Belfast alt-pop artist Katie Richardson aka Hex Hue has released her new single, Aquiver. We asked her the BIG questions . . .
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Aquiver follows on from February's Anyway, and speaking about the new track, Katie says, "It's a song about getting lost in your head. It’s about overthinking and being vulnerable and finding your feet and grounding in a new relationship.
"It's about the fear of losing part of yourself as you hurtle into unknown waters and how corrosive new love can be. I started writing it when I was falling in love with someone and we had our first fight - we were drunk outside a hospital! - so it was passionate and terrifying and dramatic.
"The excitement of someone letting you in, mixed with the terror of the intensity of those feelings and being hurt was really overwhelming."
Tell us three things about yourself?
I live in Belfast where I am a full-time musician/producer/composer and have the best friends in the world.
I'm obsessed with travel and being outdoors and if I didn’t work in music, I’d be trying to be a travel writer or present a travel show.
I was meant to be performing in a punk musical Good Vibrations in New York in 2020 before it (and everything else) got cancelled due to Coronavirus.
How would you describe your music?
Alt-pop that’s very inspired by Scandinavian/Nordic artists. My music is all about release at the minute. The songs feel very cathartic to sing - I think I write to escape from reality and get lost in the music. Beats, synths, harmonies, weird noises and a big vocal.
Who are your musical inspirations?
Where to begin… probably always begin with Stevie Nicks… her voice and songwriting wrecks me… Also Robyn, Bjork, Perfume Genius, Christine and the Queens, Sylvan Esso, Bon Iver, Kate Bush, The Kills, Lykke Li and so many more - I love so many different kinds of music and I’m influenced by it all in different ways. Choirs inspire me - there is something so human, emotive, and powerful about lots of voices singing together.
How are you occupying yourself during the coronavirus lockdown?
In my short breaks from eating cheese and drinking tequila I wrote music for some short films, some online theatre. I spent a lot of time working on my production skills and writing for myself. I released a single with Arvo Party and had an amazing time dancing about in the video for that!
I co-created an initiative called Safe in Sound, which I now chair. It was a response to some of the harassment and abuse accounts coming out in music in Northern Ireland. Our aim now is to amplify underrepresented voices working in music and build a safe, strong, and connected music sector founded on equality, diversity, and respect. Oh, and I got engaged up a mountain in Wicklow.
What’s your favourite song right now?
I have two songs on repeat right now. Beige by Yoke Lore - I just get so lost in this song and I love the production. It has everything. Perfection. Also, The Warning by Kindness and Robyn. One of the last gigs I went to before lockdown was to see Kindness in Stockholm. It was in a small crowded venue and we were right at the front… Then flipping Robyn came on as a surprise and sang this song (which I am so obsessed with) with them. The melody rising along with the beat just affects me so deeply then add in the strings and it’s a full-on tear-fest. I wept and sang along and had my hands in the air and that memory feels so precious now… God knows how long it will be until we are in small sweaty venues being moved so strongly by music again, but I can’t wait.
Favourite lyric of all time?
This Woman’s Work by Kate Bush makes me instantly weep - the lyrics are so powerful and completely heart-shattering. I have an unhealthy creative fascination with regret and am terrified about being overwhelmed with it myself someday.
"I know you've got a little life in you yet
I know you've got a lot of strength left
I should be crying, but I just can't let it show
I should be hoping, but I can't stop thinking
Of all the things I should've said, That I never said
All the things we should've done, Though we never did
All the things I should've given, But I didn't
Oh, darling, make it go, Make it go away"
If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
I mean that’s a nightmare question but I think You Get What You Give by New Radicals - this reminds me of being a kid begging my mum for a bucket hat and it just makes me so happy and hopeful. Total tune!
Where can people find your music/more information?
Find me on Spotify, all the usual social media places like Instagram and Twitter and on my website.
