Suddenly I feel so free / I say goodbye to all of my worries / Taken over by / By this energy / Which I didn’t know that I had inside of me’. The opening lyrics of the song ‘Feeling Me’ on Lady Linn’s new record ‘High’ could be about the album’s sound palette.

On ‘High’, Lady Linn shamelessly flirts with electronic dance pop and Donna Summer-disco, beats and synths, and acoustic guitars. The trademark jazz rhythms of her two previous records reappear as well, but electronically arranged.

Lady Linn: ‘This time around, I really wanted to do things in a different way.’ As a songwriter, she was ready for a jump in the unknown. Instead of writing songs on her piano, as she did for her two previous records ‘Here We Go Again’ and ‘No Goodbye At All’, Lady Linn decided to write her new songs on the guitar. ‘I’m not that good on the guitar, but that was part of the game: I wanted to write really honest, straightforward songs. Just me and my guitar, not thinking of arrangements, just thinking songs.’

As a lyricist too, Lady Linn experienced a transformation of some sorts. Inspired by the gigs she did with her house-project FCL, where she covers house classics with her soulful voice, Lady Linn wrote more direct, heartfelt lyrics. ‘The lyrics of the house classics I sing with FCL are pure gospel, uncensored, raw emotions – things like ‘Heal My Heart’ by Kerri Chandler. Singing those lyrics was a very liberating experience: it made me less self-conscious when writing my own songs.’

The resulting songs are Lady Linn’s most honest to date. Guitarist Bruno De Groote (Raymond Van Het Groenewoud, Axelle Red…) proved to be her perfect match in fine-tuning the songs. ‘Bruno is a very honest and original musician, I trusted him completely: he could reinterpret the songs as he liked.’ ‘High’ was produced by Renaud Letang (Jane Birkin, Feist…), with whom she also worked on her previous record ‘No Goodbye At All’. The French producer is another kindred spirit that Lady Linn trusts 100%. ‘Renaud took the songs in an electronic direction – the beats and dance sounds were his idea. And I just loved it!

What happened to Lady Linn’s Magnificent Seven? This is the first record that Lien De Greef releases as Lady Linn period, without the mentioning of the acoustic orchestra that drenched her first record ‘Here We Go Again’ in vintage swingjazz, and gave her second ‘No Goodbye At All’ a warm pop sound. Actually, Lady Linn dropped the group name because it didn’t suit the feel and sound of this album anymore, but on stage she’s still surrounded by her seven-piece band. The very first song that was recorded, was ‘High’: full on disco, inspired by soul singer Charles Bradley, oddly enough. ‘I saw his Pukkelpop gig on tv and almost started crying: such an honest artist, just pours his whole heart and soul in his performance.’

READ MORE...