Belle Scar is a music project of multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, artist, and producer Geeta . A Canadian now living in the UK, Belle Scar is creating art that can’t be confined to conventions of genre or fit into categorical expectations. For Belle Scar, music is not only a passion, it’s her way to survive in a strange and chaotic world; she works hard at creating something real, beautiful, sad, intense. Her music is an emotional journey, especially during our contemporary moment. We get a peek into the mind of the artist’s music, discussing the new EP’s “Mementos” and “The Eeriness” (both of which have a sound that is truly unique to Belle Scar) and her perspective on how to best support artists and musicians at this time. Please read below for our interview with Belle Scar.

Where are you based?
I’m based in London UK.

Can you tell us about your journey as a musician? When and where did you start?
Once upon a time in the south shore of Montreal, I started playing piano at 5 years old. As a teenager, I was playing keyboards in a few local bands and I started writing poetry/lyrics around that time which led me to start singing and writing my own songs.

What inspired you to start Belle Scar?
I just naturally decided to become Belle Scar for this new artistic direction; it’s just an extension of me, my work, and the journey between good and bad experiences.

You’ve been able to collaborate with artists all over the world in music, cinema, multimedia, and fashion. We’ve noticed that each one of your performances has an eclectic and unique quality to it. What is the common thread in your creative career as a musician?
It’s always about experiencing and going into new places that I haven’t explored before. I always search for inspiration and stimulation whether it’s discovering new art, science, history, nature…. which automatically influences the direction of what I’m working on. I like combining ideas from different worlds to create something singular and unique musically and visually.

When we listened to your live performance for your song “Mementos” which was released in September, we were at a loss for words. It is absolutely stunning and has a really cool sound. How would you describe your music?
The material of this new album I’m working on is a mix of cinematographic/orchestrated/alternative/folk-pop. It doesn’t really fit in one genre, I think.

The live performance of “Mementos” has an incredible visual aesthetic, especially with the setting of St. Pancras Old Church. What was the atmosphere like at the concert?
It was magical…the connection with everyone involved on stage and the audience with the lighting and acoustic of the venue just made it a fantastic experience for everyone.

“Mementos” was reviewed as an “experience of transcendence”. How do you think transcendence connects to the themes of your music?
I dive into deep places when I sing and also when I write and perform music… I don’t hold back and I let that experience of those sounds coming out — the vibrations, the emotions that connect deeper within myself. That awareness of being in the moment is extremely liberating; it’s like a form of ritual and then a release. I guess that influences the way the music comes through and also the piano mixed with the string arrangements, floor toms, frame drums, organ, soprano choir vocals, and electric guitar helps to create a very hypnotic mood.

Your new song “The Eeriness” has a powerful chorus in which you sing, “no filter, no filter, no filter.” Can you tell us more about the message of the song and what commentary it has for our digital experiences?
The song is about the different stages of transformation. How we experience things and embrace the greatness, the beauty, and excitement, how we get overwhelmed by how strange and confusing this whole journey is, how we have to cope when things deteriorate or break. I wanted to depict that in a surreal creaturesque way with different staging, set design, choreography, lighting, and fabric textures.

We really enjoyed the visuals of “The Eeriness” music video. There is an interesting use of colors, black, white, and silver, in costumes, backgrounds, and creating texture on set. Was there a specific vision for the video in the use of colors?
Yes, I definitely wanted the two main setups to be very contrasted, opposites. Before we shot the video, I had four different background setups in mind. It was quite ambitious to get it all done in 1 day, but with the help of the crew at Crixus Studio London, we managed to do most of what I wanted… then with my husband Marc Olivier (musician and producer) we worked on the post-production to explore and finalise the color grading and effects. I worked with Sian Naomi Dorman (visual artist, costume designer..) for several months exchanging ideas to develop the main costume design, the installations, and sculptures for “The Eeriness.” She did an amazing job and got the essence of the mood I wanted to create.

Do you feel that the performance part of your music is just as much of the art as the music itself?
Absolutely….they are strongly connected.

In a world where art, and especially performing, seems to be put on hold, how are you getting your creations out there?
Finalising projects and releasing them online…planning new things for live performances/video streaming for the next year. I’m always working on something.

We know isolation can be debilitating, but also inspiring. How has the pandemic impacted your creative endeavors?
When you write music, you need a lot of time alone to develop the work. I’m used to it and really enjoy that time. I like to reflect, read, and watch documentaries too. I never get bored honestly, there’s always an inspiration to get somewhere. The tricky part is to be a parent to a young child during the pandemic, that’s the hard part. ;) I've been juggling between parenting and writing music.

Social media has helped many of us stay connected during the pandemic, but over the connection can also lead to fatigue and depression. We know you recently took a social media break. What impact did the break have on you? What was it like coming back to the virtual?
I have a strange relationship with the virtual world. I find it quite overwhelming and I often need to take some steps back and disconnect completely. It’s great that it gives a platform for many people to stay connected with each other but it can create a distorted view of things. It feels like a big circus and you can lose sight of what really matters. But saying that, I realise the importance It had for many people to stay together in these hard times especially those with mental illness and those who don’t cope well with isolation. So I’m trying to focus on the positive side of it, on matters that are important to me, and only engage with people I connect with or I can learn something from. But I do prefer interacting and collaborating in the real world with a nice cup of coffee. ;)

Jejune loves that you use your creative work to bring awareness to several issues. You seem to be passionate about many issues: animal rights, mental health, women, and children victims of wars, human rights (to name a few). Do you feel there is an issue that is most pressing right now?
There are many actually. I think there’s far too much violence, hatred, racism happening in so many places around the world just because of people's race, religion, sexuality... just for being themselves. It's an ongoing problem, lack of education, and clans bullying other clans. These are recurring themes that come back in my music —that yearning to make it all stop, that separation between people, the bullying… I want to have people connect with each other and learn to love and accept our differences. In the end, we’re all the same species. I actually wrote a few songs recently about that which will be on my next album. Another pressing issue is the environment. Also, with lockdown, lots of people have suffered mental illness and lost their jobs during this pandemic. We need to support those most affected and help them get back to float.

Right now it feels like performing artists are a major group we need to be supporting. How would you like the world to help artists and make sure that our culture remains colorful?
Supporting local artists by paying for their work directly to them or on websites like Bandcamp... Musicians don’t get a penny from Youtube, Spotify, Soundcloud, and all those streaming platforms. People can help by sharing and promoting local artists they like to their friends on their social media. Once life is back to normal, people should go see concerts, exhibitions…make the artistic scene come alive in the real world again. Take chances and go see something new, take that few minutes to listen.

How are you staying positive during shelter in place?
Working on Belle Scar’s New Material.

What is your motto in life?
Follow your gut, be true to yourself and be nice to the world. Always move forward and be open to learn new things.

To learn more about Belle Scar, please follow her via the below platforms:
Instagram: bellescar.uk
Facebook: Belle Scar
Bandcamp: https://bellescar.bandcamp.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40qbYuh9SKs
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4dszosB6sBrw8dgtWqp0dF

Belle Scar is Transcendent