With a musical style more alternative than the conventional and an inner urge to experiment, the confinement of a small town in The Netherlands didn’t quite do the trick anymore for dream-pop artist CIEL. Having read about Brighton in a magazine at just 15 years old, the city captured Michelle Hindriks straight away. After a decade of increasingly frequent visits to our vibrant sea-side town, Michelle finally gave in to her gut feeling to continue her musical journey as part of the Brighton-scene.
Living in a small Dutch town with a limited local music scene, it’s easy to feel alone in the type of music you’re passionate about. Comparing it to the Brighton music-scene, Michelle says: “Where I lived, the music scene was nice and it was a tight group of people, but it was very small, there was maybe one place where I could play a show. I felt limited and didn’t meet many like-minded people that were passionate about the same sort of music, I feel like here in Brighton it’s easier for me to fit in.”
The Brightonian alternative lifestyle inspires Michelle to really focus on what she’s passionate about, rather than following the conventional mid-20s path of moving in together, getting married and having kids that’s so popular the Netherlands. “Here, everyone does the thing that’s close to what they really want to do in life, no matter what age they are. It makes me feel like there’s a lot more possibilities in my life, that I can do anything I want.”
When asked to describe her music - the sound she felt made her an outcast in the Netherlands - Michelle says: “I like to describe the music on ‘Anxiety’ [CIEL’s debut EP released in 2017] as ‘shoegazey trips’, a combination of shoegaze and dream-pop but with illogical structures jumping from part to part as if you’re going on small trips throughout the songs.”
The decision to move to Brighton is part of Michelle getting closer to her inner feelings about who she is and who she wants to be. These inner feelings are being reflected on in her music as well. Where ‘Anxiety’ revolves around different perspectives of anxiety that people around her struggled with, her new lyrics are more self-reflective of a difficult time she went through back home. “The lyrics are about a tough time, but looking at dark themes from a positive perspective. It’s about what that period gave me, how it changed me in a positive way and the life experiences it brings. It taught me how to find happiness, to find little things to be grateful for outside of yourself.”
While she’s currently still fine-tuning a live set with her new band, Michelle has big plans for the new Brighton-based CIEL. “I’m focusing on getting the band going, to start playing around Brighton, after that it will be great to go into London and the rest of the country. At the same time I’m really focused on song-writing, I’m getting out a lot of new ideas because I’m new here and Brighton has me so inspired and full of energy to make new things so I’m taking that excitement as an advantage.”
CIEL will be playing their first UK show on the 19th of December at The Prince Albert alongside Fröst and Bloom.
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