INTERVIEW: Cherry Blur

A common gauge of talent is to be described by lazy journalists as ‘arriving fully formed’, so naturally brimming with creativity and performative ideas that it seems impossible to have not been honed over years. Of course it does happen. Durham brat poppers Zela’s debut headliner was a sold out Georgian Theatre show after releasing a couple of singles online during lockdown while Teesside newbies Perfect Chicken put on their own festival last year after a very small handful of shows of their own. Now step forward Newcastle’s Cherry Blur.

Having only just released her debut single, Cool About It, in August last year the alt. popper and alter-ego of Isabel Rommen steps up for her first headline show this month ahead of third single, Sweet Treat, due out in early May. Isabel was keen to tell me more about the track from her forthcoming debut EP. “Sweet Treat is my favourite song [from the EP] but I wanted to time it with the sun being out so I could sing, hear and play it with that summer vibe. It’s an alt. pop indie track about fancying someone, I guess!”

It feels like I’ve been working towards this my entire life

I asked Isabel about her musical background and unsurprisingly she has a pedigree stretching back to childhood. “It feels like I’ve been working towards this my entire life. I started singing lessons at four years old and since then I’ve never really considered any other options. I did some classical opera singing with the National Opera Choir in Belgium where I grew up – which was really interesting and I learned a lot – but I always just wanted to sing pop music. I moved to Newcastle to study music in 2020 but spent not much time actually making music, so the last two years I have tried to make up for lost time by making as much music as possible.”

With a sound already so realised I was surprised Isabel found the music course stifling. “Music has always come quite naturally to me but as soon as I had assignments [to write music] it didn’t come as easily. However, now I feel like I’ve returned to my seven year old self writing songs on the playground. Uni gave me a solid foundation of how to make music and how the music industry works but I think the most important thing is talking to other people and understanding where these opportunities come from. There are a lot of people really wanting to help musicians and the grassroots venues here are really willing to help artists. My band is incredible and we’ve really been rehearsing this set. Every time I play it I want it to be better than the last time. I’m very big on faking it until I make it!”

So, what else can we expect from Cherry Blur this year, I wondered. “I’ve got a full album of demos ready but I am just figuring out how to actually fund the recording – but the thing with the right now is that I have no idea what will change with each release and performance as new opportunities could come and people start to notice me and feel connected to what I am putting out there…”

Cherry Blur plays Newcastle’s Cluny 2 on Thursday 3^rd April.