Christine Senorin didn’t always see herself making music. In fact, it took a cancelled university lecture and a spontaneous shopping trip for things to properly begin.
“Music was never something I thought I’d ever pursue,” she says. “But around 2018, I discovered more guitar and indie music and realised I wanted to make music like that. Then one day, just before lockdown, my uni lecture got cancelled, so out of impulse, I went to the music store and bought an interface and mic with my student loan, and it all started from there.”
Now working under the name Unflirt, she’s in Los Angeles when we speak. Sightseeing in the morning, recording music in the evening. It’s a long way from bedroom demos and voice notes, but not that far removed from how she still works. “Not much has changed as I still write all my songs in my bedroom,” she says. “But I guess now I feel lucky to have developed such great friendships with some really talented producers who I know I can trust and enjoy collaborating with. I also think now I have a lot more confidence in my sound and who I am as an artist.”
That sound – delicate, direct and emotionally sharp – comes into focus on her new EP, ‘Fleeting’. The record traces shifting perceptions of time, the process of growing older, and what happens when you actually sit with the awkward, uncomfortable feelings most of us try to avoid. “Experiencing a long-distance relationship and the extreme emotions and circumstances that come with it had a huge impact on my life and writing,” she explains. “It altered how I perceived and valued time, as well as how I processed uncertainty and change. Also, getting older into my twenties and seeing the speed of life increase – it felt essential to pause and be honest about some uncomfortable emotions I was feeling, like shame, jealousy and self-doubt, in order to actually get through them and grow.”
For a project that began in the stillness of lockdown, Unflirt’s sound now carries a much broader perspective. ‘Fleeting’ is the result of years spent moving – physically, emotionally, creatively – and pulling moments out of the blur to examine them under a microscope. “I was still in Brazil when I found out that in a month I’d be going straight to LA to start recording the project,” she says. “That was definitely an unexpected joy. It was my first time in the US. It was beautiful to see the songs I wrote in Brazil come to life there, and some of my favourite songs on the EP were recorded during that trip.”
Brazil, she says, shaped the soul of this record. “I am a huge admirer of many Brazilian artists and music, so it was incredible to be able to write and live in the place where it all came from,” she adds. “I was also solely writing on acoustic guitar, so it really helped me focus on nurturing the songwriting, which is the core of the song. Being surrounded by the most breathtaking nature was so inspiring and gave me a lot of clarity that I needed.”
“It was beautiful to see the songs I wrote in Brazil come to life”
Before she’d left, she’d been diving into new influences. One of the most important came via a songwriting course with Adrienne Lenker. “To combine what you see in the physical world with what you feel in your internal world and to bridge the gap between these two when you write,” she says, recalling what stuck with her most. She approaches her own process with that kind of care. “I either sit in my bed or on the floor with my guitar, go through about 10 pages of trial and error in my notebook and take a thousand voice notes of every step of progress I make with a song.” It’s meticulous, even if it doesn’t always appear that way. “All of the above,” she laughs, when asked if she’s a floor-sitter, notebook scribbler or voice note hoarder.
She’s a collector of feelings and moments, both in life and in art. “Before Sunrise is one of my favourite films,” she says, “and it evokes such beautiful feelings of longing, change and the beauty of chance that really resonates with me. The book Agua Viva by Clarice Lispector is one of my favourites too. It’s a hypnotic stream of consciousness that touches on mortality, the nature of life, time, as well as the search for the present moment.” That influence is everywhere on the EP – less about neat conclusions, more about catching something intangible before it disappears.
Unflirt’s recent live shows have seen those intimate, introspective songs stretched into new spaces. Over the past year, she has supported Aurora, beabadoobee, and Del Water Gap, including a set at London’s Royal Albert Hall. “Being able to share such huge stages with these amazing artists was an honour,” she says. “I learnt so much from being on the road with them. It really helped me improve as a performer and gave me, and my band, experience that is irreplaceable.”
That energy now feeds into her next chapter. “I’m currently already writing and recording my next project as we speak,” she says. “And getting ready to go on my first headline tour in the winter! I can’t wait to see my own audience for the first time, so it’s all really exciting.” For someone who built a whole world from inside her bedroom, the chance to take it out into the real one feels like a natural evolution.
She’s also surprisingly at ease with what success means and what it doesn’t. “Success for me looks like seeing my songs be able to connect and emotionally resonate with all different types of people,” she says. “The process from feeling the emotion to writing the song to it, then coming out, is a long journey, so when people tell me they can relate and have felt the exact same way, it’s a beautiful thing and makes it all worth it.”
Outside of music? No superstar antics here. “For fun, I honestly just love seeing my friends and sitting in a park or a café with seats outside (essential),” she says. “I also love travelling, being in nature, swimming, hiking, films, fashion and I like to knit sometimes!”
There’s a confidence running through all of it: someone still figuring it all out, but doing it on her own terms – one notebook page, guitar loop or voice note at a time. With ‘Fleeting’, Unflirt doesn’t just document the passing of time. She holds it still, for just a moment, and makes it sing.
Unflirt’s EP ‘Fleeting’ is out now.
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