‘Oh Mother’ is a song written in the midst of COVID times, together by Lightning Jules & NLLY, through Zoom sessions and voice messages sent back and forth from Cologne to Portugal, to Berlin, to Paris, back to Cologne, addresses the connectedness.

The connectedness that we miss, that is felt between us if we let our intuition guide us. Oh Mother is a hymn to trust into this feeling that everything has been there before, lived by our ancestors, waves passing. ‘Oh Mother’ is a call for all mothers, sisters, daughters, grandmothers, nieces, ants and girlfriends to honour us, our bodies, our hearts and the love we share.

Indie pop musicians Nelly Ellinor (NLLY) and Julia Zech aka Lightning Jules have used the pandemic to reflect, write songs and also try out new collaborations. The two decided to write a song over Zoom. This was mainly due to the fact that Nelly had recently found a second home close to her favourite surf spot in Portugal whilst Julia was cooped up under quarantine in her apartment in Cologne. Starting from a guitar riff and a long talk about waves, moon cycles, being an artist and thinking about motherhood they crafted a song about the sacrifice and pain women have experienced over generations. Listening to each other and all the stories we have been told by strong women surrounding us, ‘Oh Mother’ was born, a powerful dreamy indie ballad.

When they thought about producing the song and a music video it was obvious they had to assemble an all-women team: female musicians for bass and drums, a female videographer, female performers and a female promotion agent. At the end of 2021, Julia flew to Portugal and they recorded a music video on the coastline in the Alentejo region, portraying strong women that are leading the way in a very male dominated surfing scene.

NLLY is the solo project by Nelly Ellinor. She is also part of the queer-feminist collective VooCha and tours with Chicks on Speed. When she is not on stage she spends her time on her surfboard in the ocean. In the Alentejo she found her second home and creates music and plays concerts with her Portuguese band. Lightning Jules is the indie dream pop project of the German songwriter Julia Zech. She shares her time between Cologne and Paris and tours with her folk band Stereo Naked, where she plays banjo.

How did you first become friends?

NLLY: I saw Julia for the first time at a jam session in Cologne and I immediately thought: wow, she is so cool with her banjo! After the jam session I went up to talk to her and we had a chat but then didn’t meet until later after Julia started the Duo Stereo Naked with someone I was friends with.

Lightning Jules: Yes, we met through mutual friends in the Cologne music scene and we liked each other’s voices. One day Nelly called me and asked if I wanted to play a house concert with her, which I thought was really sweet to ask.

“We come back to a feeling of being connected”

Today’s premiering song has a special meaning to so many people around the globe. Was there a certain aspect or a story you were trying to convey?

NLLY: My idea of the song was that we come back to a feeling of being connected. There is a certain vibe between women that tells stories, we have a sort of common history. But sometimes it seems we have forgotten to listen to this tune, this intuition that bonds us. I feel that if we get back to this idea we could actually change the world a bit. Since we are always running, chasing and fighting these days this feeling might calm us down. Everything we are experiencing now has been lived by our ancestors.

The song was written via Zoom as you live around the world… Was it difficult to not be physically there?

Lightning Jules & NLLY : It worked astonishingly well, Julia had found a little guitar riff beforehand and we were just humming along to find the melody and chords. After our first call we both needed some time to think about the lyrics, we kept sending each other texts and recordings back and forth with new ideas, and it all fell into place really organically.

Tell us about the recording process and how happy are you with the video making?

Lightning Jules & NLLY: Julia did most of the pre-recording in Cologne. She is a multi instrumentalist and could skit the whole song adding multiple layers with her guitar, bass and keys. I would record my voice in Portugal and come to Cologne for a session or to brainstorm together with amazing Drummer Trish Ross. Rebecca Himmerich recorded the bass line in her studio in Berlin, mixing and mastering was done by Julia and Gunner Ellwanger in Paris. It’s a very European project.

The video project was then carried out in Portugal with our friend Sunny Breger, who is an amazing filmmaker from Ericeira, Portugal. We explained our vision to her and she understood right away what we wanted to transmit. Then I asked a couple of my friends if they would trust me and be the stars of our music videos. Luckily they agreed. We explained the idea to them and they were very much moved by our lyrics and the intent behind the song. I think it’s what makes the video so special, they were all really feeling it. They were standing behind everything that we were saying and they portrayed it so beautifully, it always brings tears to my eyes every time I watch it. So yes, I am happy about it.

Are you planning to record an album in the upcoming months?

Lightning Jules & NLLY: We definitely want to do more together as the songwriting and the workflow together worked so well for our first song. We are currently working towards a small featuring EP. Yes, that is our plan.

You are both busy with other projects, feel free to share with our readers what’s next for you?

Lightning Jules: I have just released my second album with my folk duo Stereo Naked and I am about to release my debut EP ‘Broken Records’ as Lightning Jules on the 23rd of June, which I am excited about, because they are all very personal songs.

Nelly: I have just released an album with the feminist-queer collective VooCha, where we are also filming a music video for the upcoming release and a short film about life on earth after there is no more plants and no more food. I am also working on an EP for my solo project NLLY.

Klemen Breznikar

Headline photo: Sunny Breger

NLLY Official Website / Instagram / Bandcamp / YouTube
Lightning Jules Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp / YouTube