Pixx – The Age Of Anxiety is out now via 4AD / Remote Control Records.
PRAISE FOR PIXX
“I Bow Down is the song of the year. It has scratchy Sabotage guitars, melody pools, simmering arpeggiated synths and a chorus that’ll turn owls’ heads 360 degrees.”
– The Herald Sun, ★★★★
“A riveting and refreshing debut, which balances weirdness with sweet and soothing electropop joy.” – The Guardian, ★★★★★
Pixx – the alter ego of Hannah Rodgers – has today released her debut album, The Age Of Anxiety via4AD / Remote Control.
The Age Of Anxiety, featuring ‘I Bow Down’, ‘Grip’, ‘Baboo’ and ‘Waterslides’, seeks to address a generation increasingly isolated by an unprecedented new world order, from the pressures of social media to ever-changing political turbulence. The Age Of Anxiety borrows its title from W.H. Auden’s final poem, charting one man’s quest to find substance and identity in a shifting and increasingly industrialised world. Published in 1947, Auden’s sixpart rumination on human isolation in the modern age parallels the overarching themes of Pixx’s work some 70 years later.
Signed to venerable indie label 4AD at just 19, Pixx released her first collection of music, Fall In, in 2015. An EP of four folk-infused torch songs, it is, by Rodgers’ own admission, a deeply personal collection writ of heartbreak and introspection. Fall In went down a storm amongst critics, with TheSunday Times calling it “one of the most arresting debuts of the year.” The critical attention helped her secure crucial slots at Glastonbury and Latitude festivals, whilst she was also invited to perform with the likes of Daughter, Lush and Glass Animals amongst others.
Hannah remembers her first awareness of anxiety; aged 9, confused by an insomnia caused by recurring nightmares. The perpetual cycle from sleep deprivation to lucid dreams lasted just a year, but left a lasting impression, inspiring a fascination with the self and how it can be discovered in different states of consciousness, especially for a vivid dreamer. This is one of many somnolent experiences that she draws upon for her debut album.
With the outside world in turmoil, Rodgers looked internally for inspiration. Those childhood nightmares, and later visceral dreams, provided the perfect metaphors to unpick the current topics of the moment, to seize some sort of control when all around seems to lost. Instead of tales of loss, Rodgers found herself writing from the perspective of a social commentator, exploring the sense of unease ignited initially by her nightmares and later her waking reality. The spiralling ‘Waterslides’ recounts a nightmare of being trapped in a waterpark surrounded by faceless figures dressed in business suits, whilst ‘A Big Cloud To Float Upon’ details one of the first formative memories Hannah is able to clearly recall.
An ambitious debut statement, The Age Of Anxiety represents the first true statement from a unique British talent, drawing on deeply personal experiences to present a bold, relatable new commentary on her world order.
Listen / Purchase via: https://remotecontrolrecords.lnk.to/PixxAgeOfAnxiety
Pixx – ‘Waterslides’
Stream / Download: https://remotecontrol.lnk.to/Waterslides
Pixx – The Age Of Anxiety
I Bow Down
Toes
Grip
Romance Telescreen
Everything Is Weird In America
Waterslides
A Big Cloud To Float Upon
Baboo
Your Delight
The Girls
Mood Ring Eyes
