Billboard<\/em> in late August she created Eerie because she felt it was \u201ca crime against humanity for this music not to be heard.” Big praise coming from one of the biggest successes in the indie music world in the past decade. Knowing what we do about Grimes\u2019 sound, the relationship seems nearly inevitable. Dollanganger\u2019s polished, airy, and macabre sound is a glove on Boucher\u2019s practiced hand, and she\u2019ll be joining the mercurial popstress on stage opening for Lana Del Rey on select dates during her Endless Summer tour. Thanks to Eerie Organization you too can hear that very music which was just released in the form of a full length Dollenganger is calling Natural Born Losers<\/i>.<\/p>\nBeyond the music Dollanganger is an enigmatic young creative who\u2019s firmly planted in the digital realm, with an internet presence that\u2019s all but been perfected showcasing her own drawings, morbid stills and low-fi photos. And yet she still cites her family and hometown as having influenced her art greatly. Right now she\u2019s focused on imbuing her work with visuals to enhance the experience of consuming her sound.<\/p>\n
I recently caught up with her to chat a bit about her influences, the relationship she has with Eerie and some of her other passions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
AF: So I see you\u2019re from Stouffville, Ontario. Where exactly is that and what\u2019s it known for?<\/p>\n
ND: Stouffville is about an hour from the city of Toronto, right in the downtown area. It\u2019s not too far. It would be known for being a bit of a farming community. We have a strawberry festival; I guess that\u2019s the other thing. <\/span><\/p>\nAF: When you\u2019re writing music do you think about how you want it be consumed or is an exercise solely in creation and catharsis?<\/p>\n
ND: It\u2019s definitely more of an exercise in creation. Initially my thoughts are with making it and only after it\u2019s done do I sort of wonder about releasing it and all of that. <\/span><\/p>\nAF: I know your parents are both doll collectors and that that imagery has factored into your art and music. What\u2019s your relationship to the dolls now and what do they signify for you?<\/p>\n
ND: Dolls are a big deal to me. I love all different kinds, but especially the ones that I began collecting through my mom. I love the history behind them, dolls especially from the 20\u2019s to 50\u2019s were so delicate, a lot of them were made out of chalk. For them to have survived to this time means that someone loved them and cared about them enough to see that they are here now. I always feel like they come with a deep loving history. The first item ever that I was given was a doll and I still have it. I have a lot of sentimental history with that doll. I always find it kind of weird when people say they\u2019re scared of dolls because I just think there\u2019s like nothing less scary than an object that was made for a kid to take care of, you know? <\/span><\/p>\nAF: What\u2019s your relation and fascination with the macabre?<\/p>\n
ND: My dad always says it\u2019s the way I\u2019ve always been. Even as a child it was always the horror cartoons I wanted to watch. I guess I was always inclined. I\u2019ve been interested in exploring things that scare me forever, because it makes it less scary to face head on and to try and understand it rather than to put my back to it.<\/span><\/p>\nAF: How does your internet persona translate to you in real life?<\/p>\n
ND: Sometimes well and sometimes not. I do think that there is a lost in translation nature to it, especially if you\u2019re speaking to someone or getting a question online. At least with me I\u2019m a bit paranoid so I often misinterpret tone or I think someone is meaning something some way and they probably don\u2019t. I\u2019ve kind of struggled with that. But in other respects it\u2019s really fun to be able to explore things without feeling like you have to. It\u2019s a really creative world where you can surround yourself with the things that interest you and you can kind of create something new by putting them all together, and that really helps to storyboard and to create concepts based on art you like.<\/span><\/p>\nAF: Where did you draw inspiration for this album?<\/p>\n
ND: With this record I was drawing it off a lot from the town that I grew up in, I also spent a lot of my childhood in Florida and that was a huge influence. I didn\u2019t have the best high school experience and I\u2019ve struggled with that. I\u2019ve also felt that a lot of the people that I\u2019m closest to also struggled, and we all came into ourselves post high school. I was kind of rolling of that past and present and the different selves. It\u2019s also where the name itself comes from, like loser is one of the easiest things that someone can call another person as an insult, and I want to almost reclaim it as a positive thing. It was almost like an homage to a lot of really amazing, fascinating people that I know who were the losers of high school. Essentially it\u2019s a sentimental album a lot about the past.<\/span><\/p>\nAF: Your music has a very specific visual aesthetic approach – beyond the obvious sonic one – can you touch on how you approach those visuals and what inspires them.<\/p>\n
ND: I usually see things, like a song, kind of visually as I\u2019m writing the lyrics. And I read them over or I listen to a freestyled recording and I usually get strong visuals, or even just strong colors and sometimes they\u2019re not the right colors. I know that sounds kinda wonky, but I\u2019ll listen to a song and if I was seeing pink in my head and it\u2019s feeling more like an orange I know that I\u2019ve got to change something. It\u2019s almost more of a visual thing that dictates the direction the song goes. When working with other people I\u2019ve found that it\u2019s easiest to describe what I\u2019m going for with visuals rather than sound because I\u2019m not a trained musician so I really struggle sometimes to vocalize what I\u2019m after. <\/span><\/p>\nAF: I know you also create comic books, can you talk about that a bit?<\/p>\n
ND: I\u2019ve always liked to draw, but I\u2019m not the best, so for me I avoid realistic drawings. I recently just put out like a comic\/zine and I pretty much tried to form a narrative around images that I really just wanted to draw and I created this story around a few specific images that I saw. It was really fun because it was the first time I\u2019ve finished a visual art, hand drawn thing, ever. Normally I get halfway through a sketchbook and give up. This the first thing that I can say I finally completed and that felt really good. <\/span><\/p>\nAF: I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve been asked a bunch, but how does it feel to be the first artist signed to Grimes\u2019 Eerie Organization?<\/p>\n
ND: Amazing. So wonderful. Claire and James (Brooks – formerly of Elite Gymnastics) are living angels. It\u2019s been a surreal dream ever since it happened. I mean it\u2019s two people that I really admire and respect and that I\u2019m a huge fan of their creative work, so to have them be supportive of mine is incredible in and of itself. But then you\u2019ve also got two people who are really smart, they really know the industry and they\u2019re very interested in helping other musicians that they believe in. <\/span><\/p>\nAF: With the album out next month what comes next for you?<\/p>\n
ND: The tour\u2019s gonna happen. And then I would love to explore being more able to create videos and visuals to go with the songs. I\u2019ve always felt like the idea\u2019s never been fully baked to an extent so the idea of being able to create things that are 100% what I initially saw is a really exciting prospect. I\u2019m also just so excited to write again.<\/span><\/p>\n[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][fusion_soundcloud url=”https:\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/227992305″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” \/][\/fusion_builder_column][\/fusion_builder_row][\/fusion_builder_container]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You might not know her name yet, but that\u2019s soon to change. Nicole Dollanganger is the 24-year-old Canuck who set Grimes\u2019 musical heart ablaze and is the very first signee to Boucher\u2019s brand spankin\u2019 new label Eerie Organization. As a matter of fact she\u2019s the very reason behind the label\u2019s creation. Boucher told Billboard in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":12291,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[305,638],"tags":[3770,284,3771,3778,3772,9,3773,3777,955,3774,3779,3776,3775],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/nicole-dollanganger-preview1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12254"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12254"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19373,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12254\/revisions\/19373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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