Artist Of The Week #157 - Pixey
This week’s Artist of the Week is Liverpool’s genre-fluid pop whizz Pixey - who has just released her groove-fueled EP ‘Free To Live In Colour’ via Chess Club Records. She took a moment to talk to us about childhood memories of having a walkman and how the EP came together.
Hey there Pixey, so you EP is out today - how does it feel to have it out there in the world?
Hey, I feel ecstatic that it’s finally out for everyone to hear! I put so much of myself into this EP, so feels good.
It is titled ‘Free To Live In Colour’ - what is the meaning behind that?
The meaning behind it is quite simply choosing to live your life in a way that has meaning to you. For me, that’s making music.
It is being released by Chess Club - how does it feel to be part of their family?
It feels so grand to be part of the Chess Club family. They’re so supportive of the music I want to create, feels great to have that support from a label I always admired.
Where was the EP recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from creating it?
It was written, recorded and produced from my bedroom, which I feel proud to be able to say. I did do a couple elsewhere when I was writing on a whim, like ‘The Mersey Line’ which was written in Parr Street at about 2am on a Saturday night. I decided I didn’t want to go out, the room I was in overlooked a night club smoking area which was entertaining, and I wrote the whole tune in about half an hour.
Music for you started at a young age, dancing to the likes of Queen - what are some of your fondest early childhood musical memories?
My fondest memories are mostly of me and my walkman when I was about seven years old, and my collection of questionable CD’s. I had a Britney Spears ‘In The Zone’ cd that I just used to play over and over again until the walkman packed in.
In 2016, you caught a fatal viral illness which hospitalized you for a while, but it is from that moment that you made the choice to pursue music. Can you tell us a bit more about that? What are the key themes and influences on the EP?
I think that’s where the title ‘Free To Live In Colour’ came from. Before the realization I wanted to music following my illness, I always say it felt like I was living in black and white or something. I felt really lost about what I was meant to do. I never even knew I could write music until after that. There’s themes of feeling liberated like the title track, feeling trapped in ‘Electric Dream’ and also feeling cynical like in ‘California’. These were all prominent emotions I’ve been feeling over the last few years.
Do you have a favorite lyric on the EP? If so, which one and why?
Definitely ‘another sunny day and I can’t be bothered’. This one makes me laugh because it really just sums me up as a person.
If you were free to live in colour, which colour would you be and why?
Red. There’s something just so striking and unmovable about that colour. I’m bored of feeling like I need to be anything less than out there and being bold, and I think red reflects that.
Now the EP is out there, what next for Pixey?
More music hopefully! And playing live when everything gets back to normal. I can’t wait to show everyone all the music I’ve been working on.