A Chat with FATECRIMES (01.08.25)
FATECRIMES, comprised of vocalist Anna and drummer Kieran, is not defined by genre but rather by feeling. They intend to make music that resonates, music that lives and breathes with the listener, delivering a raw, emotionally charged sound that thrives on sonic exploration and honesty. We caught up with Anna and Kieran of FATECRIMES to discuss their creative process as a duo, new single ‘Summer Thunder’, and more below.
OSR: For someone who’s never heard FATECRIMES, how would you describe your sound in three words?
Anna: Intricate, Powerful, Evolving
Kieran: Bright, Moody, Expansive
OSR: What does your creative process typically look like as a duo?
Anna: Usually, a bolt of inspiration hits us, and we will sit and write out song lyrics in one go, either together or individually and bring it to the next jam. Our process involves a fair amount of jamming and experimentation that eventually evolves into its own being. We feel when the song is marinated and nearly ready to cook. A few of our songs grew from an individual musical phrase repeated and adjusted over time until that too evolves into its final form.
Kieran: Improvisation is key. A lot of our songs developed from Anna’s previous repertoire as a singer/songwriter with drums improvised beneath to drive them forward and deepen the sound, growing and developing with each run through.
OSR: Congrats on your new single, ‘Summer Thunder’. You mentioned the song was written when you were 15. How has your relationship with the song evolved as you’ve grown older?
Anna: As I’ve grown older, my relationship with this song has been highly unexpected. I wrote this song with a childhood band and never really performed it, but loved it all the same. Ten years later, to have reworked and polished this track under FATECRIMES has been a joy. The magic that Kieran has imbued in the song has matured the track in technical skill and also pushed me to reconsider various aspects of the old version, such as chord progression and vocal stylings. My relationship with ‘Summer Thunder’ is currently that of a proud parent watching my eldest daughter flourish in her own right.
OSR: Are there any non-musical inspirations, books, films, or art that helped shape this track?
Anna: ‘Summer Thunder’ specifically was written as an ode to ancient Greek mythology, which shares a similar trait to me in personifying nature. I learned more about various gods and goddesses and their relation to our seasons, for example, Auxesia which the track begins with, who represents prosperity and spring growth. As a child, my interest in Greek mythology grew from a series of Simpsons Comics which portrayed famous Greek gods and tales.
OSR: Nature plays such a central role in your music. What draws you to environmental imagery as emotional language?
Anna. I find environmental imagery serves as the perfect mirror to my internal experience and understanding of my emotions. I feel like specific elements and imagery directly corresponds to moods or feelings I have felt, and usually this is paired with colour and some kind of textural association also. I think there’s something comforting also in the knowledge and connection between knowing the elements are natural, and flow as they must – as do our emotions.
Kieran: Nature plays a central role in everything – we all came from nature and remain a part of it, and the use of environmental imagery in our songs reflects the fact that music is just as natural a process as the changing of the seasons
OSR: How do you strike the balance between poetic abstraction and emotional directness in your lyrics?
Anna: It’s not a conscious choice, but I often find the more emotionally vulnerable I am being the greater the poetic abstraction. I find expressing without direct reference to the emotion I am discussing much easier, and music is my main source of processing emotions.
OSR: What role does live performance play in the way you compose or arrange your tracks?
Anna: Live performance is the goal of our composing and arrangement. As a duo, we have to be mindful of the number of musical elements we can physically add at a time and, therefore, are aware of balancing the sounds between us.
Kieran: We always develop our songs with a live audience in mind (not always by choice, since we practice in the living room of my shared flat), with the aim of getting a crowd to dance without quite being able to describe what they’re dancing to
OSR: Kieran, your drumming often mirrors the song’s emotional arc. How do you approach writing percussion to match a story?
Kieran: I don’t exactly write percussion so much as I improvise something roughly the same each time, listening for the rhythm of Anna’s vocals, and where the drums need to fit around them for maximum emphasis
OSR: What’s next for you after ‘Summer Thunder’? Can fans expect an EP or more singles?
Anna: Fans can expect a lot more from us in the coming months! We are planning an album release early next year, which will contain some songs that fans will have heard live before, and we are also writing up some new concept tracks and albums for the distant future.
Kieran: We aim to start releasing the leading singles from our upcoming album As Above, So Below this autumn, starting with one of our personal favourites, ‘The Executioner’s Waltz’ – release date to be posted soon on our Instagram: @fatecrimes.
OSR: Looking ahead, how do you see FATECRIMES growing both sonically and thematically?
Anna: Thematically, I know where FATECRIMES is headed, and we have a lot to explore and express with our future music. Sonically, we also have many plans in terms of the sound of our music currently and how it may evolve down the line. As to specifics of that, you’ll have to wait and see.
Kieran: Upwards, outwards, inwards, and onwards. Our upcoming songs feature a balance between introspection, abstraction, compassion, and inspiration. If you’re not sure what that would sound like, you’ll have to keep listening.
Many thanks to FATECRIMES for speaking with us. Find out more about FATECRIMES on their Instagram, TikTok, and Spotify.
