Interview: Celestial Sounds from Seattle’s Akira Galaxy

Akira Galaxy sat down with Atwood Magazine in Austin, Texas to discuss her musical roots and where her sound is headed to next.

Stream: ‘What’s Inside You’ – Akira Galaxy

Subconsciously my name has played such a vital role in my sound, which is so weird ’cause it was so unintentional.

SXSW has come to pass… but not without some last words from our final interviewee of the week, Akira Galaxy.

A slight breeze on an oddly cool Texas night moves through the Seattle native as she smoothly sways and softly moves around the outdoor stage in a silky manner. The 24-year-old leaves you with feelings of desire as you beg to reside in her ethereal soundscape. The stars aligned for Akira Galaxy Ament as she brought the final night to a fitting close; in fact, you can read Atwood Magazine’s live review here.

With some festival dates on the horizon, Akira Galaxy is also set to open for Winnetka Bowling League throughout July. She’s also working on writing for her next project – possibly an album – but for now, you can look forward to some new releases to help fuel your new sonic fixation.

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:: stream/purchase What’s Inside You here ::

:: connect with Akira Galaxy here ::

A CONVERSATION WITH AKIRA GALAXY

Atwood Magazine: When did music first come into your life?

Akira Galaxy: Oh man, I mean the first show I went to was when I was three years old. It was to see the Gorillaz. My dad took me and I feel like my whole childhood my parents were introducing me to new music. My dad had a huge record collection and I own that now. I’m still discovering new music in the collection. I feel like all different kinds of music, specifically rock music, was always around in my childhood. And then I really went through a phase where I was listening to a lot of pop because you kind of have to go through a phase where you’re on your own little route, you know? [laughs]

I remember going to Coachella when I was 13 years old. I remember it was like the last show and [my dad] took me to see Queens of The Stone Age. I remember sitting on the ground, head in between my legs, just like half asleep. And then they went on and the energy around… everyone was so excited. I remember it just completely swapped my energy level and I remember seeing the band and being like, “Oh my god, this is f*ing amazing. I have to do this.” That’s kind of when I really got into rock music pretty intensely. But I’ve been writing music since I was really young. I wrote some of my first songs when I was 10 years old.

How would you describe your own sound and how has this changed these past few years?

Akira Galaxy: I feel like subconsciously my name has played such a vital role in my sound, which is so weird ’cause it was so unintentional. [laughs]

Your name fits your sound so perfectly. That is your real name, right?

Akira Galaxy: It’s my first and middle name. It’s dreamy and spacey, and I think that it’ll constantly have a little bit of that. It seems something I can’t seem to escape. [laughs] But I’m definitely on the hunt to start creating a bit more up-tempo songs.

How do you expect your sound to evolve?

Akira Galaxy: Some of the songs that I’ve written recently are some of my favorites thus far. The more that I’ve performed, it’s really changed my perspective of the kind of music that I want to create because I have so much fun performing up-tempo songs. Now that I’ve performed – I just started performing over a year ago – experiencing that… I’m really excited for a lot of energetic songs.

Do you find yourself being more of a lyrics or a sound person?

Akira Galaxy: It’s funny that you say that because a friend of mine a few years ago said to me, “The music makes you like an artist, the lyrics make you fall in love with an artist.” And so I think they’re equally as important. I can’t not prioritize one.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

Akira Galaxy: Lyrically, I think the discovery of my lyrical voice came from poetry, for sure. I probably have like 300 poetry books. [laughs] So that’s really important to me. But also lyrically, constantly just staying in tune with things that are happening around you and listening to conversations. And if certain things stand out to you, making sure that you are in tune enough to be able to write certain things down or if certain moments happen to be able to really pay attention to that and write it down in real time. Because it’s sometimes easy to forget but I think that if you are in tune that you can create some really, really cool stuff.

As far as sonically, I don’t know. I think I get inspiration from bits and pieces of songs. I think most of it today is just getting experimental with pedals and being around other people who are on the same wavelength as me in terms of what inspires us sonically.

I have a question here from a fellow SXSW musician, Kerry Alexander of Bad Bad Hats: Do you usually write the chorus or hook of the song first? Or, do you write the beginning of the song first and work your way down?

Akira Galaxy: There’s no method for me. A lot of the time I’ll write the chorus first, but also sometimes I’ll write the verse first or I’ll have a poem written and I’ll start with the lyrics. I kind of just let the divine music Gods take a hold and take me on my journey. [laughs]

Do you have any questions you’d like to ask a fellow artist?

Akira Galaxy: What do you want the audience to take away from your live performance?

Is there anything else you would like to speak on?

Akira Galaxy: I think something that’s important to talk about with artists is intention through performance. That’s why I asked that question, I think that is so vital for the full picture of the artist. It really helps the audience understand what’s trying to be said musically. That’s something that I think is essential for my whole picture as an artist.

What is your intention then?

Akira Galaxy: I think just to be intentional in the way… by getting across what I’m saying in my lyrics. I take mime class a ton and he’s really helped me to do that – to put movements to some of my words.

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