Ravenistic stirred the spotlight into a prism of past and present in an exclusive A&R Factory interview –

Ravenistic is an artist with the ease of someone who has lived several creative lives and stitched them together with instinct rather than ego. In this interview she reflects on the fire of her hard rock beginnings, the rush of rebuilding her songs from piano ballads into full pop and rock anthems, and the subtle shift that happens when stripped arrangements expose the softer ache beneath the shine. She opens up about writing with empathy, keeping optimism sincere, and using techniques from her fiction and screen-composition work to shape her structures. It is a conversation full of candour, nostalgia, and bright creative intent, and it is well worth settling into.

You started out performing hard rock in the 80s and 90s before stepping into the indie pop and rock world. How much of that early edge still lingers in the way you write and perform now?

Once you’ve been in a rock band, I don’t think you ever leave. For me, those early hard rock days weren’t just about distorted guitars and loud drums. They were about attitude, proving myself, the sense of finding your gang, the camaraderie of band mates, being broke, facing rejection, getting home at 4am and getting up to go to work the next morning. But what I remember most is the sense of freedom that came from being up on stage. For those 45 minutes I was queen of my world.

So now I craft my songs as if I’m on stage with a band and we are blasting our music to an audience that’s singing along. Besides, nothing beats the power of a chorus when the heavy guitars kick in.

Trendy offered two sides of your sound — the full-band mixes and the stripped-back piano and synth versions. What made you want to showcase both, and did revisiting the songs in a different light change how you heard them?

Most of these songs were written on piano as ballads that I would play for myself on a Sunday afternoon. But when I decided I would become a pop/rock recording artist the songs were stripped apart and put back together again with new sounds and faster tempos. They also underwent major lyrical changes until they became brand new songs.

As for showcasing the two sides of each song, while I was recording the vocals, in order not to compete with the rest of the music, I would sing to a piano backing. I realized these songs could stand apart on their own.  The scaled down version immediately changed the tone; in most songs they went from happy to wistful. “Eternally” is a great example of how the full version is a party song about the night lasting forever, and we’re having a great time, and then the stripped-down version plays, without guitars and drums, and it captures the wistful sadness that comes from knowing a great moment is about to end.

You’ve already got Cocktail Hour lined up for next year and a second album on the horizon. How do you manage to keep that level of creativity flowing, and what keeps you motivated to keep releasing at such a steady pace?

I have about 30 songs written over several years. I’ve reached the point where it’s now or never, and I’d like to see this through to its end. I’m going through my songs one by one to see if I want to rework them and record them into my chosen style. I’ve selected about 8 songs to rework, and because it’ll take a year for the next album to be released, I decided a 4 track EP was one way to keep the momentum going. I like workings to timelines.

Also, I’ve found when writing songs about relationships, love, nostalgia and empowerment, there is an endless supply of material to write about. And, having a background in creative writing helps, because there are workshops that teach how to write story arcs, how changing point of view can introduce a fresh perspective, and how writing clever turns of phrase helps with writing catchy and meaningful lyrics. I also listen to a lot of music to gain inspiration on song structure and layering of instruments and vocals. I find listening to other music sparks so many ideas.

Your music clearly draws from the 80s and 90s, with nods to Blondie, Cyndi Lauper, Transvision Vamp and Hole. What is it about that era that keeps calling you back, and how do you make sure your sound still feels fresh for today’s listeners?

The hair and fashion. Let’s be honest, those decades of hair styles and fashion trends were FUN. The world was broken back then, just as broken as it is now, but I think creators of music and movies tended to put the emphasis on not taking things too seriously. And yes, while there is a fine line between making things fun and making things corny, I try hard not to step over that line.

I am also aware that recording techniques are different between then and now. For one thing, vocals aren’t drowning in reverb anymore. It is a challenge to find the balance of including the things I love about songs from the 80s and 90s – the bridge section and tom-tom beats are two things I try to include in every song because I just love them. And, in order to make sure the music works today, I analyse modern songs, and I find that using popular music as reference tracks is what keeps the songs fresh.

You’ve said you like writing upbeat songs that radiate positivity and fun. How do you strike that balance between lightness and sincerity when you’re writing about love and empowerment?

I learned a long time ago that storytelling isn’t necessarily about the storyteller. And I think the broader audience has come to realize that many artists don’t write their own songs, so it’s not their truth they’re singing about, but it is some form of truth, from someone else’s experience. Sincerity comes from empathy. As a songwriter I feel I should have the ability to write about a situation that might not be my own. And this ‘looking from the outside view’ gives me a lot of creative freedom to imagine scenarios, because, honestly, I don’t have too many exes or people who’ve done me wrong.

I’m also super mindful that there is difference between empowerment and rage. I’ve re-written lyrics because they focused on the hate, instead of the story. I love a hater song as much as anybody, but I’m just not angry anymore.

Away from music, you’ve spent time writing sci-fi and supernatural novels as D L Richardson. Does storytelling from that world ever find its way into your songwriting, or do you treat them as separate creative outlets?

Absolutely, though they are two separate outlets. I learned a lot about story arc, twists, plots developments, character arc, and I absolutely use many of those techniques in my lyrics. Songs are a form of storytelling, so we can control the narrative. I wrote one song about a woman who received a love letter from a man she liked, but discovered the letter was meant for someone else, and she became angry and vengeful, and the lyrics were in that style, but that narrative didn’t sit well with me. To be honest, it felt juvenile. So I changed the lyrics around. Same situation, but instead, my character feels empathy for the other woman who didn’t get the love letter. It is now a reflective song about lost love and solidarity.

You also compose for film and TV as Deb Richardson, which must demand a very different mindset. Has working to visuals or emotion-driven cues changed how you think about structure or mood in your own tracks?

There were many tutorials I undertook to learn structure for tension music, and I’ve learned that a composition needs to set up a certain way for editing purpose. Slow builds, clean break points, hooks, crescendos, bits where the music doesn’t override the dialogue. The composition must be able to be taken apart by an editor to layer it over multiple scenes. I adopt many of these techniques for my songs. I used to write without any pause or breathing space, pretty much how my family gatherings go – nobody can get a word in. But I can now see that there is a place for space in my songs. Space allows for emotion to come through.

You’ve explored so many creative paths and now you’re releasing music as Ravenistic with a clear sense of identity. What do you want this new chapter to say about you as an artist and the kind of music you’re putting into the world?

My music is the most real it has ever been. In my 20s, my lyrics were like a closely guarded secret, ambiguous, and cryptic, and I understand now how that style of writing is passive. When you’re starting out and exploring personal topics, you sometimes don’t want to come straight out and say ‘hey, this happened to me and here’s a song about it’. I wasn’t ready to deal with that kind of exposure, so I wrote lyrics that needed interpretation. Besides, I couldn’t write songs about bad relationships, because my boyfriend was in the band.

Lyrics these days are more narrative, conversational, and that instantly turns the voice into an active one. An active voice is more confident, and this shift from passive to active is what has kicked my creativity up a few notches. I’m ready to explore some of the topics that I had absolutely zero experience in. We think we know everything when we’re young. Now I understand more about myself, what I want, what I don’t want, the complexities of relationships, the ups, the downs, the sacrifices we make to save or crumble a relationship, the importance of self-worth, and how to find comfort in the past but how to now let it trap you there.

These all sound like boringly adult topics, but I want to tell these stories with fun, upbeat and catchy lyrics and music as a way of saying, ‘hey this happened to me or to you, but we got through it and we’re better for it’.

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Discover Ravenistic on Spotify. 

Interview by Amelia Vandergast