Our protagonist today is the german multi-genre indie musician, singer, composer, voice-over actress and music teacher author of "The Forest Song".

I always wanted to explore and express myself, from a very early age on. This is just my nature, I suppose. First it was dancing and painting, then acting, but in music and all its possibilities I found my true love.

How and when is your passion for music born and who inspired you to become a musician?

I always wanted to explore and express myself, from a very early age on. This is just my nature, I suppose. First it was dancing and painting, then acting, but in music and all its possibilities I found my true love. Singing in particular, creates such a deep connection with one's self. My parents went for artistic careers as well, so they were the first ones to influence following my creative inspiration.

Was it easy to follow this passion for you, or did you have difficulty? If yes, which ones?

It was easy to follow this passion, it wasn't easy to make a career out of it and to not give in to all the self-doubt. It took years to overcome or rather accept it as a natural process and luckily I am in a position now to help others overcome their obstacles when it comes to making music.

What is inspiration or inspirational to you? How do you live an inspired life?

To live an inspired life means, at least to me, to view everyone and everything as a teacher and as an inspiration. I try to live by that. Some days it works, some days it doesn't.

There is a certain restlessness that comes with creativity, that can be exhausting from time to time. To always face the inner world of emotions in the process of creating can be quite the challenge

How could you describe your way of composing?

That there is not one way. It keeps changing and I let it. I open the doors to whatever shows up and turn it into music. Sometimes it starts with a beat, the next day it might be some little melody coming out of nowhere ... it's lovely to be surprised by the mysterious ways inspiration works.

What is most challenging about what you do?

There is a certain restlessness that comes with creativity, that can be exhausting from time to time. To always face the inner world of emotions in the process of creating can be quite the challenge ;). Nothing is ever finished, nor completed. Accepting that will always be a challenge of sorts.

What are your reference musicians?

As I am musically at home in so many different genres that is so hard to tell. I wouldn't know where to begin. I'm inspired by Nils Frahm when it comes to my neoclassical music and by Portishead and PJ Harvey when it comes to my trip hop and indie music.

Recently your new work "The Forest Song" came out, can you tell us a bit about it?

It's my humble attempt at translating nature into music. To envision nature's beauty and strength, but also the melancholy of everything being transitory. To evoke a feeling of being home and being ok with the cycles of life. I only used my voice this time to create the song, and the beat is entirely created out of my wooden furniture at home ;).

What is creativity to you? And: what is your creative process?

Life is creativity to me. Let everything inspire you and do something with it - be it cooking, working off your to do list, or composing a piece of music. There is no particular process when it comes to creativity. It is just what it is, and it differs every time.

What do you think about today's music scene?

It depends on where you look for music. There's such a vast independent music scene. You can find so many great talents on Bandcamp or on social media if you're lucky. It's amazing that today's technology enables everyone to do what they love and release it.
When it comes to the commercial music world it is still quite generic and repetitive, I don't listen to the radio in Germany anymore because I feel like it is lacking diversity. I hope it will change.

What are your goals/dreams for the future?

To develop and grow as a human being and as an artist and to hopefully inspire some people along the way. There are so many songs in me, I hope I'll find the time and strength to bring them all to life.

Who is the artist?

Weaving acoustic elements, storytelling vocals, and piano sounds into electronica and field recordings and thereby creating landscapes; traveling into Indie, Trip-Hop, instrumental Modern Classical and beyond. Valeska is a multi-genre indie musician, singer, composer, a voice-over actress, and a dedicated music teacher. Born in East Berlin to actor Klaus-Peter Thiele and painter Rosemarie Rautenberg, she grew up living and breathing creativity and has followed that path throughout her life. She began with dance and moved to acting before settling on her true calling, music. "Her music doesn't follow any rules outside of her own inspiration, and so it happens that in the worlds she creates, the Cheshire Cat lives alongside the Steppenwolf." Her songs inhabit a space between vast deserts, a whiskey sour and submersion in the deepest, bluest ocean, to then eventually pour a spectacle of colours down upon you. In her voice, she reveals all of her many facets to you: sometimes intimate and then intense, sometimes dreamy and then again ruthlessly open...all of that carried by the piano and melancholy downbeats. Sometimes the arrangement is minimal, other times the paintbrush paints a larger picture.

Fore more: https://www.bluespiralrecords.com/valeska-rautenberg

Listen to "The Forest Song"

Digital platforms: https://backl.ink/145566504