Our dear friend and FOCUS editor, Susan Aloix, caught up with the vibrant live singer (and our new friend), Lisa Brune, after listening to a set of hers at Isle of Miracles.

Susan: I have a confession. I heard you sing 1.5 songs and my jaw dropped. I thought it must have been the radio. Your voice is amazing. How would you describe your music?

Lisa: I started singing in Second Life in 2011. I found myself spending hours listening to artists here. When I started, I mostly sang material that was within my comfort zone. I found that I didn’t like my voice, but I needed to sing!

Susan: I’m so glad you kept going.

Lisa: I love the shivers and vibes that you feel when you sing. It’s cathartic. It allows a place to release frustrations from my RL job as social worker. But it also gives life to one’s sweet feelings.

Susan: That’s hard to hear. I adore your voice.

Lisa: When I listen to others sing, I notice I’m not necessarily attracted
to artists with performance skills — I find I hunger for the raw emotion in music. I’m clear about what I can do and what I can’t. But over time you start to challenge yourself and start to move out of the comfort zone.

Susan: When combining honesty with art, people are deeply touched.

Lisa: Singers can give something huge that’s not actually just about
their skill. The fake filter comes off and you’re no longer pretending.

Susan: What was it like working with FunkyFreddy Republic?

Lisa: I had the opportunity to fly to the USA for a weekend of concerts with Voodoo Shilton, Max Kleene, TwinGhost, and Funkyfreddy Republic. It was awesome to play all together. Freddy and TwinGhost do music in RL and they try to live from it. SL music is unique as you are not forced to open up your real life. You can choose to only share your music. My adorable “lulus” (Lisa’s fans), they know bits of my RL. We talk and share personal stuff sometimes, but that isn’t what links us.

Susan: They have become part of why you do it.

Lisa: I became also dependent on them.

Susan: Yes, interdependent.

Lisa: I’m not attached anymore to “making a perfect performance” or to be technically perfect. I just feel a responsibility towards my “lulus,” and sometimes I say “I hope you are feeling well, and if not, let’s just feel good for an hour” and yes, I’m speaking to myself when I say that too.

Susan: Yes, they look after you, you look after them.

Lisa: It’s as though we create a cloud so we’re always “together” and we just make it comfortable to give and receive. It’s funny as their requests can change my frame of mind. Sometimes I’m thinking, “Grrr, I’m so angry I WILL SING ROCK” and they ask soft songs. So I say “OK let’s do soft songs then.” And I alternate a bit, but it forces me to calm my own pace. It’s awesome, as the rage I was feeling seeps into another kind of emotion doing a sweet song.The most beautiful thing to hear them say is not actually “I love your voice,” but “when we come, it makes us feel better.”