10 Questions With Say She She on Their Debut Album 'Prism'
Sometimes while sweating the amount of email and DM traffic pulverizing our inboxes, we dream of a time when you had to stop on by, ring our bell, or catch us on the dancefloor to get to know us. If we could conceive of a perfect soundtrack for that feeling, then Say She She’s latest release Prism is just that—a blast of nostalgia we never truly experienced but are left wanting all the same. To learn more we reached out to this NYC-based collective and loved what we found out.
Ones To Watch: Who is Say She She?
Say She She: We are a femme-led eight-piece discodelic soul band that all met in NYC! We write and sing about our lived experience as women in our brand of feminist funk, but we mainly see ourselves as beauticians whose job it is to remind people of the beauty in the world and lift them: by dragging them onto the dancefloor at live shows or soothing them to sleep with the warmth of wax on the decks.
What is Prism all about?
Prism is a collection of our most honest and soulful songs—a lover’s rock delight for the decks—meant to uplift and brighten the spirits.
The title track “Prism” is a song about a mind-opening psychedelic experience of running through the colorful fields of upstate New York in the summertime. The lyrics are meant to encourage you to let go and flow effortlessly alongside nature. Our favorite part of the record? Most definitely the twinkle sprinkles of Victor Axelrod (Dap Kings / Menahan Street Band / The Frightnrs / AKA Tiklah) with his carefree light touch keys and shimmering synths on the title track.
The record was made during the height of COVID and we went into music as a powerful force to soothe and heal those around us and the record is our offering, a presentation of our feminine strength. “Pink Roses” is about riding the waves of grief but somehow people say it always makes them wanna dance. And “Fortune Teller” is a lullaby-like melody, underpinned with a killer bass line that makes you groove. “Apple of My Eye” is a love song to New York City where we all met and fell in love with playing music together.
On Prism retro vibes abound, but the album has a diverse feel. How’d you come up with the sound design?
This was a bit of a piecemeal effort given the lockdown in 2020! We paired the analog instrumental stems with digitally recorded vocals and synth overdubs so it definitely feels like a mix of old and new. The limitations we faced during that time—having to remote produce and remote mix—sort of defined our sound in a way. It was intentional but it’s also a product of the constraints that were in place during 2020 and 2021.
Any notable collaborators? Who produced the album?
Absolutely. We’ve got an incredible lineup of musicians on this album! Prism features contributions from so many of our friends who really pulled together and chipped in to help us make it! From Dap Kings Joey Crispiano and Victor Axelrod, through to Max Shrager (The Shacks), Bardo Martinez (Chicano Batman), Nikhil Yearwadekar (former Antibalas), Andy Bauer (Twin Shadow), Matty McDermot (NYPMH), Steve Okonski (Durand Jones and The Indications), and Mike Sarason (Combo Lulo).
The title track “Prism” was produced by Max Shrager and “Pink Roses” was produced by Bardo Martinez (Chicano Batman). The rest of the record was produced by Piya and Sabrina, primarily out of necessity, and we were lucky enough to have Max Shrager come in at the nth hour and add some additional production on many of the tracks which really helped bring them to fruition! It was an amazing experience of learning recording techniques and the language it takes to articulate our taste so while the self-production was borne from necessity, we are so grateful for how much we learned in the process.
How analog is your approach? Do you try to evade digital production or embrace both?
We’ve definitely taken a hybrid approach to production. We love the warm sounds of the tape machine and recorded all the Prism instrumentals to tape at Joey Crispiano’s studio down in DUMBO in 2019.
We thought we were only going in to record demos but once we made the stems they were so undeniable. A bit later during the distanced days of covid, we were able to get into Atomic Studios in Redhood, Brooklyn— thanks to our dear friend Merle—and safely record vocal overdubs. The studio is incredible with a massive live room and three separate isolated vocal booths so it was the perfect place to lay down our vocals, which were all recorded digitally.
Can we expect more of this style in the future, or is the intention to evolve?
We can’t help but evolve as songwriters, as humans, as friends, and as bandmates. Our personal and professional lives have evolved since writing this album so I think that will and to some extent already has been reflected in what we will and have written since. We also think that things are not always linear and some songs and sounds you can come back to again and again. So while we are always growing and changing I hope that some things also remain integral to our vision as artists.
Besides this excellent album, what else should we be on the lookout for?
Ahhhh! We’ve got more music videos coming out this year and we’re mega stoked to be hitting the road in November for our debut headlining 'Out of Our Minds' tour! Hopefully, we can catch some familiar and new faces at our shows starting with a hometown show at BROOKLYN MADE on November 3 and then heading over to the west coast for a run ending in Seattle.
What's inspiring you right now outside of music?
We’ve been traveling a lot and taking in exhibitions from both established and up-and-coming visual artists. Piya was recently in Mexico City and was raving about the Tania Candiani exhibition at MUAC (Museo Universitario Arte Contemporáneo) I spent the summer in Berlin and saw shows literally all over the city almost every day. We are so lucky to live in NYC and often hit up the galleries in Chelsea or LES on weekends when we’re not in the studio. We are also working with the Women’s Museum gearing up for their launch in NYC later this year which is super exciting.
We’re also inspired by the work that many of the women campaigners around the world are doing. These women are continuing to fight despite limited resources and support—to make other women’s lives better and that definitely motivates us to keep using our voices in a concerted way to raise awareness about women's rights which are essentially human rights.
Any musical trend you love or loath currently?
Music NFTs - whaaaaat???? Not loving:)
Musically who is emerging but making all the right moves? Who are your current OnesToWatch?
Surprise Chef, Jalen Ngonda, Miranda and The Beat, and Nicky Egan.
