Girl from Limpopo who sees the stars of Pretoria’s sky every night
We spoke to singer songwriter Lindsey Monyepao on what her mind breathes fire into on paper through lyrics and is therefore ignited in her voice when she sings.
One afternoon at 15:00
At 15:00 on an afternoon in Johannesburg, we sat at our desk in silence while waiting for Lindsey to knock on the door of our scheduled Zoom meeting and come in. While going over the questions we had written down to ask her, our hearts twirled a little because we, writers, were about to talk to another one of us. We held our notebook and pen to talk about the notebook and pen in music. Of course we were excited to let Lindsey in.
She entered the Zoom room with a big smile on her face. Seeing her feel as if she was in her comfort zone, the same one she exists in when she writes, allowed us to have a conversation that felt like one we have on our own couches at home.
Lindsey the storyteller
Lindsey describes herself as a storyteller; what she produces is not just words accompanied by her melodies and harmonies. Every syllable of every lyric serves as an outlet that narrates the stories that carry the message of her daily life, how the world sees her and who she is in her solitude. In other words, it is her journey that she walks us through in her songs. Additionally, the path she has walked with her brother is a part her journey that she shares with us. These tales of her life are her pot of inspiration and bowl that serves her motivation to never stop walking or turn around.
Lindsey the unboxed human being
The girl whose childhood days saw the sun of Limpopo is someone who does not fit into a box. And as such, her sound is a mirror of how she sees herself. It is complex and undefined. Her adjectives for the melodies and notes that leave her body are soft, warm and versatile.
Her emotional state and the comma
What is compressed emotionally is what is released in the pages of her notebook. In her own words, her emotional state guides her writing (and creative) process. In addition to this, since human beings never stop feeling, her songs do not have a full stop. She expresses that in the same way a painting is never complete because it is work the painter can always return to refine, her songs are commas too.
Her current lyrics that will be heard soon
Stay on the look out! We will return with our own notebook and pen to write about her upcoming EP.
To be a part of Lindsey’s circle, click: https://www.instagram.com/lindsey__m/.
