If you’re looking for the likes of Fleet Foxes and Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes, Postcards is the band you’re looking for. Postcards is an indie folk band based in Beirut, formed in the summer of 2012 by four friends with a common passion for music. The band is composed of Julia Sabra on ukulele, mandolin, guitar and vocals; Marwan Tohme on guitar and vocals; Pascal Semerdjian on drums, harmonica, and vocals; and Rany Bechara on bass, keyboard and vocals. The band has already released 2 EPs ‘Lakehouse’ and ‘What Lies So Still’ and has been touring around Europe and the Middle East spreading their captivating harmonies and sweet-sounding tunes. On the occasion of their show this Thursday for Beirut Jam Sessions’ winter line-up, we decided to discuss with postcards their role in the Lebanese indie scene, their musical influences, and future plans to get some insight on how the magic happens.

By Tiffany Murr

(Write your name and your favorite Postcards song in the comments section for a chance to win 2 tickets for their upcoming concert in Beirut on Thursday)

How does it feel like to be the pioneers of indie folk music in Lebanon? Was it hard to gather fans from this specific scene?

Pioneers is a big word J but yeah it’s not as common of a style as other types of rock or blues here in Beirut… It wasn’t that hard, a lot of people enjoy this type of music, and our first EP was pretty easy on the ears, so we did get a loyal fan base pretty fast.

How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together? (What Lies So Still is mellower than Lakehouse)

It’s evolved quite a bit as you may have noticed. The change between the 2 EPs was for a number of different reasons, but most importantly because we spent the last 2 years listening to A LOT of music. It was our producer Fadi Tabbal who actually sat us down and gave us the first chunk of music to listen to, mainly folk artists from the 1950s til today so we could get to know our style more. From then on, we listened to everything from folk to rock to surf to ambient to dream pop to whatever you want. And this had a huge influence on our writing process and the way we wanted the 2nd EP to sound.

Describe your tour in Portugal with three words.

Fun beyond words.

What are you most excited about when you visit new cities on tour?

Honestly, we’re excited about everything. Touring has allowed us to discover some really beautiful places, but mostly it’s about the people, may it be the crew that works with us or the audience, it’s always the best part to connect with people from all around the world and play our music for them. Most of the time after the show we just hang out and have a drink with everyone.

Very honestly, where did you enjoy performing the most?

Portugal definitely.. It seems that Portuguese people love indie folk/rock, and a lot of our favorite bands are huge there, like Beirut or the Fleet Foxes or Beach House (sidenote – we played the same venue that Beach House played in 2008 in Portalegre!). So it’s very easy to connect with them and they’re very enthusiastic about music.
If we had to be specific, our favorite concert so far would be in Viseu; we played in the courtyard of an old museum with incredible acoustics, it was an open-air concert and a full house!

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Where do you dream of performing one day?

There’s not really a particular place, but we’d love to be able to tour the US. Right now it seems so far away (and so expensive…) but so many of our favorite artists come from Seatle/Portland/Chicago, and we love traditional American folk, so it would be great to someday perform there.

What drove you to work with an animator for your song “Walls”? How did it contribute to the feel of the song? 

Initially we just wanted to try something different with the video (i.e to not have our faces appear in it..) so we thought a lot about animation. Fortunately, we’re good friends with Marilyn Haddad, and she was so enthusiastic about the project that she immediately was on board to work with us. She actually started working in March of this year (the video was published in September). It’s cool because in a way it’s her interpretation of the song, which is very much about loneliness and alienation within a relationship, and Marilyn saw it as a man shipwrecked on an island, alone with his thoughts and hallucinations, and we really liked that.

The dreamy artwork for your new EP “What Lies So Still” looks like a painting from the impressionism period, could you tell us more about why you chose to have such a cover?

We’re glad you asked! The cover is a combination of the works of two talented people. It’s actually a triple exposure photo by Rachel Tabet, and the design & editing (to make it seem like an impressionist painting) was done by Youmna Saba (who also happens to be an incredibly talented musician, make sure to check out her music!). One of our friends actually analyzed the relationship between the cover and the music of the EP, saying that the cover represents the music; they’re both multi-layered and dreamy, so that’s how we like to think about it, even though we weren’t conscious of that when we chose this concept.

