Artist Of The Week #165 - heka
This week’s Artist of the Week is multidisciplinary artist heka - who has just released her brand new EP ‘(a)’ via Balloon Machine Records. An artist unfixed by location, genre or art form, this EP saw heka assemble recordings from different time zones and eras to explore the connection between sound, space and memory. She took a moment to talk to us about the EP came together.
Hey there heka, how are you? So your debut EP is out now - how does it feel to have it finally out there in the world?
Feels great haha I’ve been meaning to get these tracks out into the world for a while now so I’m very happy to have finally managed to release them!
So it’s called ‘(a)’ - which is quite a simple name but does it hold a certain meaning for you?
It’s to do with the titles of the tracks, all starting with ‘a’ apart from one - wires - so I thought it would be fun to call the collection (a), like some sort of common denominator, or what would have to be deleted to make all the tracks the same.. but yea to be honest I just really like patterns.
Where was the EP recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from the creative process?
Mostly in my room haha so not sure about any crazy anecdotes for this one. I started recording the tracks in October, working off some old demos I had, and it was really interesting to go and revisit songs that I’d recorded a little while ago and try to find a way to make them relevant to who I am now and what I like while also remembering and preserving the feelings that had originally inspired them. For (a) wall there were a couple of back and forth emails with Ed Tullett and Jemima Coulter as they collaborated with me on the arrangement of that particular track. And I actually finished the EP mix while I was home in Italy. So the whole project was recorded and mixed between Bristol, Cardiff, London and Fie.
It is being released via Ballon Machine Records - how did that partnership come about?
It’s quite a funny story actually. I emailed Tobi Moore about getting my previous release reviewed. He liked the music so he mentioned me to Paddy who had at that point just started Balloon Machine with Phil. Incidentally, Paddy had already just heard one of my tracks on Get In Her Ears and as it turns out had already been considering me for the label. Some cosmic alignment ! :)
Parts of the EP were assembled in different time zones, was that intention? If so, is there a meaning to that?
It wasn’t necessarily intentional, i just record random sounds and snippets of music pretty much everywhere I go with my phone and then scavenge through them to find things that might fit the production of a track, it just so happened that a couple of the ones I used for this particular EP were recorded while I was traveling. I quite like that because it fits with an idea which I like to explore with my music which is the assemblage of sounds of different feel and quality and atmosphere into a sort of collage I guess. I like the idea of found sound which becomes an integral element in the production and arrangement of a track, and on-the-go phone field recording gives me the option to tie together lots of different moments and realities into one composite, which often creates an interesting - at least for me ! - hybrid sonic space.
Aldous Huxley appears on this EP - what is the link between him and your music?
There isn’t so much a link between him and my music as a whole, but mostly between what he says in that specific recording and the lyrics to (a) mask, which is the song that the sample introduces.
The concept of “having to be completely oneself and completely something else at the same time” is essentially what (a) mask is about. It deals with the self, the world around, and the mask in between.
What are the key themes and influences on the EP?
I’m really influenced by everything that I experience and listen to and watch and learn and I always find it very hard to pinpoint exactly what ends up influencing a specific project I’m working on. It’s mostly this amorphous thing made out of everything that happens to me. Same with the themes, I didn’t set out to make a collection based on any specific ones but what emerges is an EP that deals with philosophical questions and emotional reactions. It’s really just an extension of my constant internal monologue.
Do you have a favorite lyric from the EP? If so, which one and why?
I think (a) mask is my favourite. I like the concise simplicity and the allure that that kind of mysteriousness inspires. I keep finding different interpretations of it myself and it somehow keeps acquiring meaning, which I really appreciate, because it continues to feel relevant to me.
Now the EP is out there - what next for you?
Well I have a few UK gigs planned for the summer, a couple of collaborations hopefully coming out soon, and a bunch of songs that I wanna start recording asap so will be keeping fairly busy.