From her upbringing in the rural Italian countryside to her current city life in London, multi-instrumentalist Francesca Brierly explores the hidden connections between sound, space, and memory through rich experimental folk landscapes under the name heka. Following the release of her acclaimed debut single “(a) wall” last month, heka has shared the new song “(a) dab” as another noir taste of her upcoming (a) EP slated for release on May 19th via Balloon Machine Records.
heka’s debut EP mines her past travels and integrates various field recordings she collected from different eras and time zones into one lush composite sketch akin to the gothic folk stylings of Jenny Hval, Chelsea Wolfe, and Aldous Harding. The new single “(a) dab” opens with a chilling whirl of spacious synths that stuns listeners into submission before turning into a lilting folk guitar strum. Much like her gothic-leaning contemporaries, heka spins raw personal imagery into songs that are both gentle and gnarled by pairing visceral lyrics with a wandering guitar. “I’d forgotten how it stings,” she sings on the track as a pattering drum builds into haunting cacophony. “I’d forgotten how it hurts to be the only one in love.”
Combined with her penchant for using sounds samples she collected over her travels, heka seeks to challenge society’s fixed ideas of time and place through her songs. “Sometimes being in love can feel like being on drugs,” heka speaks on the new track via press release. “There is a similar kind of influence that we willingly, and then inevitably, accept to be under; where we choose to give ourselves up. I guess there is a desire, in a sense, to be weak and vulnerable, and sometimes the wrong person can take advantage of that.”
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Listen to “(a) dab” below via Balloon Machine Records.
