Artist Interviews: Adrian Younge & Samantha Schmütz

I feel like we made the perfect album together. It’s an album we truly made for ourselves in hopes that people like our creative energy. Should we decide to do another one, we would essentially continue the creative conversations that have already begun with this LP.

Lillie-Apple Charters 2 months ago 47

I talk with Samantha Schmütz and Adrian Younge on the release of their new collaborative album ‘Samantha & Adrian’ on Linear Labs Music; we talk creative decisions, tours, happy mistakes & more..

Tell me about your careers in music so far.

Adrian Younge and Samantha Schmütz have had careers full of success – Adrian is a composer and producer, and Samantha is an actress, comedian and singer. The pair have come together to create a beautiful body of work, which is not only a sonic masterpiece, but also a reminder to follow your own creative vision.

“My career has been amazing. It started with me in the late ‘90s, barely playing instruments to now being a multi-instrumentalist that writes for orchestras. It’s been an amazing journey yet I still feel like it’s just the beginning. I’ve worked with many icons, but some of my most memorable moments are working with some of the artists that are no longer here like Roy Ayers, Tony Allen and Ivan Mamao Conti (Azimuth).”

Tell me how you both met, and what made you collaborate on an album?

The two met at a Jazz Is Dead show in Los Angeles, and after being introduced, they connected over their love for MPB (Música Popular Brasileira) and thus ‘Samantha & Adrian’ was born! Now, the album is the perfect mix of 60’s/70’s MPB and classic black American soul.

“Samantha came to a Jazz Is Dead show in Los Angeles, where we were featuring Marcos Valle. We met shortly thereafter as we were introduced by a mutual friend. Samantha had aspirations to create new music that was akin to a lot of the classic MPB of the sixties and seventies. I wanted to create something like that as well and we decided to go for it.”

What did you want to achieve with ‘Samantha & Adrian’? Is there a message behind the music that you’d like to bring to light?

‘Samantha & Adrian’ captures the very essence of being a modern musician where authenticity is the best currency. Not only is this album a multi-genre tribute to the decades before us, but it is also a vessel for a very important message: “If you believe in yourself, you can do anything”.

I feel we achieved something special with this album.
Adrian Younge

Do you have any stories from the making of ‘Samantha & Adrian’?

“One great story is that I accidentally erased two songs after the recorded the music: ‘Depois do Amor’ and ‘Nossa Reflexo’. Everything I do in my Linear Labs studio is analog, so there are no computers to redo something I erased. I had to do it all over! I was so damn angry, but we re-recorded the music and the new versions were even better!”

What is your favourite track from the ‘Samantha & Adrian’ and why?

There is a certain magic that happens during the creation of a musical project where the chords, arrangement and lyrics come together naturally, and each songs tells a different part of a larger story. Adrian goes into detail about how he doesn’t favour any track over another on ‘Samantha & Adrian’ and that they are all equally special to him. In fact, there isn’t a song recorded for this project that didn’t make it onto the album!

“I still can’t figure out my favourite song on this album. I love them all like they are all part of a complete story. We didn’t do any demos. I just wrote charts, and we figured the music out live. Thereafter, Samantha and I wrote lyrics to the live recordings and the rest is history.”

What did you learn about yourselves as artists when making this album, and what did you learn about yourselves as people?

“I learned that if you put your heart into creative expansion, there is no limits to where you can go; especially when you are doing this with a partner you love to work with.”

If you could make ‘Samantha e Adrian’ again, would you do anything differently and why?

“I’m not sure. I feel like we made the perfect album together. It’s an album we truly made for ourselves in hopes that people like our creative energy. Should we decide to do another one, we would essentially continue the creative conversations that have already begun with this LP.”

As mentioned previously, staying true to your vision and never compromising your creative integrity is worth a lot in the music industry. ‘Samantha & Adrian’ is an album that refreshes your senses, grounding you and encouraging you to love what you have made.

What advice would you give to artists/producers just starting out in their creative journey?

“My advice for newcomers is to study music. I’m not saying charts… I’m saying to study music and what you like about it. Just use your ear and then use your mind to unlock the true artist inside of you. Pick up and instrument and try to replicate what you love about music… you will be surprised on what you can manifest this way.”

What’s next for Adrian and Samantha! Any tours, deluxe/live/acoustic versions, music videos that you’d love to mention?

Not only will the pair be touring Europe together, but they will also be releasing more dates in the US, Brazil and other places yet to be announced in the near future. In the meantime, the music videos for ‘Depois do Amor’ and ‘More Than Love’ are available to watch on YouTube now.