blanche dubois

BLANCHE DUBOIS

Building Bridges

Perth sisters Nadija and Adriana Begovich make up Blanche DuBois – who have been performing around Australia for over a decade. Ahead of their performance at The Ellington Jazz Club on Thursday, March 8, one half of the duo, Adriana, sat down with JENNIFER PETERSON-WARD to discuss their sisterly relationship and why it took them four years to release new album Young Heart.

Their first studio outing since 2007, recently released LP Young Heart proves that Blanche DuBois’ sound has changed little over the years, but, as guitarist Adriana Begovich attests, a quarrel in the interim became the inspiration for their most autobiographical collection of emotive songs to date.

During their four year break from the music industry, the sisters had what Adriana calls their “Noel and Liam Gallagher moment”, after a disagreement left them on non-speaking terms.
“We had a bit of a time where we weren’t speaking and it really put a strain on everything – our family, everything, and, of course, the band. It was really awful but we kissed and made up and we’re all the better for it,” she explains.

The overall tone of their resulting album is not what one might think. There is no self-pity and little melancholy about the arrangements on Young Heart.

“Thematically, this whole album is about that situation we were in,” Adriana explains. “I had also exited a pretty bad relationship…It’s about hitting rock bottom, climbing back up again and seeing that once you’ve gotten back up again you’re all the better for it. The whole album is about that concept of building a bridge and getting over it.”

As the creative process was very much a healing experience for the sisters’ damaged relationship, Adriana explains that the sisters took their time writing and recording the album.
“The album was recorded over a month, but that period was spread out over about six months. We would record a week here and then take a week break and then head back into the studio,” she says. “It’s about rediscovering our love for making music and our love for each other.”

This record also marks the first time Blanche DuBois has explored co-writing – working with fellow Australian artists Angie Hart (Frente!) and Mick Thomas (Weddings, Parties, Anything) to pen three songs.

“Our publisher Mushroom has always encouraged us to write with other artists on their books but we’ve never really taken them up on the offer, primarily because we live so far away,” Adriana explains. “However I had moved over to Melbourne and made a base for myself over there and so we thought ‘why not?’. We were actually really surprised at how well the collaboration process went for us because we’ve only ever written songs with each other before.”

Apart from the circumstances of its making, however, Adriana reveals that not much else has changed in their songwriting approach. “2012 marks 10 years of our band. We’ve been doing this since I was 18 and we’re still essentially writing in the same way we always have – I’ll have a basic idea of a guitar progression or a melody and we’ll just build it up together,” she concludes. “It’s really been a natural career progression for us. I honestly believe we’re releasing our best record to date with Young Heart.”