Py is London based singer / songwriter and visual artist, Jade Pybus. She is also the first person that I have interviewed since my encounter with Cherie Blair (yeah, long story). Here’s what happened when I caught up with her at Vibe Bar on Brick Lane whilst severely hungover from the previous night’s birthday DJing shenanigans.

How did you end into doing music? 

So, I’ve been singing since I was about 4 but I think I started to do a lot of creative writing and poetry and stuff growing up. I used it as a way to escape from a lot of stuff but I never really put lyrics with music until when I moved to Brighton when I went to uni when I started to be a bit more serious about writing music and putting words to music.

So what did you study at uni? 

Music. And visual arts where I made lots of films and visuals and art installations with surround sound.

So you did that song with Lapalux, how did that happen? 

He contacted me on Soundcloud asking me if I was up for working with him and I really liked his sound already and then we started working together. He then sent over a loop that was actually quite simple and structured for him and then I made up a melody and sung the lyrics over the top. The thing that he sent me and the thing that he made sounded completely different to what he made it into. It was quite a structured song but the he kind of ripped it apart but I love what he did with it.

And you’ve worked with Damu? 

Yeah, so Damu was one of the producers that worked with me on my mixtape (it’s called Tripping on Wisdom and is out on the 21st May) which was great as I’ve always really liked him as well but the thing we did together is quite different from his stuff and I really wanted it to have more of a song structure rather than it be a straight up dance tune.

Where do you record? 

I record in my room. Everything that’s on the mixtape was recorded in my room apart from ‘Lungs’ which I recorded in the studios that I work in at my day job.

So what are you doing at the moment? Who are you working with? 

So, I’ve just finished the mixtape who I worked on with loads of people: Damu, Raffertie, Breton and now I’m working on my own music of which I have an idea of how I want it to sound that is: if you imagine Lauryn Hill’s Miseducation but done by a white English girl that grew up listening to Portishead and The Supremes and Billie Holiday but also with a twist of creative jazz. I basically just want to get in a studio and record all of the instruments that I love, with loads of percussion and autoharp and work with some great producers.

You sing on a song on the Breton album (2 Years), how did that come about? 

Well Breton also did a track that was on my mixtape and I’m actually supporting then for my live debut show at Corsica Studios. Basically, Roman asked me to sing on it and we get on really well. I love Breton’s sound and the way that they work. It was great. There’s a really cool story behind the song too. Well it’s actually quite a sad story.

So have you got any other live dates coming up? 

I’m playing Soundwave Festival with Throwing Snow to play the EP that I did with him live but that’s the only live date I’ve got coming up so far but I’d love to do some more live shows.

 

Tripping on Wisdom is out on the 21st May. 

 

Words by Katie Wilkinson