Pip Blom is conquering the world with Google Translate

The world lies at the feet of Dutch musician Pip Blom and her band of the same name. She performs at major festivals across Europe and America as well. It's just that the language is a little difficult sometimes. “There are a lot of rules and they don't mean much to me.”

Countless Dutch artists have tried their luck across the border. Sometimes with success, such as Caro Emerald, Within Temptation and the entire Dutch DJ Syndicate, although the foreign press was rarely as enthusiastic about Dutch work as it was about Pip Blom. She just released her first album boat It received only positive reviews from famous British and American music magazines and websites such as Rolling Stone, NME, Pitchfork, Mojo in uncut. Pip Blom has also performed at the SXSW showcase festival in Texas, as a support act for bands such as Garbage and Franz Ferdinand. Last week, she received an official invitation to attend Glastonbury Festival, the UK's largest music festival. We spoke to the First Lady about her biggest plans on a sunny afternoon in D.C.

Global interest in Bloom's music was there almost immediately, when she put her first four songs on Spotify. “When I did the first songs, there wasn't a band yet. Suddenly they got to England and had to put a band together and all that stuff. Quite chaotic, but fun. Four months later, she got some musicians together, and she introduced the band, under the name Pip Bloom , performing on stage for the first time. “I'm still very happy with these songs and I will never stop playing them. We haven't been playing the most listened to song for a long time and it doesn't help us anymore, but it's a big part of the whole process. “I documented everything online from the beginning.”

Balanced

After a series of singles and EPs, all on different small labels, Bloom made an album boat For the British record label Heavenly. “I came up with the name before releasing the record; it's just a great word,” she says of the album title. “I've always thought a lot about what I would call my first record and then this happened. It's a very bad story actually.” The album will be released not only in the Netherlands, but in Great Britain, the United States and a number of other European countries. Bloom remains circumspect about this matter. “I know that if the album is well received, it can help you greatly big. But nothing should be done.”

At first she didn't even see the need to make a full album. “I'm not a real record listener. I listen to more songs that I think are great. I thought: No one expects an album from us anymore, so why should we invest so much money in it? It's very expensive to make an album. The songs were largely created on the computer “There are still instruments on the album that I recorded at home,” she says. “Sometimes the sound is so good you can't reproduce it in the studio.” The songs sound intentionally raw and unpolished. “We're not “The narrowest range you could possibly encounter, so it's weird that it sounds that way on recordings.”

Language errors

Although Pip Bloom is welcomed with open arms at foreign festivals, she admits that she still sometimes struggles with the English language. Although all its lyrics are in English. “I don't think Dutch is a nice language anyway,” she admits. “Everything I listen to is in English. I have more of an affinity for that. However, I'm not very good at it. I use Rhymezone and Google Translate, and that goes a long way. Fortunately, she had help from her brother Tinder, who is also part of the band “My brother is very good at English. It eliminates errors. I find grammar particularly complex.” However, she gets away with it just fine. “The British have always thought it was great that we tried our best to speak their language.”

While many artists eagerly jump at the opportunity to work in the United States, Pip Bloom does everything at her own pace. “It is important that things are not done in a hurry. We should not be guided by the fact that they like us there now and we have to go there now. I am not in a hurry. They can wait a while and hope that more people will like us. Just everything in time ” She sees everything happening around her as an adventure and is trying to enjoy her upcoming US tour later this year as much as possible. “We'll just have to wait and see; maybe there's no one there at all! But then I was there.”

In September Pep Bloom will tour the Netherlands.