Review Fix chats with singer Krista D, who discusses the inspiration behind her new EP, “Look At Me…I’m Krista D.â€
Review Fix: How did the project come together?
Krista D: It’s a combination of older, re-mixed tracks combined with a couple of newer tracks I’ve written in the same style. I’ve begun dividing my songwriting by genre, into 3 projects. Writing is a very mood driven process for me, and this resulted in a tendency to switch between styles a lot. I felt compartmentalizing would make things neater.
The Krista D project is the compilation of the punk rock/ska/50’s styled harmony & doo-wop, material.
Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?
Krista D: Organized chaos, basically. The melody and lyrics tend to pop into my mind out of nowhere, but usually stems from a story that’s been shared with me or a highly emotional experience. I hash out as much as I can and then I hire session musicians to record it in studio. Although that doesn’t sound much like chaos, you also have to consider that I am uneducated musically and am not proficient on any particular instrument, although I write parts for several. So I write things out using a key board, and then spend a good deal of time trying to hire someone to write proper sheet music, or tabs, to give to a session musician.
Also, the ease of hiring session musicians here in Edmonton vs Moncton, where I was last based out of, has been night and day. Overall, it’s been incomprehensibly more difficult to get things accomplished here musically.
Review Fix: What’s your standout song? How was it written?
Krista D: Land Mine is probably my most streamed song and was written during a fairly tumultuous time in my life. I think the more upset I am the more lyrics I tend to cram into a song. I roughed it out structurally with the help of the guys I used to play live with, years ago. The song then went on pause when I stopped doing music following my move to Edmonton. Years passed and I met a musician name Scott McKinley who really liked my music and offered to help me by doing session guitar, bass and pre-production based off of my rough demos. He didn’t even want or need tabs or sheet music and it was very encouraging that someone so talented was willing to go out of their way to help me. I’m finally back, releasing music again after an 11-year hiatus, primarily thanks to Scotts’ contributions.
Review Fix: What are your goals for 2018?
Krista D: I’ll be finishing up a few visual art commitments and then I’m going to see about doing a small tour. I hadn’t initially planned to tour as I hadn’t expected any response to the EP. I digitally released it and then went back to focusing on visual art. Now, since there’s been a bit of a response, I will be putting some effort into supporting it and I plan to produce a new single.
Review Fix: How do you want your music to affect people?
Krista D: I want the mood of the music to be somewhat uplifting and hopeful, but I also want the lyrics to be listened to and considered. I also want people to relate to the stories and see their experiences reflected in them.
The main intent of this project is to suspend heavy topics in a perky sound, with an added sprinkle of “fuck you” attitude. It’s admittedly a bit of a challenge- taking lyrics involving abuse and rape and efficiently masking them with musical genre elements in order to keep the mood light, but I think I’ve succeeded.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Krista D: Apart from doing all I can to support and promote the Krista D EP, I’ll be releasing two other EPs under new projects: Molly Grue(light rock) and Hooha and the Peter Guns (hard rock/experimental).
The tone of these will be different than my Krista D project in that, for Molly Grue, the lyrics are fairly depressing but I won’t orchestrate the music to provide as much emotional relief for the listener. Most MG tracks will likely feel as sad as the lyrics. The HATPG project will be lyrically bitter and the music will feel brooding. There’ll be many years’ worth of angst and anger housed on that EP.
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