Diandra Reviews It All- Interviews The Indien: Love As A Songwriter

For the Dutch songstress, Rianne Walther, The Indien was a band made for fun; a bunch of music students trying to find an “indie” sound that made their instruments feel as vocal as their own voices. With the release of Long Time Lover, Rianne discusses how the track is one step closer to giving a fuller sense of “The Indien,” and another display of how love teaches her how to write for it.

Diandra: What has writing love songs taught you about how you love?

Rianne: I think for me, it’s the other way around. Love keeps teaching me how to write songs. It’s always different and always evolving.

Diandra: On the same idea, what have you seen are the things that most attract you versus most push you away from a person?

Rianne: I like to laugh, so a sense of humor is a must. It’s one of the only things that doesn’t grow old.
The Indien – Longtime Lover (Official Video)

Diandra: When you think of Long Time Lover like a love story, which film do you most envision and why?

Rianne: I think I always envision a western cause I love that genre. The chase of someone you want so bad in a dramatic way. If I need to choose a romantic movie, it would be ‘Call me by your name’: a beautiful movie about love that’s out of reach.

Diandra: What are 3 truths about love you feel Long Time Lover reveals in its story and lyrics?

Rianne: Can you give me multiple choice? No I’m kidding. I don’t really know, I think everyone has their own truths and stories when it comes to love. I’d like to keep it to everyones imagination.

Diandra: If you could be a character of any love story, who would you be and why?

Rianne: A cool, funny character that plays Jake Gyllenhaals’ love interest.

Diandra: What is the origin story of The Indien, and what did you see in each other that made you decide to make music together?

Rianne: We studied music together and after that we just wanted to make music we thought was cool. Nothing too fancy, just for fun, and we still make music like that.
The Indien – Blame You (Lyric Video)

Diandra: Your music has been described as 60’s grace pop. What about this era or even another era of music most fascinates you?

Rianne: The sound and realness of the instruments in this time. Every instrument has it’s own space and is just as important as the lead vocals.

Diandra: What is your favorite childhood memory within music?

Rianne: I think listening to music with my family. We used to go to the music store and my sister and I would spend our allowance in new ‘singles’.

Diandra: What aspects of your personality do you bring across in your sound?

Rianne: Not taking myself too seriously, cause our music is anything but polished. I’m not interested in singing ‘beautifully’.

Diandra: How do you feel Long Time Lover previews your upcoming debut album? What are the themes we will find on the record and do you have a title?

Rianne: I think together with Blame You it sets everything up, a lot of percussion for you to dance to. Love and anxiety are my two pillars of life ;). O yeah and food but I didn’t write a good song about croissants yet. We will eventually do an album, but for now we will be releasing separate songs.

Diandra: What are 5 facts about you that you could say, “If you don’t know this, you don’t know me.”?

Rianne: I love eating, I love to laugh, Coffee snob, Don’t like to lose, stubborn.
The Indien – Blame You (Lyric Video)

Diandra: What are 5 songs and 5 films you recommend to stream?

Rianne: That’s always a hard one cause tomorrow I will know better ones.

• Frank Ocean – Ivy
• The Black Keys – Everlasting Light
• The Band – The night they drove old dixie down
• Fleetwood Mac – Dreams
• Haim – Gasoline

• The Grand Budapest Hotel (anything Wes Anderson)
• Inglorious Bastards
• Joker
• Us
• The Florida Project