Could you name your top 5 musical idols that influenced your sound? 

If we had to choose 5 for this EP, it would have to be Fleet Foxes, Other Lives, Beach House, the Walkmen, and Vashti Bunyan

What’s the next step on the Postcards’ to-do list?

Next step is more writing, touring in early 2016 – and potentially taking over the world. Or just Portugal.

 

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11 Responses

  1. Avatar
    Taylor Braun

    I love Walls — the video is beautiful 🙂
    Taylor Braun

  2. Avatar
    Jean-Pierre Abillamaa

    Jean-Pierre Abillamaa – Where the Wild Ones

  3. Avatar
    Jane

    My favorite song is Oh The Places We Will Go. Postcards was the first concert I went to in Beirut and this song reminds me of the frustrations and adventures in Lebanon this past summer.

  7. Avatar
    Layal

    Where the Wild One – Julia has such a beautiful voice!
    – Layal Hamze

  9. Avatar
    Zad Tourmoche

    First of all special thanks to ADMINREVOLVER for publishing this heart-warming article about young blood musicians coming out of Lebanon with a warm spirit that overshardows all news of conflicts that have come to bedevil our part of the World.
    Now, to this young and fresh Band. It was around the year 2013 when I came across tha name of this band. Since that time, I came across their songs on YouTube on several occasions and was very impressed with their budding music/songs/song-writing/vocals/musicianship, etc. Those were their formative years, and with this Article and their second EP, I sensed that they have matured considerably with their song-writing, arrangements, performance, singing, and orchestration. Whilst as a Band, they happily speak of Fleet Foxes,etc, as their influences, I would take them back about 50 years to the ancient pioneers of Folk Music, namely FAIRPORT CONVENTION, one of the UK’s great folk bands, not to mention The Pentangles, to name but a few. You might ask why did I make the comparison with FAIRPORT CONVENTION ? Well, POSTCARDS, seem to be an ORGANIC folk band with genuine interest in folk music as it conveys stories about LIFE and the various facets of Love, Human Chagrin, with the potential for exploring topics of Social Struggle & Endurance of the down-trodden, a flash-back to ancient history with a subliminal reference to political injustice, to list a few aims and nature of Folk Music
    Genre.
    VOCALS: The female vocals are shrouded with a mystical and spiritual feel and runs through each song like a calmly flowing water spring. The males vocals are there to compliment and expand the path of that vocal stream without overwhelming each other, and without competing with one another. This is very important for the entire vocal sound of a band for it is strongest when it stands on several footings that are equal in breadth and height.
    MUSICIANSHIP: I like the minimalist approach they apply to the arrangement of their songs, thus telling the story of the song with emotional fluidity unperturbed by unnecessary over-instrumentation. This approach allows the vocals/harmonies to float freely throughout the song in parrallel to the instrumentations with distinct syncronisity.
    PERSONALITIES: I like the members’ image for they convey a harmonious friendship amongst themselves which is very important to the development of their musical ideas leading to the final creation of a good song.
    PRESENT MUSICAL STANDING: I would rate this Band as being ready for the International Musical Stage in whichever country they might find themselves, and their audiences will definitely appreciate their ‘budding’ stages of development as it grows stronger and stronger with every public performance.
    FUTURE POTENTIAL: Musically and song-writing abilities will evolve and mature to higher levels. So far, they have managed to write songs that are completely devoid of banality and/or mediocrity. This is a sign of their ability to write for the universal audiences round the world. It is up to them now to reflect on their achievement so far, and to comtemplate and explore SUBJECT-MATTER pertaining to present and past cultural and emotional issues that are now bedevilling the world at large, thus REVIVING the ESSENCE and true aims and objectives of FOLK MUSIC GENRE.
    WISH: Wish I was young to do whatever I can to encourage/support our NEW and YOUNG BLOOD LEBANES MUSICIANS AND BANDS, for they have come a long, long, long way since The Sea-Ders days of 1962 to 1968.