Out Now on Durkle Disco
As soon as I knew what We Fly was going to be, I knew which producers I wanted to work with. LR Groove I ‘met’ on a Uk Funky forum and was one of the first people to hear the vocals for Blackbird, KG played the percussion for the original Objectify, Hagan‘s tunes I was introduced to by Durkle Disco head man Koast (the label behind the We Fly Remixes) and Boa Kusasa‘s tracks had been staples in my sets for a hot minute.
I remember sitting down with at the very first step to the beginning of We Fly and discussing with Laura from Saffron Records who I was or wanted to be as an artist. It had been a while since I’d released anything as a vocalist due to damaging my voice and in that time my DJing had taken off and people were getting to know me more as that but singing and writing was where I started; I felt torn and decided now was not the time to ‘choose’ now was simply the time to ‘do’.
The first writing day, surrounded by pieces of A3 paper, I’d identified who the record was for and what I wanted it to represent – my blackness, feminism, politics, sexuality – and the questions that had come up for me at different times in my life since childhood. The songs that came out of that developed with my band were more than I could have hoped for as a musician. I love to sing them, I love to play them and I loved sitting in Coach House Studios co-producing them. However, if We Fly was really going to represent me wholly it had to encapsulate my ‘other’ side – the raver, the DJ, the afrobeat obsessive which is where the We Fly Remixes began.
I’m going to do a post on each of them in the coming month because they are incredible and as I’m now trying to learn production I want to dig into how they started, how they do what they do and where their inspiration comes from. Every track has been so utterly elevated and I am honestly so looking forward to talking to them all about it so if there are any questions you have for them let me know – I’ll be recording each one as a podcast episode.
Til then, listen and let me know which ones are your faves and why! I honestly cannot say how proud it makes me to see these projects sitting together; a total representation of my multi-faceted musical personality. This record is everything I had hoped it would be and more, feeling very blessed to have something like this to celebrate during these strange times. I’ve been up since 5am with a smile on my face – I hope this puts one on yours too!