Interview: Pashly March 24, 2009

“Is that OK?” Pashly asks, switching off the overhead light in the second floor room of the Harley Hotel.  Sitting down she folds one leg across the other, her yellow Reeboks on the floor. The American singer-performance-artist-superfluous-label-superfluous-label has just reached the final leg of her two month European tour. In the sparse room she is polite, friendly, kind of quiet and genuinely interested. Almost the opposite of her controlling stage presence, where her powerful pitch perfect alto delivers introspective lyrics over intricate dance beats. Behind her, visuals of disco balls in showers and suburban American pavements create a narrative movement impossible to ignore. 

 

Article. What is Pashly? 

Pashly. I’m interested in a juxtaposition of music and visuals. I feel like my songs are dance songs, (She paused and thought for a bit) but they are more about what to do when the party is over. Maybe more about healing.

Hippy healing?

No, more like kind of mid twenties blah, you know? (I didn’t know) Well, you’ll get there. But yeah, just how to deal with it. I’m trying to bring substance into dance music. Trying to see what you can actually say with a dance song. It can be really powerful, so just exploring.

What does the name mean?

Its short for passion, like ones that you have in school: same sex crushes, or crushes on teachers, or like that you have at boarding school. It could also be a crush, or a fist. Its also a Persian poet and a Russian word.

Its kind of a rolling connection then isn’t it? A lot of things at once. Is that an indication of your set and your music?

You’ll see.

How do you make your music?

I think about it for three years, and then use Ableton and Reason and live stuff.  I make my own samples and have a huge backlog of sounds that I’ve made.

You’re really a multimedia artist, combining music, video, costumes. How does it all fit?

I studied visual arts at university and have been making visual art much longer than I have been making music. I have thoughts and ideas that I want to explore, so I marry them with music.

So what is the order then, the song or the visual first?

It all happens at once really.

Is seeing your set like going inside your brain then?

Yeah, its like a water slide… a log chute.

The water in those is gross!

Yeah it’s that toilet cleaner blue (she laughs) yep! That’s my mind! Welcome!

You moved from Oregon to NYC recently

Well, I come from Olympia (Oregon) where there is this tradition of women making experimental music in multimedia projects. But now I’m going in a really different direction, trying to be really pop or disco about it.

So in New York are you part of that hipster electro scene?

Not really, but maybe it’s just because I haven’t really stayed there long enough. I know Telepathe and stuff, they are my friends. But I’m not part of that scene or anything.

2009 seems to be this year of women in electro pop.

What do you mean, women have been in pop forever!

True, but there seems to be a real plethora of female electro singers - La Roux, Little Boots, Telepathe. It’s like boys are DJs or in bands, and girls do vocals in pop.

Well yeah. I think boys are scared to express themselves, how they really are. Like Panther, if boys are doing electro it becomes kinda screamy or fake hip hop, when actually they could sing and it would be really beautiful. I think they are too afraid to be vulnerable. But for a girl, that’s like what you’re supposed to be.

myspace.com/pashly