Tiger Lion finds inspiration in nature and brings mountainous landscapes to life through her music

With her latest collection of songs, the multi-disciplinary artist has pooled together the experiences of her endless travels and adventures to create something that explores a boundless expanse of influences, working like a scrapbook of her memories that have been translated into a magical musical adventure.

The new EP, entitled Beyond The Mountains, is released on 6 April and begins with the euphoric and spiritual pounding of "Prayers Against The Sun". It is a song that is akin to watching a sunrise, with a calmness that envelopes its overall mood that also seems to beckon the magic of new opportunities and perfectly introduces the overall feel of the project.

The whole body of work is uplifting and feels heavy with a multitude of landscapes, infused with complex textures and experimentation that seems to beckon in the glorious magic of nature itself. The psychedelic tones that pull it together give it an emphatically cosmic feel and further demonstrate Tiger Lion's endlessly creative nature.

We caught up to learn more about how the project came into being and how the experience of living amongst London's bustling atmosphere also adds to her creative expression as an artist.

BEST FIT: How did this whole project start off and what were you hoping to achieve by writing this EP?
TIGER LION: I start working with ‘themes’ in my music, whenever I work on a new release. Last year I became obsessed with the moon and its phases. After all these cosmic dreams I made a trip to the Alps that made me ‘feel’ in so many ways. I always feel extremely fulfilled around nature, but I had never been to ‘real’ mountains before so I felt pretty terrified too. During the trek I started recording sounds and melodies in my dictaphone, and the idea of a collection of songs inspired by mountains started shaping. Then I took more trips in mountainous landscapes (Scotland and Mallorca) where I worked on analog photography. I like nourishing my music with literature and art so I researched a lot about sacred mountains in different countries, in myths, poetry, paintings… and this developed into the idea of doing a visual book, with collages, lyrics, and some quotes taken from my researches. With this EP in the form of a visual book I wanted to achieve a 360 degree project, where images are connected to sounds, and have equal importance. I like the idea of going back to something more analogue too - working with film and having the result on paper has a lot of warmth in our digital world. Also, I guess it’s a little unusual to have a book instead of a CD/vinyl?

You have said these songs are very much inspired by the idea of the wilderness - does living in London make you want to escape and adventure?
London is a city of contradictions! I do feel comfortable in this urban nest because it is full of inspiring people, the most amazing, crazy creatives I’ve ever met in my life; it’s incredibly tolerant to any kind of cultures, religions, or way of dressing up. People are wanting to help each other rather than competing (especially in music). I can literally feel the energy bubbling everywhere and I’m so HAPPY to be part of this. But at the same time, the physical elements of this place bring me down. I grew up in France surrounded by nature, so it is a little unnatural for me to be in this huge capital. Sometimes I have phases where I deeply crave green, sun, family, silence… I guess that pushes me to travel more, whenever I can. Lately, I've fallen in love with tiny Scottish Islands and some remote places in Mallorca, Spain.

Do you ever think you'd live somewhere else, and if so, where do you dream of escaping to?
I think I’d like to go and live in a Spanish speaking country, to revive this langage that I learned many moons ago. But right now the sea town Essaouira in Morocco is calling me, as well as Greece… I can feel it. I would like to see different colours, hear different sounds. Also, for a couple of years I had this idea of going to Japan and it’s happening for real in May. I am incredibly excited and lucky! It will be just me, in the stillness and silence of a very alien country.

You seem endlessly creative as an artist, musician, photographer, how do you harness your creativity in your songs? Do you ever have to stop yourself from getting carried away?
I never stop myself! I just let go, things happen and suddenly I have a song and I have no idea how I did it. I think the main thing is actually to get a bit lost in your thoughts when you create, and let your subconscious take control of what is happening. I think the painter Pierre Soulage said that once in an interview and it really changed my perception of creativity. You need let yourself be dominated by the situation. Most of the time the more I think the less I can create. So it is really essential to get carried away, until you know the song or the piece is finished. I think these days my problems revolve more around how to stop myself from doing things with and for other people (I’m a video editor too!) and as much as I love collaborations, I think I should step back and get more perspective on what I really would like to do right now. I’d like to create audiovisual installations, experiment more in mixed media, create melodies in a different way… and take more time for all of this.

Who inspires you the most as a creative?
People who ‘arise my senses’ as would say Björk… artists like Olafur Eliasson, Blake, Yves Klein, Turner, the Pre-Raphaelite painters… But also my close friends and relationships. People who are constantly dreaming with me, my partner, my family. I also feel inspired by those who have achieved a simpler lifestyle. Sometimes I think it would be incredible to have a life where I’m not sitting in front of a computer most of the time. If I had to cross a forest to get water or not have internet all the time, maybe I’d ‘live’ more?

There are a lot of different influences floating through your music - what did you grow up listening to?
From my childhood I remember mostly english-speaking music in our French countryside house; The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Joni Mitchell. Mainly the Beatles to be honest, with their string arrangements & Indian influences, also I would ask to listen to the ‘Help’ soundtrack over and over again and sing over it even if I didn’t speak a word of English at the time. My mum was singing a lot of Jazz standards too (she still does!) and she is a massive fan of Ella Fitzgerald & Billie Holiday. My dad has always been writing original music in his little home studio, and has all sorts of weird instruments, percussions, synths, guitars… and I think he passed me his obsession for strange arrangements & acoustic instruments. Before I started writing for Tiger Lion I became really obsessed with desert blues bands like Tinariwen. I’ve always been into hybrid sounds since I started researching for my own writing, and this idea of mixing traditional and modern colours has been on my mind from the start. These days I feel like listening to Ravi & Anoushka Shankar, Brian Eno, Titi Robin, Susumu Yokota, Midori Takada (preparing my trip to Japan!).