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Celina Kimble: From Noise to music

SINGAPORE — The challenges faced by singer-songwriters range from marketing their music to simply finding a fan base, but Celina Kimble is ready to face it all — and she has a new name to back her up.

SINGAPORE — The challenges faced by singer-songwriters range from marketing their music to simply finding a fan base, but Celina Kimble is ready to face it all — and she has a new name to back her up.

“I felt the name Kimble resonated with me, as it means ‘warrior’ in Welsh, and I hope I would embody the courage and bravery a warrior has,” the 26-year-old explained her stage moniker.

Kimble, whose real name is Celina Foo, will be launching her debut eponymous EP on June 8 at The Arts House. It has been an interesting journey for her, after deciding to take part as an apprentice for the National Arts Council’s (NAC) Noise Singapore programme in 2010.

It was an invaluable experience. “I never thought of doing music seriously despite writing songs occasionally to voice my own opinions. During the programme, I was able to discover myself more as an artiste by exposing myself to different genres of music and gain more confidence as a performer,” she recalled.

That year, she performed at the Esplanade Concourse for her Noise showcase, the Youth Olympic Village for the Youth Olympics and Baybeats Festival. She eventually applied for an NAC grant for artistes releasing their first EP and got it.

“It was a surprise for me when I received news that I was awarded the grant, given that there were other Singaporean talents,” she said.

The release sums up Foo’s musical influences such as Kelly Clarkson, Hayley Williams of Paramore and Florence Welch of Florence & The Machine. She described her music as “intense, emotional, conflicting, like a memory you can’t erase”.

The ballad Picture Perfect, for example, is the angst-ridden documentation of a relationship gone sour, which Foo likened to “one of those songs where your fairytale romance leaves you broken ... (It) reflects the loss and anguish of the protagonist, when The One has left without her knowing the reason why”.

Equally memorable is Remember, a duet with Benjamin Kheng of The Sam Willows. “I thought the track seemed to lack something. It so happened that Roland Lim, my producer, knows Benjamin,” she said. “Benjamin had heard the track, liked it (and) he agreed to collaborate.”

After the launch, Foo will be promoting her EP at two other venues, which have yet to be announced (although she’d like to do a tour of Starbucks outlets). And with the song Picture Perfect already on the Class95FM playlist, we can expect to hear a lot more from Celina Kimble in the months ahead. Kevin Mathews

Celina Kimble performs June 8, 8pm, at The Playden, The Arts House Tickets at S$10. For more details, email celinakimble [at] gmail.com.

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