Livewire

Singer/songwriter Tanis spent her childhood traveling the world with her parents, living in different places.  As a reflection of that, she incorporates subtle touches of her multicultural upbringing into her music.  At the age of 14, her first break into music came when she submitted a simple lullaby-like piano melody to Disney Asia. They were looking for a young composer for their film’s main theme. Ultimately, Tanis would compose that theme for Disney’s film, Trail of the Panda.

Tanis became fascinated with the world of composition and scoring at the age of 12. It was after she watched a performance of “The Ecstasy of Gold” conducted by Ennio Morricone, that she realized she “could compose music that could change the way people felt and interpreted things”, and share it back the best way she could.

After her music break with Disney, Tanis began to take her music studies more seriously. A year before graduation from university in music composition, she was at the level to work as a professional musician. But Tanis says she is still learning every day and has a lot more to learn.

Her song “Ce n’est Pas Moi” released in 2015 with Warner France Music, gained traction on radio and the charts in France and Europe. In 2016, she was contacted by the music supervisor of the 2018 Focus Features Film, Thoroughbreds, to use the song. Also in 2016, Tanis released her debut album, Blackout.

Tanis has causes that she supports with her photography. Her work includes the limited edition photography books, “A Chinese Minority Race” and “The Lost Children of Indonesia”.  She has also exhibited and sold her prints at the Art London charity exhibition. The opportunity came about when she met one of the curators of the event who loved her work and her causes.

Tanis released her latest single, “Grow”, on May 8 which has garnered over 30K streams to date. She is also currently working on new songs, an animated TV series score, and several short films.

I recently interviewed Tanis in-depth via email on her previous successful release, production process, her first break into music, the biggest challenge in her career, how she combines elements of film composition with songwriting, her photography, and much more.

Congratulations on your latest single, Livewire. Can you tell us what the theme is?  What do you want listeners to come away with after hearing it?  (Ed. Note: This interview occurred before her newest release, “Grow”)

“Livewire” is about this internal war between the heart and the mind. You want to love someone but all the rationalizations in your mind get the better of you and cause you to self-sabotage in an attempt to protect yourself from being too vulnerable and getting hurt even when there is no risk.  Love is complicated and we all deal with it differently. Ultimately, I hope that listeners find a form of solace in this song that sometimes it is okay to make a mess of things and feel scared as long as we try to recognize our struggles and move past them in the future.  The song was written and performed by myself and co-produced and mixed by Dave Weingarten.

Your debut album, Blackout, was released in 2016. What are your plans for a follow-up EP or is your plan to continue releasing singles?

I plan to continue releasing singles for the upcoming year and in time I may look to release another EP.

At the age of 14, you got your musical break in China, composing the theme score for the Disney film Trail of the Panda. How did this opportunity come about? What did you learn from the experience?

I loved music my whole life and that feeling grew even deeper at the age of 5 when I began learning the piano. However, working in the music industry remained just a distant dream in my mind until I was 14 when I submitted a simple lullaby-like piano melody to Disney Asia, who were looking for a young composer to write the main theme that represented the friendship and story of this lost panda cub and abandoned young boy.

  It was only about a year prior to graduation where I felt I had the level to start working as a professional musician but I still learn every single day and have a lot more to learn!

You continue to explore film composition as well as songwriting. How are they similar? How are they different?

I feel very fortunate to work both in the fields of film composition and songwriting. I think they are similar in the way that a great song can make a movie scene come to life, much like a great instrumental score can. They both tell help tell stories just in a slightly different format. In a song, you are packaging one story into the music and lyrics through a purely sonic medium. With film scoring, you are accompanying a moving image to help tell a story and maybe offer some deeper understanding of the scene through the assistance of audio cues. That being said, I always like to hybridize what I do and I very much enjoy bringing a touch of my composition work into my song arrangements and vice-versa. I truly believe that learning and developing my skills in both fields help serve the other.

Why did you get into composing for film? What interested you about it? 

