We had the opportunity to interview Sardinian musician Hola la Poyana and to share the intriguing music video to the new song “Being The Odd One Out“. Find out more below.

You have just released your latest single “Being The Odd One Out”. How do you feel the song has been received? And what is the story behind the song and the story behind the video?
Since musicians are still not allowed to go on tour, it is difficult to understand how your work has been received: so far I can only use numbers and statistics, and I must say it seems it’s been received rather well, exceeding my expectations.
The origin of the song is very old: several years ago I created a rather rudimentary drum pattern with an old software, to which I added a xylophone line played on a tiny instrument and recorded with the Windows microphone. From then on, it was a continuous succession of attempts to make something that already sounded good, better. In the end I stuck with the original version.
I always wanted to make a stop-motion video for one of my songs, and when I finally had the budget I immediately took the opportunity to call my friends from framebyframe studio. They thought about the concept of the video in a free way, letting themselves be influenced only by the music and the title of the EP (A long cold summer), and then they created a little, beautiful, environmental tale.

If you had to describe your sound, how would you do so? Furthermore, what artists (or other sources) do you cite as influences?
A sound created by one person but designed for a band, a mix of folk, low-fi instruments, psychedelia, songwriting and a touch of blues.
It’s hard to say which artists influenced me. I often listen to music that is really different from mine, so much so that I wonder why I do this stuff instead of something completely different, like hip hop or other things I listen to. If I have to tell you some names that I like and that surely influenced the sound of this project, I would say Beck, Gomez, Calexico, Sufjans Stevens and things like that.

How is life as a musician in Italy? What are the live opportunities (gigs and festivals) like?
This is a really difficult question. Like everywhere else, Covid has changed everything.
In Italy the situation of the music business was already complicated, because of insecure employment and under the table jobs, and now the sector has been wiped out. I have no idea when we will start playing again and if it’ll be the same as before.
Personally I have always played consistently throughout Italy, but after doing it for a while, you have to deal with the fact that in this Country a musician is not seen as a real worker.

If you could be the main support for any living artist, who would that be for and why?
Neil Young, ’cause he is one of my heroes and I still love his music.

What artists have you been listening to? Additionally, who should others be listening to?
During the last two years I have been listening mainly to Grizzly Bears, Meshuggah, Tom Waits, Aphex Twin, Jay Som, soundtracks from old Japanese cartoons and then guitarists of all sorts.
I would recommend to check out Housewives, Aesop Rock, Old man gloom, SVM (from back home).