Conchis Reflects On Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and New Singles

It has taken five years, but Conchis is finally ready and healthy enough to properly announce herself to the world.

Following the release of her first couple of singles entitled ‘Trouble’ and ‘Cray Cray’, Soundsphere had the chance to talk with the mysterious artist.

Photo by Marko Rantanen

Conchis suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome. This ultimately delayed the release of her first record by five years. “I had the album almost ready in 2019 already, and when I fell ill with chronic fatigue syndrome, I had four burnouts before that and I struggled with my energy levels a lot before I fell ill, and then I just had to stop working, I couldn’t do anything, I couldn’t listen to music, I thought I would never be able to make music again, and I was sick for four, five years before I could open my computer again,” she reflects on the past few years of her life. “. When I was at my worst I couldn’t even use my phone. It’s difficult to explain to people who haven’t been through this, but you can’t do anything, your senses are just so overloaded. You cant even be in daylight, at my worst I was so ill I couldn’t even walk a few metres,” Conchis continues, describing the torture she went through over the course of the battle with her illness. This ultimately led her into living life in a way nobody should. “. I ended up living on the bathroom floor for one and a half months.”

Photo by Marko Rantanen

Determined to continue pursuing music, this did not stop Conchis from brainstorming and composing, “I started to compose my next album in my head.” Earlier this year, she finally felt well enough to continue writing and recording music. Slowly but surely, she managed to complete recording the vocals for her debut album. “I had to start with half an hour once a week. My voice was so rusty, I couldn’t sing the demo songs I had sung before, like I couldn’t hit the notes. So I had to start gently, but I got them all recorded. “ The full album was completed around March and April of this year.

Going through something like chronic fatigue syndrome is incredibly challenging. Reflecting on her experiences with this illness and how it affected her, Conchis gives a very honest response. “Maybe I’m not as attached as I was previously. I’ve had to let go of the thought of never being able to make music again, and that was so heartbreaking. But in a way it freed me, like everything I can do now is just a bonus, and I really learnt how important music is for me,” she reflects, “I think it’s always be my number one love, it’s the thing I’m most passionate about. It made my learn that it’s important for me to try to be something else, a new person.” This new person she found inside of her is one that she is very happy with. “I’m very content with my life right now. I have let go of the thought of being in this stressful workplace environment. I found this really nice peace, that life can be quite simple, as long as I have my friends, my family and I can do some creative things, then I’m really happy with my life.” It is this type of attitude which will continue leading her forward. And which will see her releasing her first full length record in the near future.

Speaking about the album, and how the two singles she released represent the record as a whole, Conchis says “I don’t know if they represent the album that well. Cray Cray was a little bit of a different style than I’m used to.” Despite this, she is clearly very proud of how that particular song turned out. “Cray Cray would have been a choice for me but I don’t know about the other one.” ‘Trouble’, the latest single that was released, is also a turning point for the singer. “I hope I’m better at making those decisions. I haven’t been able to date for so many years when I was ill. I hope I can notice those warning signs a bit earlier. My mum died when I was 15 and I think that that kind of sort of attachment issue problem that that formed has kind of made me drawn to men who can’t be emotionally there for me.” Trouble is not only a song, it is Conchis reflecting on her past, and that seemingly turned her into a more mature individual when it comes to relationships. When music can help people with their lives and improve them, and that is when music is at its most powerful. Something that for Conchis, is very intimidating, but necessary.

Something else that is very striking, is Conchis’s visuals. While the main focus for her is the music, the visual aspect of her character and social media presence is extremely valuable as well. “The music is the main thing for sure. But I’m a very visual person and for me it becomes much more interesting if the artwork supports the music. I really admire such artists like Björk or Fever Ray who have this really elaborate concepts and they have all their artwork from that album they do in a specific style, and I would wish to have that one day.” Proving that she has no plans of slowing down any time soon, and that she mas interesting concepts for the future, she continues “I really thought a lot about the artwork, and I wanted to narrow it down to be as minimal as much as possible. I wanted this kind of simple logo that I could always replace the image or the background, then use the same symbols for each album. So I thought about these visual for a long time with what will be the appropriate logo which I wouldn’t be bored of, and it turned out as it turned out,” she says, laughing.

Continuing on the topic of her visuals, Conchis does not want her visual appearance to affect what people think of her music. Adding a layer of mystery to her image and persona. Speaking about these choices she says that she has “always been drawn to mysterious things, for instance spirits. I also made that choice because nowadays too much is focused on appearance, I didn’t want my face out there, I didn’t want my name to be out there, I also like to work under the radar a little bit, so that I don’t have any pressure to do things, and it’s quite hard. I feel more comfortable being faceless and nameless and ageless, and I think then it will become hopefully more about the music.” As of now, this seems to be working for Conchis, as she still maintains this mysterious image she enjoys having. One which will continue to grow in the future.