catherine alone, the band is now writing and arranging new material together. In that respect, Junkyard is also a first taste of what is yet to come.
BLUAI is a 4-piece girl band based in Antwerp. What started as Catherine Smet's intimate bedroom project (voice, guitar), quickly evolved into a full-fledged band with Caitlin Talbut on bass and Mo Govaerts on drums. Guitarist Amina Parago replaced Ilayda Cicek (ILA) after the EP recordings. Despite their different backgrounds and styles, the four made a connection right away, on and off stage. They're having the time of their lives while still challenging each other to experiment. The foursome won Belgium's three major music contests Humo's Rock Rally, Sound Track and De Nieuwe Lichting (from Studio Brussel) in a few months' time earlier this year, and has been playing countless club and festival shows ever since. BLUAI even made it to a billboard in Times Square as ambassadors for Spotify's Equal campaign for more women in music.
It had always been Catherine's dream to form a band made up of women only. Not only because women are so poorly represented in the music landscape, but also because she knows there is nothing better than making music among women. "The idea that BLUAI can inspire other girls and women to learn to play an instrument, make music and get on stage makes this band proud."
The sound of Junkyard originates from the need to keep things simple and to translate an authentic live sound into a recorded EP. The songs float between soft indie folk and edgy 90s guitars. They are drenched in hopeful melancholy from broken hearts, road trips to break-ups and casual crushes. Influences such as Skullcrusher, Julia Jacklin and Haim are fairly evident.
