Meet Tessa Lamers, the mesmerizing vocalist and creative force behind L’Asset. Tessa is an intuitive artist who infuses her music with a distinctive quirky, eclectic, alt-artpop flair.

This intimate conversation invites you into the genesis of L’Asset, where Tessa’s experiences shape the band’s identity. Her openness about navigating uncertainties and the impact of challenging times unveils a resilient spirit, demonstrating the transformative power of art in overcoming adversity.

Step into the vibrant world of Tessa Lamers and L’Asset, where self-love and avant-garde sounds collide. This interview promises not just a glimpse into Tessa’s journey but a symphony of emotions, painting the portrait of an artist embracing the beauty of her unique sound.


How did you start as an artist and where are you now?

I started out as a baby. No, (well yes, but) I started performing at a young age, around the age of 8 and I immediately fell in love with it. I knew that that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I started writing poetry around the age of 11 and that turned into writing songs from the age of 14. Around the same time, I taught myself how to play the guitar through YouTube.


I went on studying music and graduated from Codarts in 2017 where I studied vocals and songwriting. That’s also where L’Asset was founded. We toured the UK two times in 2017 and released our first single Ultraviolet during that same period. Things were going great, but then insecurity hit hard. I started overthinking everything I was doing, and I went downhill from there. As a cherry on top, COVID hit and there I was, just me and my music, not being able to play (but maybe it was a blessing in disguise).

After COVID, I got the tingling feeling in my fingers again: I want to get a band together again and do what I love most: going full energy-blast-mode on stage and creating music again. So that was what I did. Only this time I knew exactly what I was looking for and I was more determined than ever to push through this time. I didn’t want to get in my own way ever again, because I know what I want and what I’m capable of, I just let fear interfere too much.

I phoned some people, we did some try-out rehearsals to see if there was a match and BOOM! There we were again. We entered the Rob Acda Competition because we wanted to re-kickstart ourselves, not with the intention or the idea we could win.

With only three rehearsals total, we won the preliminary round, and with only three rehearsals more, we won the whole thing! We knew we could pull it off, but in a way, we still didn’t see it coming.

Winning meant we were going to play at Main Stage Bevrijdingspop, for thousands of people, and that was the best moment in my life so far.

And now we are at the start of releasing a lot of new music, and I can’t wait for everyone to hear it.


How would you describe your music?

I would describe our music as quirky, eclectic alt-artpop. A mouthful but I think it is exactly what our music is. Combine Roisin Murphy with Florence and the Machine, Kate Bush, Bjork and an early Sia and you get very close. It’s intense but never heavy handed and it’s diverse. I love that within L’Asset, there’s room for experimenting with ska, rock, funk influences and even avantgarde and dream pop. We can move between and through genres and still it all fits in perfectly.


What inspires your music? Artists, people, spaces, something else?

I’m inspired by a lot of artists from the 80s and especially the ones from the UK. I love David Bowie, Kate Bush, Queen, but also the earlier work of Bjork (and Sugarcubes). Current artists that inspire me are Florence and The Machine, Roisin Murphy, Sigrid and AURORA.

What inspires me to write and create is basically my daily life. All my songs are autobiographical, and I simply need to write in order to understand what I’m going through. It helps me structure my thoughts, emotions and often when I write, I don’t even realize what it’s truly about. I sometimes write something that I can only fully understand much later on. Then it suddenly all makes sense. It’s like it all falls into place.


How do you best write your music?

I write music on my own, usually I create a production in Ableton which I then play over and over to create a topline for it. And I love the process of co-writing. It keeps you sharp, focused and critical about your choices. It’s a dynamic process that builds, goes back and forth and the co-writer can shed a different light on situations. I like to look at songs as puzzles. They’re built from all these different elements that you can play around with: I’m playing with time-signatures, syncopation, metric modulation, key changes, but done in a way it sounds perfectly natural and like an easy-to-listen to pop song. PLUS, I like to hide secret messages, easter eggs in my songs (as I did for the opening track of the upcoming EP).


Tell me about this waterfall release. Is there a deeper meaning behind it?

Well, we start off with Self-love and after that, we drop two more singles. We will finish everything around March with an EP, which includes these singles, but also two more songs. The whole EP is built around the self, the base, recurring patterns, trying to ground more. The artwork will also help shape that idea. It’s centered, color theme is green, which corresponds with nature and the element ‘earth’. I grew up in the florist shop of my mom, so it felt only logical to play around with flowers in all shapes and sizes and it represents my upbringing, where I’m from. The EP is my base from which I’m going to tell my story.


Can you give me a little sneak peak of what we are to expect with the next release?

The next release will be all about embodiment. About mind vs. body. About grounding vs floating. We played around and experimented with one of the genres mentioned earlier (for you to figure out which one, there’s another hint in this paragraph) but we’ve had a lot of fun making it and it Sounds Kinda Amazing (if I say so myself).

Spread the self-love!
X


L’Asset’s next release ‘Body’ is out on all streaming platforms on January 5th. Follow L’Asset here.