Meet Kirsten Evans | Singer, Songwriter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kirsten Evans and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kirsten, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
There have been moment throughout my childhood and education that have really cemented my love of singing and performing. When I was 17 and performing a pop Ballard for an assessment I was doing for my A levels back home in the UK, I encountered one moment that probably sounds like nothing to everyone else, but was so indescribably special to me: I reached the peak of the song at the end of the bridge, I’d sung my heart out and really tried to put all of my emotions into this sad love story ballad, there was a moment of silence before I moved on to the next part of the song, I held my breath in that moment and when I finally exhaled to start singing again the lady sat in the front row directly opposite me, sighed with me. She looked straight into my eyes, held her breath when I held mine and exhaled when I did. That type of connection with someone was something I hadn’t experienced a lot at that time, especially with a stranger, and as someone who is fairly quite it meant so much to me that I felt like the emotions I was trying to channel were coming across and also being felt by the audience.

To me there is no stronger motive to be in the entertainment industry than allowing people to express themselves, both as a performer AND as an audience member. Singing allows me to say the things I can’t normally say to the people I care for without having to worry that what I feel isn’t coming across correctly. It feels magical to see someone cry or smile or sigh when they listen to you perform because you know that for that one moment they are feeling something so intensely that they are only thinking about that one thing and what it means to them.

That’s why I sing.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
So I am singer. I trained as a musical theatre and classical singer for a few years at the start of my career, did a degree in musical composition (in which I had the chance to sing for lots of my fellow composers) and I’ve been writing my own songs throughout this time since I was in my teens. I think all of these different scenarios has lead me to be pretty diverse as a singer – I can sing a contemporary classical piece, or a folk tune, make vocal sound effects for a horror score or blend into a choir. I’m glad that I have branched out into so many different areas of singing as now I feel as though I could be placed into a number of them and produce good work as a result. I won’t be an opera singer anytime soon, that’s for sure, but I’ve definitely found my niche now and can say I gave all of the other avenues I was curious about a try.

Nowadays I have my eyes set on a goal I have had since I was a little girl – write and sing my own songs for a living. I am currently writing my first album and have my first single coming out soon with a second underway. I think I’ve managed to find a way of working that really brings out my best ideas now too. I bought a Boss RC505 loop station which is a fancy loop machine and I will spend hours just sitting with headphones on, and my Shure microphone just recording loops into my loop machine, building and flashing out the ideas until they sound like fully fledged sections of a song. I have them started taking those ideas and recording them into Logic on my computer where I can then turn them into full songs. I suppose that my loop machine is the equivalent of just recording song ideas into a phone, but being able to hear those ideas on loop and really get the whole feel of a song done in the moment really helps me to get the best out what a song could be.

Another thing, apart from my album and singles, that I am excited about is a series of concerts that I want to put on once I have finished up a few of my tracks. I think these concerts are going to be really exciting not just for me but for the audience too. I’m planning on setting up a concert throughout my home where I have a different musician in each room and we play through my tracks and my loops, and so that we don’t disturb our LA neighbours, all the audience members will have headphones to listen to the music as a whole. They will be able to travel through each room to see each performer doing their thing and hear everyone playing together. I can’t wait to use it as a spot to try out new songs and even create loops on the spot with the other musicians.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Okay…. so you start by having breakfast at Breadblok in Silver Lake, head to larchmont to pick up some doughnuts from Erin McKenna, take those donughts to the Universal City overlook, head to Malibu to spend the afternoon by the sea. Drive along the coast as the sunsets, pick up a pizza from Tomato pie in Silver lake as you then drive to the Griffith Observatory to eat it looking out over the city then head on home. A heavy but very satisfying day!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Firstly, I would love to shoutout the teachers that I have had throughout my music education – from my first singing teacher in secondary school, to my university teachers – I have been stubborn and slow to accept criticism and praise but I’ve felt (and I hope it’s true) that my teachers have always been honest with the feedback that they have given me and that is really the most valuable thing that has helped drive me and my work forwards throughout my life.

Secondly, I would like to thank my workplace, Cinesamples, for giving me the opportunity to move out to the USA. My work with them has really been the thing that enabled me to move out to LA in the first place and it has supported me during my time here. I’ve learnt what it’s like to work with American’s and have gained confidence in myself with the support of my team. Something that is very different about the people here in LA to when I am from back home is that people here give very honest feedback, bad AND good, and that feedback is always be said with a good intention behind it. Perhaps I’ve been lucky with those that I’ve had the chance to interact with but even just seeing people share praise with each other ha helped me to become more open as a person both at work and in my home life, and for that I will always be grateful.

Website: https://www.kirstenevans.co.uk

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirstenhevans/

Image Credits
Kelsey Henricks, Thomas Eggensberger, Tristan Hardy