At Home With Antigoni

Words Cal McIntyre

April 30, 2020

North London enchantress Antigoni lets us peek behind the curtain to her home life as she opens up to us about the importance of vulnerability within her latest EP 'A1' and how to stay creative amidst isolation.

If you’re new to this North London via Cyprus act Antigoni then it’s time to get in the know as her stripped back, raw and sensual soundscape will stop you in your tracks.

The glistening debut EP ‘A1’ from Antigoni is the perfect introduction to who she is as an artist and as a human. Equal parts haunting as it is emotive, Antigoni’s sound is one that embraces you whenever you listen. With an angelic voice to enchant, it’s Antigoni’s mature and relatable writing that truly captures you and takes you on her journey. ‘A1’ is a diary of a young woman who is growing and evolving in a landscape that comes with its fair share of hurdles and obstacles. However, Antigoni’s enchanting voice makes the messy road seem softer and tangible with her personable narrative.

Feeling deeply connected to her Greek Cypriot roots, Antigoni is ready to step into the spotlight that she has rightfully earned and cross international waters.

Speaking on the ‘A1 EP’, Antigoni revealed, “This EP is a real, raw version of myself and something I truly poured my heart into and thought would be a cool way to introduce myself and my music.” We couldn’t agree more to this introduction – and after listening to the shimmering EP we just had to find out more about this enchantress.

Antigoni was kind enough to take us into her home life via the internet to catch up on how she is creating in isolation, how it’s taken a while to find her sound and what is next for this bright young thing. Dive in below!

How is everything going with you right now?

Everything’s cool! It’s such strange times we’re living in. I just dropped my debut EP ‘A1’ during this lockdown which feels pretty strange. I wanted to have a gig to celebrate it coming out but that’s all on hold now which is a shame but at least I could still release it and keep things moving! I had a little solo launch party on my IG live haha which will do for now.

How would you best describe the sound you create?

It’s been a real journey to find my ‘sound’ because I have a really eclectic taste in music, so zoning in on how I wanted my own songs to sound production-wise took some time! My songs usually begin with a very clear story, just on the guitar/piano and then develop from there. I love live instrumentation so it’s always been important to me that you can hear the live elements prominently in the production. I love minimalistic production that still sounds massive – so it’s picking out a few elements that are sick and have a clear purpose while still giving the song/lyrics space to shine through. ‘A1’ is quite stripped back and raw as I wanted the first little collection of music to show my roots of telling stories in a simple way but as the new stuff starts to come out you’ll hear the more evolved production sound!

Have you been creating at home? If so, has your creative process differed from the usual way?

Yeah, I’ve been trying to do as much as I can! I’ve been doing Instagram lives, singing some of my songs and taking requests for covers which has been fun, as well as doing some virtual collabs with other artists. One of the nice things about being stuck at home is having loads of extra time to just practise the guitar and piano and also learning to use Logic and record myself a bit more – these are skills in normal life I don’t get as much time to hone in on so its cool to have time to work on those things. My second EP is very nearly finished too so I’m trying to plan the visuals for those tracks in as much detail as possible so that as soon as lockdown is lifted I can shoot these and keep coming with new music consistently!

How have you been trying to stay positive at home?

Writing and listening to music has been my biggest source of comfort in this time for sure – and food lol! I’ve got a big family and we’re all foodies so we’ve been taking it in turns to cook banging meals. I’m really just taking it day by day, going for walks every morning which I think is keeping me sane haha! The rain this week has made it harder I can’t lie. I’m such a sun person so the beautiful weather we’ve had for a while has definitely helped a lot with feeling positive.

What advice would you give to people looking to follow in your footsteps?

I always feel a bit nervous giving out advice cos I’m not where I wanna be yet so not sure how qualified I am! But the advice I would give is to write loads and gig as much as possible – even when it feels a bit demoralising and you’re literally singing to 3 people in a pub and one’s asleep on the table (I’ve been there a few times lol). Some of the connections I’ve made have literally been at shows that felt insignificant but one person in the room was someone who could help me move forward, so you just never know. Also, something I regret is not putting out music sooner so I guess I’d say don’t be so precious and just get stuff out there!

What’s your favourite thing about being an artist?

I love the fact that I can channel my experiences and observations into songs – to take normal day to day things and put them into lyrics that people relate to. Whenever I do a show and someone comes up to me and says ‘that exact thing happened to me!’ it literally makes me so happy. My last single ‘Is It Any Wonder?’ is about social media and how it can make us feel down sometimes. The video had people from all different backgrounds and industries – from Olympian Rebecca Adlington to MOBO Founder Kanya King. They were all singing the lyrics to signify the fact that everyone is included in this feeling. I love to try and capture emotions that a lot of people relate to and feel connected to.

Who are your musical heroes? Why do they inspire you?

John Mayer is definitely my biggest musical hero. There are big periods of my life where his music is the only thing I listen to. His songwriting is just so perfect and refined, like he taps into certain emotions that I didn’t even realise I felt which is crazy to me. I’m a bit obsessed I can’t lie haha. I love J.Cole. His perspective on life and the way he tells stories is so captivating. I love the way he combines Hip-Hop beats with live instrumentation, especially on the ‘Born Sinner‘ album, that’s definitely a sound that’s inspired my music a lot. Amy Winehouse, she’s just the greatest. I grew up listening to Nina Simone, Etta James, Elvis and definitely draw a lot of inspiration from the passion they put into delivering a song. There’s a pretty new artist called Lennon Stella who I adore, there’s so much honesty in her songs and her voice is dreamy. I love P!nk, Russ, Kacey Musgraves, Drake – I could go on forever!! I actually made a Spotify playlist with all my favs if you wanna check it out here.

What is something not many people would know about you?

I’m really big scaredy-cat lol! I’m a quite loud person and speak my mind so you might not think it but I’m actually a big baby when it comes to like staying in the house alone or walking in the dark, I literally can’t do it!

What’s your star sign? Do you think your like your star sign?

I’m a Pisces! And from what I’ve read about it, I think I definitely fit into the cliché Pisces characteristics: creative, musical, intuitive but also overly emotional, indecisive, idealistic. My moon sign is Scorpio and my rising sign is Cancer – all 3 water signs so I’m a proper water baby and I love the sea so much. Reading about this combo of signs definitely feels like me, the last article I read said ‘I’d be surprised if you weren’t an artist, musician or writer.’

What’s been the highlight of your musical career so far?

Ooo this is hard. Can I choose two? The first one was getting to work with Diane Warren. She’s always been a massive influence for me growing up. I watched a documentary she was in where she said ‘writing a great song is saying something that’s been said a million times before in a brand new way’ and that’s always stuck with me when I’m writing. So when I got to meet her and she actually wanted to work with me on a song it was honestly amazing. She said to me ‘your voice is the voice I hear in my head when I’m writing songs’ and I promise you I nearly fainted lol! The other big highlight was shooting the ‘Good As Gold’ video in Cyprus. I feel so deeply connected to my Cypriot roots so it meant so much to be able to make that video and showcase my family’s homeland. I’m obsessed with Ancient Greek mythology so to be able to film in an amphitheatre was amazing.

What are you most looking forward to after lockdown?

Gigging! I honestly can’t wait to play live again and put on another headline show! I’m also gonna be hitting up Soho with my girls for hella Pornstar Martini’s and tequila shots haha!

At Home With Antigoni

Immerse yourself in Antigoni's 'A1' EP below!