On the song selection approach for her new album, she said, “At the beginning of this project, when Paco (Serén), my co-writer and producer for this album, who is based in Galicia, Spain asked me how many songs I envisaged for this album, I replied ‘I don’t know yet, but I do know my third album will be 49 minutes long.’ He got that right away, he understood about me and my numbers, how some of them are important and special.”
She continued, “More importantly, he knew he could work with a number like 49. We probably had about 12 to 13 song ideas for the album but not all of them made it. In the end, there were 15 tracks on this album: nine songs and six interludes. Paco was very glad my number for this album was not 87.”
While it was hard for her to select a personal favorite, several that stand out to her include “New Year’s Day,” “Como Minimo,” “Overlooked” and the title track, “Dark Sight of the Moon.”
When asked if she was going for a certain theme for her album, she said, “Dark Sight of the Moon is the final chapter to the trilogy that began with Alice in Stevie Wonderland and continued with The Good, the Beige and the Ugly. Unlike the other two, I did not know the title of this album before commencing work on it. We had a sheet of paper taped to the door of Paco’s studio and we would jot down contenders as they came up. Nothing grabbed me for the longest time.”
She elaborated, “The second time I went to work with Paco, six months after we had begun, and spinning off on an idea he had, it suddenly came to me and everything fell into place afterward: missing lyrics and song selection. The title not only had the requisite play on words (to go with the other two Micropixie albums), plus it later inspired a few musicians to channel Pink Floyd on some songs. Sonically, the album is dark and introspective with moments of sweetness and light. Lyrically, the album’s primary theme is all about vision: observing, looking, opening one’s eyes to see the reality of the world we live in.”
Her plans for 2019 include a third single “Como Mínimo,” as well as a music video, which is in the editing phases, and a full-length album release, which will be out on March 22. For the rest of the year, she would like to produce more videos and plan “a beautiful live show.” “I don’t know what that live show will look like yet but it will be different from any type of live performance that I’ve done previously. I suspect there will be a lot of technology involved both sonically and visually,” she said.
Digital transformation of the music business
On the impact of technology on the music industry, Micropixie said, “Technology allowed me to become curious, dive in, experiment, make mistakes, and learn tricks. I remember the joy I experienced commencing work on my first album with co-writer and co-producer, Jeff Crerie, as he showed me around Cubase.”
She continued, “My mind was blown when I saw how DAWs allowed one to create new sounds through layering, looping, and not to mention electronic instrumentation. Aside from the limitless options with DAWs, technology also afforded me the opportunity to create albums with three different co-writers and co-producers, two of them on the other side of the planet to me. For example, with Paco being in Spain, a lot of our discussions happened on WhatsApp and then on Facebook. On there I created a secret closed group for myself, him and his wife who would step in to translate if required.”
Micropixie added that Google Translate was an invaluable app especially with regard to language issues. “We always had that open in a browser as we worked and we would consult it frequently. It allowed us to get quite technical. Also, musicians now have tools to market and promote the music ourselves without any third party taking control,” she said.
She continued, “With the good also comes the bad: music fans no longer support the musicians they love because digital streaming services companies like Spotify take most of the revenue. Another thing, for an artist like myself who mostly makes concept albums, is that many of my songs are now heard as singles instead of as part of the larger story they were intended for.”
To learn more about Micropixie, check out her official website and Facebook page.
