Most stories that begin with a budding young artist relocating to LA to chase success don’t end with that artist ultimately achieving it once they’ve returned back home. Yet this is basically the trajectory taken by Seattle by way of LA by way of Seattle again songwriter Akira Galaxy, who crafted her debut EP What’s Inside You after completing the hero’s journey which evidently permitted the shift in perspective necessary to process the life events populating the EP’s lyrics.
“I moved to LA as a teen to start my endeavor as a musician, but it wasn’t until I hit the pause button and went back to Seattle at 20 that I discovered my musical and lyrical voice,” she explains three years after relocating. “I remember intending to go back for two weeks and ending up staying for seven months. I like to think it was a perfect combination of things—the guitar, my childhood bedroom, and the state of the world. A fire was ignited beneath me, birthing the first song off of the EP.”
The aforementioned musical voice she references lands in some nebulous realm just outside the reaches of dream-pop, further astrally projected by extraterrestrial lyrics. Galaxy’s singing voice, meanwhile, recalls the smoky vocals of Victoria Legrand—which is to say that if you’ve ever wanted to hear Beach House cover Massive Attack, see the EP’s take on “Teardrop.”
With the full EP landing tomorrow via Bright Antenna Records (home to The Wombats, Sports Team, and Fana Hues, among others), you can hear an early stream below. Otherwise you can pre-save it here.
