Diandra Interviews Luwten: Living Life On Draft

One of the most thoughtful songwriters of our time, Luwten makes songs for the human experience: not simply the personal. She brings an existential edge to her work, which allows her to go above typical love song and experimental rage. Her search is for the peace a human being attains at understanding they will never have peace if they base it on others attaining it, as well, or achieving some version of themselves that lives anywhere beyond themselves right now. It is for this reason Draft ends up feeling so personal, despite being existential. Our hearts are constantly changing and Luwten has the songs and, in this interview, the answers to make you accept that. 

Diandra;: You write songs based on “thought experiments.” What are some thought experiments you have tried on this new album and a few ones you want for your next one? 

Luwten: Most of them are about human behavior. I’m finding humans incredibly interesting and intriguing. I think it’s remarkable how common thoughts or feelings are so different in different centuries: how we are constantly developing and readjusting. There doesn’t seem to be one final answer. I find that fascinating. On Draft, I think a lot about what being authentic means. Is it being all by yourself? Is it when you’re not lying? And how to look at the different versions of yourself? The one with your parents, with your colleagues, with your lover? Are those all the real you even though you present a different version? Or are you a combination of those versions? Is there an actual self? A new one I’ve been thinking a lot about lately ties back to this one too and is whether we can think and feel for ourselves? Is there such a thing as an authentic experience?

Diandra: Draft discusses how the human state is being in a perpetual “draft” format. With that concept in mind, what are the aspects of yourself you feel/ want to erase, rework, comment on, and conclude? 

Luwten: I used to do this a lot but since I’ve been trying to see my state as something that’s constantly changing, I’m doing it much less. The less I think about what I am exactly, the more satisfied I seem to be. It’s like “me” is a more fluid thing. What is constant is that I keep looking for ways to feel more free, and this is my answer right now, but don’t hold it against me if I’ve changed my mind the next time we talk 🙂

Diandra: The idea of being a draft is similar to the notion; “ it’s not the destination, but the journey to get there.” With that in mind, what are some journeys you are ready to take, especially post 2020? 

Luwten: I’m so ready to travel again! Being stuck in one place is nice, I’ve always loved the peace and quiet and the feeling of having a safe haven, but there’re so many days I seem to forget because there’s nothing new happening. I would love to meet new people, see cities, mountains, play music for people in different places. I’m really looking forward to unexpectedness!

Diandra: Your previous album was about embracing grief, what are the feelings you feel you embraced in Draft? 

Luwten: On the first album, I actually embraced the fact that we can move away from everyday life if we need to; in support of the introverted and shy in a world that’s asking a lot of outspokenness all the time. On this one, I’ve embraced the fact that being someone who wants to be alone sometimes doesn’t mean I should get lonely: how there’s a balance for everything. I think I’m more acceptive of loneliness and the fact that I’m human and need people and love and everything everyone else needs to.

Diandra: Seeing life as a rough draft, how would you describe the current chapter you are writing in your life? What would be its title? 

Luwten: Overcoming? Maybe? Without revealing everything about me: I feel like I’m at the end of a stage in which I had to learn a lot of new things. It feels like I’m on the verge of a new era in which I can move more freely. But maybe that’s also because there’s an album coming out. It always feels like a new chapter of your life. I think that’s amazing, that through releasing music you’re keeping a personal log in a sense. 

Diandra: The new record analyzes loneliness vs being alone. What do you see are the differences, and how are both necessary to inspiring who you are? 

Luwten: To be able to look at my life with some perspective, which I usually do alone and then write about, I need to be alone from time to time. It really helps to not be surrounded by other people’s thoughts and needs, but I think it’s just as important to experience life and not only use my time for being alone and reflecting on it like,  when I’m on a dance floor or when I’m eating really good food and drinking really good wine with my friends or when I’m walking through my city without a phone or headphones. Moments where it’s more about the senses and the outside world, moments in which I can experience things together with others and create memories that are not only for me but shared.

Diandra: Your new album also assesses what is authenticity and whether it is something to be sought with others. What was your conclusion to these questions posed? 

Luwten: Well, I think I’ll never find a final answer to this question, but it’s definitely not something you can only find when you’re alone. I thought it would work that way but it doesn’t. My world and surroundings are a part of me as much as I am myself.

Diandra: Seeing music as self-exploration, how would you describe your inner self in terms of a landscape or world to be explored? For example, are you like mountain jagged and green or Jupiter circling the sun with purple hues? 

Luwten: The moon! A natural satellite circling around humans on a planet, part of a bigger system and varying in how much it’s revealing itself to the world from day to day. 

Diandra: What is a movie, book, or tv show, you would adapt into a concept album? Why and from what angle/ thematic perspective? 

Luwten: La Grande Bellezza. It’s about time, emptiness, art, sex, love and beauty and I like that there’re so many strange things happening in the movie too (the giraffe, the nun, the flamingos!): the unpredictability of life. You could create these moments of absolute beauty next to incomprehensible weirdness in music too. 

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