Natalie Bergman, one half of the brother-sister psychedelic pop duo Wild Belle, doesn’t shy away from talking about relationships. It’s the constant muse for her songs, the latest of which, “Giving Up On You,” is about a rocky romance she ended shortly after writing the song. “The funny thing is, I was writing about the demise of the relationship before it was even over,” she says. “The song is about overcoming a relationship that was very torturous. I had to destroy it because it was killing me.” Related: Youth Lagoon embraces the dark side Bringing the boom While the new album will still have the synthy island feel that Wild Belle is known for, the new album includes harp guitars and arps, a synthesizer Bergman says sounds like a helicopter and adds a lot of fire to the album. Related: Jojo on her tween hits, new music and relationship woes Building on childhood dreams Natalie says when she was 10, Elliot gave her a compilation of Jamaican female vocalists doing cover songs and one track, Della Humphrey’s “Dreamland,” really stuck with her. “Now, after all these years, I get to put out my own record, ‘Dreamland,’” she says. Often when they go into the studio together, they don’t have much of a plan and Bergman says what results are “happy accidents.” “The goal is to make something beautiful and something people want to be apart of and that they’ve never heard before,” she says. “We want to create a universe that welcomes everyone but no one has ever seen.” Shed and shred If you go:
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Along with her brother Elliot Bergman, she has been working on their sophomore album “Dreamland” for the past two years. It’s finally done — slated to be released January 16, 2016 — and the single teases a bigger, fuller sound than their debut, “Isles.”
When Bergman talks about her brother Elliot, it’s with respect and awe. “He’s one of my biggest inspirations and I’m blessed to have such an amazing brother who has taught me so much about music,” she says. While Natalie is responsible for Wild Belle’s lyrics, Elliot is more of the soundsmith, particularly for “Dreamland.”
Bergman says making “Dreamlands” was a healing experience for her, a way to move past toxic love and bad habits. To her, writing songs about past heartbreak doesn’t open up old wounds; it serves as a salve. “It’s actually very empowering to reflect on things that moved you and then destroys you,” she says. “Working on these songs was a good shredding time for me and when I perform them, that’s another time to shed. Shed and shred. That’s my motto.”
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Wild Belle on creating a magical ‘Dreamland’
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