Music and composition have been at the forefront of my mind for as long as I can remember. Having been an introverted child, and spending a lot of time in my own thoughts, I enjoyed observing the people and places around me. In all these moments, I would always hear the accompanying sounds and melodies in my mind that would inform what I saw.   At 12, I had the amazing opportunity to watch a performance of “The Ecstasy of Gold” conducted by Ennio Morricone himself and became instantly fascinated with the world of composition and scoring. I always knew music had an incredible power in shaping the way I saw the world, but after seeing this concert,

I have always felt that music is a huge gift in my life and all I have ever wanted to do was share it back in the best way I can.

Your song “Ce n’est Pas Moi” was selected and licensed for the 2018 Focus Features film Thoroughbreds. Can you tell us more about the process of how it was selected?

To be perfectly candid, it was a very simple process. I released the song back in 2015 with Warner Music France, which at the time was my first ever release, and the song gained some radio and chart tractions in France and parts of Europe. Several years later, I was contacted by the music supervisor for “Thoroughbreds”, the extremely talented and renowned Susan Jacobs, about using my song for a specific scene in the film and I was obviously so honored and glad to accept!

Tell us more about your photography work for the limited edition photography books that benefit charity: “A Chinese Minority Race” and “The Lost Children of Indonesia”. 

I began my journey in photography when I met Micky in Blue Sky Healing home in Beijing, China. Micky was abandoned at birth. For reasons I can’t personally comprehend, he was left in the freezing cold on a hillside in Shandong Province. Micky was nearly completely frozen when he was found. As a result of frostbite, his left toes had to be amputated. Unfortunately, Micky was also diagnosed with congenital complicated heart disease. Micky fought through all kinds of illnesses in his first year of life.

  thanks to Micky. Micky set me on a path towards helping unwanted children, abandoned not only by their parents but also by society in search of the minimum responsibility and involvement, and led me to be invited to Indonesia to produce my second photography book for the WADAH foundation.

You also have photographed the charity exhibition, “Art of London”. How did that opportunity come about?

Yes, the Art London exhibition came about a year after the publication of “the Lost Children of Indonesia”. I was studying in the UK in a boarding school for my last two years of high school and was fortunate enough to meet one of the curators of the event who loved my work as well as the causes I supported through my photography. He was generous enough to give me one of two charity stands at the event to exhibit and sell my prints.

What is your favorite camera equipment?

I don’t know about “favorite” camera equipment as I haven’t really experimented with that many different options, but I currently shoot with a Canon 5D Mark II, and prior to that I was using a Canon 7D. I find it very user friendly and intuitive to learn but I have a lot of photographer friends that use a wide range of brands and products.

What is your favorite microphone or instrument to perform with?

I am a pianist first so for me, my go-to performance instrument will always be an acoustic piano.

What has been the biggest challenge of your music career so far and how did you overcome it?

I honestly cannot think of a single event that stands out above the rest because a career in music is constantly challenging. I have been disappointed by false promises time and time again, given hope and had it swiftly taken away, told to quit and though the first time it happened I walked out of the office trying to hold back my tears so I wasn’t crying on the street walking home,

  Ultimately, as trite as it may sound, I truly think if you believe in yourself, no one and nothing can knock you down.

How do you think women artists can be better supported in the indie music industry?

I have been fortunate enough to work with some incredibly talented female artists both in the scoring and songwriting fields and it is always nice to be part of such a strong and supportive community. I think that more and more, women in the arts are finding their voice and place in this industry and this movement is only accelerating so all I can say is I hope it keeps going!

What does it mean to you personally to be an indie music woman artist?

In all honestly, I have never really thought about it. I do my work because I love it, I breathe it and I can’t imagine my life without it. I am proud to be an indie female artist but it is not something I am conscious of. I just try to share what I love to do with my audience and hope it resonates with someone somewhere.

What projects are you currently working on? How are they being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic?

I am currently working from home like most of the world on several short films and an animated TV series score as well as a few new songs for the upcoming releases. I have been a little up-rooted due to the pandemic as I have not been able to return to my apartment in New York as I was out of the country when the Travel bans came into place and I am not an American citizen so I have been working out of my laptop, two 4TB hard drives with all my samples and a portable midi keyboard. It is definitely not as efficient as working from a proper studio but I think this is a time we all need to adapt and keep pushing forward and before we know it, life will resume ☺

 

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