Alexandra Norton, better known by her stage name Echos, has announced her forthcoming album, Quiet, In Your Service, to be released January 17th. After a successful run with EDM music, she has begun leaning into her rock side with this album. The gothic alt-rock album promises to be just as successful for Echos, if the latest singles are any indication. Of the latest released, "OVER & OVER," she shares: “This song is about the struggle of continually giving in and losing myself in the process. It's about finally learning to stand up for myself and choosing healing over pain.”
MSM: So, first of all, the question that many people may be wondering is—what inspired the shift from EDM?
ALEXANDRA: I feel like I've always wanted to go in this direction, and we've always had elements of that throughout the records previously, and this kind of just felt like the next final evolution for Echos. And so I feel like it was something I've been thinking about for a while and I feel like it was time. So I'm really happy that it's been received well.
MSM: Yeah, so just like a natural process.
Yeah, there was a part of me that was like, "I hope no one's mad that I'm not going to be making EDM anymore." But yeah, it felt like a very natural progression.
I think, with a lot of artists, they evolve over time and any true fan understands that.
I feel like there were elements throughout, I think more on Even Though You're Gone, that felt more like what I'm doing now versus AFFIRMATIONS was a little bit more experimental. So I could see how the shift out of AFFIRMATIONS to this is a little jarring, but I think if the fans that have been around since Even Though You're Gone they'd be like, okay, I could see that. So I keep saying it feels like a sister record to Even Though You're Gone.
So, what can you share about the forthcoming album about your creative process?
Oh, that was a really fun process for me. I initially sat in on my friend's band who played on this record with me and plays shows with me. So I sat in with them to work on a song for them, and we just realized how much fun we were having and we're like, we should do this every week. And it kind of just became this free-flowing process of writing together every week. And we realized a couple months in, we're like, I think we have a record for Echos. So yeah, really, it just started off as being this fun thing versus in the past I would be setting out to make a record. And this time, I obviously still set out to make a record, but it came together in a very organic way.
That's good. Yeah, I think the best things do.
I think so, it was really fun. It was definitely less pressure than I've had in previous creative processes.
Yeah. Do you have a theme or message that you're trying to convey with the album in particular?
This album is about healing from a toxic relationship. I think you can apply that to any type of toxic relationship of making yourself small and in the service of other people, and that's the meaning of "Quiet, and In Your Service" of just staying small in service of this relationship or this thing that no longer serves you. And I feel like that's the theme, and I hope that people can feel empowered when they listen to these songs and less alone in those emotions, and that it's okay to choose yourself.
Okay. So, do you have a favorite song from this album that means the most to you?
I feel like it's so hard to choose. I love them all so much. I have the one that I keep saying is my favorite, but it doesn't mean that I don't like all the other ones in the same way. But "Tolerance" was just such a spiritual song for me to create because it felt like a song that was beamed down to me, and it's the album outro, and I feel like that was such a spiritual experience to create something that was so free flowing. This is such a silly answer, I need to figure out how to summarize this answer. But it was just, I don't know. I was just singing and not overthinking it, and it felt really emotional for me. I cried after recording it because it was such an emotional release. So, I think because I have that attachment to the process for that song is why it's my favorite one.
Yeah. So how do you approach the songwriting process and where do you find inspiration?
I feel like it depends on the day. I feel sometimes I will already have a whole poem written out, and I know that I want it to be a song, and so I can approach it that way. But for this album in particular, a lot of it was just kind of freestyling and just jamming with my band, and we would record our live session and just freestyle whatever we were feeling. And it was cool that we have such a rhythm together that we'll just freestyle a song from start to finish, record that session and then go back and be like, okay, what was I trying to say? Some of the lyrics are mumbled and I am mumbling, and then I fill it in with words at the end. So it was this very free-flowing process for most of the record. So that's just my new way of writing. In the past I would be like, I'm going to sit down and make a song like this, and it starts like this and has this and this, versus now it's kind of just whatever the song wants to be, it comes out that way.
How do you stay inspired and creative, especially if you have writer's block? Is there something that you do to kind of open that up?
I'd say sitting down and just writing whatever comes to mind. I always call it a free flow. I'll just do a brain dump and write random words that come to mind, and typically I'll find a theme and I'll just follow whatever that theme is that comes out of my subconscious and that takes me down this path to write, even if I'm not feeling inspired. I think that we're always feeling something, whether or not we're aware of it. So, if you write down a stream of consciousness, give yourself maybe five minutes. You might start seeing words that are kind of trying to tell you something and then following that, and then you can try to write through the block, or also just literally go for a walk.
Just escape out of it. So, who are some of your biggest musical influences?
That is a great question. Obviously Evanescence is a huge inspiration and Daughter is my favorite band in the world. I feel like her lyrics inspire me so much. That is my favorite band. I listen to lots of Ethel Cain. I'm very inspired by Ethel Cain right now. I love Deftones as well. So yeah, I would say my big inspirations are Daughter, Evanescence, Deftones, Ethel Cain, and Spiritbox...I love all of them.
Okay. Do you have a particularly memorable performance or just moment in your career so far that you've been like, oh wow, this is a thing?
Oh, yes. When I was, I think, 18, I went to my very first music festival, Snow Globe Music Festival, and I was like, I'm going to play this one day. I got to play it four or five years later on the main stage, and that was insane. I was like, I manifested the fuck out of this. And I think that for me, that was such a cool moment and my family was there and it was so surreal. Yeah, that was definitely one of those moments for me.
Yeah. Okay. How do you go about translating all the emotion that you put into your songs into a music video?
Ooh, that's a good one. It depends on the story of the song and trying to really connect with the performance. This is the first time I've been in all of my music videos, so that's been definitely a new thing for me to navigate how I'm performing and moving and connecting with the song. So I think for each song, I try to feel out what the mood is to me and what colors I'm seeing when I'm hearing the song and what the storyline means. And, I think for this record, we didn't do a lot of storyline. It was more the performance music videos. So we tried to pick outfits and colors and locations. That, to me, felt like the mood of the song.
That makes sense. So you've spoken of mental health awareness on social media. What advice would you give to other people when they're just struggling to push forward?
Yeah. I feel like reaching out to a therapist has been so helpful for me. I feel like therapy was the one thing that really changed my life, but I know that that is not always accessible, which kills me because I feel like everybody deserves access to mental healthcare. It's so important. I feel like it truly saved my life, and when I don't have that, what I try to do is journal and call family or friends. But again, I also feel like if you don't have that or you don't feel like you can do that, it's just trying to hold onto that hope of knowing that you do matter and someone is willing to listen even if you have to reach out to a hotline. Just being able to speak your emotions and feel seen and heard is such an important thing when you're in that dark space. There's people who care and want to listen to help you through that.
Then, my last question for you—is there anything else that we didn't talk about that you'd like to share with your fans?
I'm so excited about my album release show on January 15th at Resident Downtown LA. I'm going to be doing an intimate performance of the record, so it'll be with my cellist and will be by candlelight, and we're going to have a bunch of artists selling their art. So it'll be a very intimate experience. I'm really excited about that. It'll be two days before the record comes out in full, so if you come, you get to hear some of the songs before they are released. I'm super excited about that.
Yeah, that sounds exciting. The intimate atmosphere. That'll be great!
Yeah, I cannot wait. I think that'll be really cool. And I just love doing reimagined versions of songs by candlelight. That's my favorite thing. So, I think it'll be a really special moment to bring the album out to the world like that together.
