INDEX
Influences from Father: Enriching the “Angelic Voice“
– “It’s Not the Same” is a song about your late father. I think you have never written a song that expresses your feelings so frankly.
Tamas: Yes, I think so. I think it has something to do with the fact that I am a shy person. It has been difficult for me to write songs about personal things. I have always wanted to write more direct and open lyrics, and this song is the one that finally took shape.
-The description of the birds waiting for you conveys your father’s kindness and personality.
Tamas: When my father was very old, he used to feed the birds every time he went for a walk at the lake near our house. After my father passed away, when my mother went for a walk at the lake to feed the birds, the birds seemed confused and waiting for my father to come because he was not my father. Seeing that made me sad, so I wrote lyrics about that.
-You used a picture of your father on the cover of your second album “A Plea En Vendredi” (2006). As an artist, what influences did your father have on you?
Tamas: I absorbed many things from my father. For example, his sensitive approach to expressing things. My father does not force anything, but communicates in a quiet way. The painting I used for “A Plea En Vendredi” is of a local seaside scene that my father often used as a subject, and I thought that his restrained touch suited the lo-fi, simple songs on the album.
-I feel that your father paints various landscapes and you paint your own mental landscapes through your music.
Tamas: That is a very interesting observation. A child is something that wants to do something different from his father. So I wanted to do something different from being a painter. But now that I think about it, maybe I am doing the same thing as my father. Maybe I have been trying to express my inner landscape through music.
-The paintings in “A Plea En Vendredi” seemed to depict your music. Your father had a wonderful sense of color, but part of the charm of your songs is the melody. What do you value in songwriting?
Tamas: Melody, of course. I am especially attracted to the melodies of music from the 1960s. I am always thinking about melodies, and I love to find new melodies. Every day I pick up my guitar and think about melodies for five minutes. Then, when I think of something, I record it on my cell phone. I have hundreds of melody ideas in my phone.
-You also experiment with various arrangements of harmonies and choruses.
Tamas: I love choruses and harmonies. You could even say I’m addicted to them (laughs). Choruses and harmonies can really bring a song to life, and singing along with the other members in a live setting is a wonderful experience.
-And the most wonderful thing about your singing is your voice. In some ways it reminds me of your father’s touch in painting: delicate and not intrusive. What do you keep in mind when you sing?
Tamas: When I started my musical career, I was performing with friends and didn’t really hear my own voice, but when I started singing alone into the microphone, I understood everything that was happening to my voice. From then on, I became more conscious of every detail of my voice.
