Alexia Avina
New York based dreampop singer-songwriter Alexia Avina shares new single You the first track to be shared from forthcoming EP Crush, due for release 14th Oct via Lost Map.
PHOTO CREDITS: RITA IOVINE
Commenting on the new single Alexia explains “‘You’ is about how crush energy is so ephemeral, it only exists as much as you feed it, and only persists as much as you feed into it. The amount of mental energy associated with keeping it alive and trying to parse out and define fiction from reality definitely takes a toll on the spaciousness of my mind.”
After moving to New York from Massachusetts, having left a long-term relationship, Avina saw an opportunity to reclaim her sense of self, which included tuning in to desire. The collection explores getting swept up while at the same time recognizing that there’s nothing more to a crush than the energy you put into it: “I wanted to sustain and imbue the fallacy of crushing with focus,” she says, “even if it felt ephemeral and fabricated. I also wanted to chart the progress of crushing: from questioning and its initiation, to letting go of this thing that actually doesn’t exist at all.”
Having released four studio albums along with several EPs and singles, Avina’s focus shifted exclusively to synths a new instrument for her which proved to be a liberating endeavour: “Writing this EP was very freeing. I felt compelled to write something that was light, fun, and easy. It really helped break me out of the box I was keeping myself in creatively. I felt more emboldened to do something that I felt sounded good and that I liked, rather than thinking about everything else external to it.”
Written and recorded in her bedroom in Ridgewood, Queens, Avina collaborated with Alex DeSimine (Talk Bazaar) and Tea Sea, who brought drum programming and some additional synths to the mix. “As writing this EP was an exercise in freeing myself from my own expectations and limitations,” says Alexia, “it was also freeing myself up to collaboration – being less precious and more receptive to others' input has allowed me to fully embrace my own sound and its potential.”
It's a departure from her previous releases, yet the Crush EP still contains the core of Alexia Avina: “I think what’s interesting about these songs is that they feel like the opposite side of the spectrum of my usual output, but they also fit within the same world,” she says. “Even though it feels like a very different sound, it still has the same essence – just channelled through a slightly different stream.”
