Artist Of The Week #285 - Paige Kennedy
This week's Artist of the Week is London based artist Paige Kennedy, who has just released their new EP ‘Babylotion’ - their sound combines danceable baselines with quirky lyrics and hook laced songwriting.
The four-track collection is technicolour snapshot of their chameleonic quirk-pop approach. Across the piece, Paige highlights influences as disparate as (deep breath) Peaches, The Dare, Kesha, Nelly Furtado, The Human League, Annie Lennox, Prince, Eartheater, Bjork, Marina Herlop, Meshell Ndegeocello.
However, by keeping their hand firmly on the tiller songwriting and production wise Paige combines these touchpoints into something resolutely their own. The tracks independently act as vignettes pulling from Paige’s own experience, challenging notions of acceptance, self-possession and gender expectations; as well as observational skits.
They took a moment to talk to us about how the EP came together.
Hey there Paige, how are you? So your EP is out now – how does it feel to have it out there?
Hello! I’m well thanks, hope you are too. Feels like a long time coming to finally release this thing! I’m particularly excited that people get to hear ‘Another Heaven’ the EP track, as it’s one of my favourite songs I’ve ever written.
It is called ‘Babylotion’ – what is the meaning behind that?
Long story: I use Johnson’s Baby Lotion on my face (it’s supposed to be for babies bums). They discontinued it and I was down to my last bottle when I made a secret Soundcloud account for beats I was making, naturally naming it Babylotion. I liked the idea of having an alter ego with which I could write using new rules and palettes. There was a full circle moment once I’d finished the EP where I spotted Johnson’s Baby Lotion back in Boots (the chemist), with new packaging. If that wasn’t a sign from the universe, I don’t know what is. Also, if Johnsons want to sponsor me my dm’s are open.
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories you are willing to share with us?
We tracked all the drums in one day at Octagon Studios in Brixton, with Kieran Murphy on the drums and Kristina Rhodes engineering. Then everything else I tracked from home in London and Kent with George Burrage on bass and James Cooke and me on guitar and keys. My writing process is very insular. I work alone - like batman - though I send my demos to people I trust so they can be critiqued. It’s lovely to bring in my live band at the recording stage because they add fills or have perspectives I might not have considered. The drum tracking day was far too efficient for any behind the scenes moments. I remember George and I were tracking the bass during the Coronation of King Charles, which was an interesting backdrop. My granny found a broken zither in her attic from the 60’s which she gave to me as a teenager. We managed to get a sound out of it and put it through James’ infinite jets pedal, to make glitchy noises at the start of Another Heaven. It was nice the Zither finally got used.
What are the key influences behind the EP?
Peaches, The Dare, Kesha, Nelly Furtado, The Human League, Annie Lennox, Prince, Eartheater, Bjork, Marina Herlop, Meshell Ndegeocello were the main musical influences. Then visually I was drawing on a real range of inspirations: Sarah Lucas, Goodnight Mommy (Austrian Horror film), the Truman show and lads mags.
If the EP could be a soundtrack to any film – which one and why?
Probably Zoolander (might as well pick a film I love), given that the EP is tongue in cheek, has retro influences and is very concise. Not a scene is wasted in Zoolander and hopefully the same can be said for these tracks - they’re pretty to the point. Also, who doesn’t want to soundtrack a walk off?
Do you have a favourite lyric on the EP? If so, which one and why?
I was really proud at the number of puns, silly rhymes and technical terms I managed to sneak into Lingerie Model. Specifically: "The lady in M&S perplexed ‘cos I want a smaller chest, missed the training webinar, she’s selling me a push up bra.” Historically I’ve always been told off for making lyrics too complex and not universal enough. It was lovely to throw the pop songwriting rulebook out of the window. I was giggling with glee when I wrote those lyrics, so it’s been refreshing to see other people connect to something niche.
Now the EP is out there – what next for you?
I’m pretty busy with gigging. My band and I are playing: Sŵn Fest 18 Oct, Left of the Dial Rotterdam 19 Oct and Exit Music 26 Oct. Then I’m touring solo with Moonchild Sanelly in November. I’m also currently mixing and producing my next body of work. This is proving challenging as the day to day running of my artist project alongside my other work also takes up lots of time! Honestly I feel like an entrepreneur running two businesses at the moment.
