Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/764316
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 18 DECEMBER 2016 You've been living and work- ing in London for quite some time. How has this affected your musical career, and what have you learnt from the experience that you'd like to keep on im- plementing? Living in London has definite- ly helped me grow and become more comfortable in my own skin. Musically it is very, very competitive and there's so much going on. I have learned that it is very important to network and collaborate. My take-aways are these: experiment and try new things, do not be afraid to fail and remember, there is always something new to learn. What would you say are the hallmarks of the 'YEWS sound', and what have been some of the key influences that shaped it? At the moment, I would say synth sounds, which remind me of nighttime and the stars. I love 'cosmic' sounds, casiotones and strings synths from the 70s and 80s for example. I am definitely influenced by artists like Molly Nilsson and John Maus. What have been your most important musical milestones so far, and how do you hope to build on them? I have performed in plenty of places in London – pubs, ware- houses and even at the Koppar- berg Festival. They were all fun but I really enjoyed performing in art galleries a couple of times. For one particular performance, I had my own installation with ra- dios on a washing line and decid- ed to use them for a live set. I had backing tracks coming out of the radios and performed with them. I think I would like to build more on being creative in this way. It was pretty unique and the art gal- lery as a venue made it even more special. Now that you've experienced the musical scene in London, how do you feel about the Mal- tese musical scene? What would you change about it? I love the Maltese scene be- cause it feels much easier and people are very encouraging. At the same time, I would love to see more people saying more than just 'prosit', and more musi- cians being open to critique and seeing it as a good thing that can help them to grow and improve. I enjoy getting constructive criti- cism for my own work but I also make sure I am true to myself and my own style. I don't want to try be anybody else. Apart from that, I would love to see music and sound design taken more se- riously in Malta. A lot of people seem to see it as just a hobby and not as work, providing low budg- ets, which inevitably leads to us dedicating less time and effort to the job. Because ultimately, mak- ing music and sound is also a job. I think if there were better budg- ets we could improve so much. YEWS will be performing at Pudina Tal-Milied, Liquid Club, San Gwann on December 26, where she will be joined by Dan- jeli, Sonitus Eco and Brian James. Doors open at 23:00. Tickets: http://trackagescheme.com/. To hear YEWS's debut EP Selene, log on to: https://www.beatport.com/ release/selene/1322747 43 This Week Pamargan Products (Malta) Ltd is a bonded seal manufacturing company which has been operating in Xewkija, Gozo since 1992. It is owned by a multi international corporation as part of the Hutchinson Group. Hutchinson has been for the past 160 years, the Group that has been designing and manufacturing high-performance products essential for comfort and security on land, in the air or at sea. VACANCIES: Cutter (Evening & Night Shift) Main Job Functions: The Cutting Operator shall be responsible for the operation of the manual cutting assigned to him/her on a daily basis. Auto Cutter (Evening & Night Shift) Main Job Functions: The Cutting Operator shall be responsible for the operation of the auto cutting machines assigned to him/her on a daily basis. Inspectors (Day, Evening & Night Shift) 3 months contract subject to extension Main Job Functions: To carry out the inspection of bonded seal parts. No experience is required for the above vacancies as we also provide training. Interested candidates should send a detailed CV by Sunday 8 th January, 2017 to our Human Resources Department for the attention of Ms. Loretta Cauchi: loretta.cauchi@pamargan.com or come to our premises and fill in our Company's application form during office hours. Crafting cosmic sounds from London and back Ahead of her performance at an alternative Boxing Day party led by fellow local alternative music stalwart Danjeli, singer-songwriter Yasmin Kuymizakis (aka YEWS) speaks to TEODOR RELJIC about what it takes to make it as a musician in London – where she's now based – and how this has altered her point of view of the Maltese music scene in particular and of the realities of making a living as a musician in particular Yasmin Kuymizakis – aka YEWS – launched her debut EP, Selene in 2014 "I would love to see more people saying more than just 'prosit', and more musicians being open to critique"