Canadian multimedia artist Annika Zee has been crafting solo and collaborative work since 2013, but come January 22, she’ll finally release her debut EP, Aging Aesthetics. Bookending its sung-through tracks with wordless, avant-garde-lite songs called “Dirty Pictures” and “Fake Boobs That Have Lost All Feeling,” which feature just the right amount of feedback to keep a non-noise listener invested.
The other three, meanwhile, showcase traditional indie singer-songwriter strains with a lounge-y, old-school jazz aesthetic — sounds that could easily soundtrack film-school favorites like Blue Velvet or Lost in Translation. Zee’s piano and guitar melodies take a backseat to her smooth voice, which sings of hope and love and emotional honesty.
Of the EP, Zee tells SPIN:
Aging Aesthetics is an exploration of aesthetics in the modern age. I feel like the trope of the sad female singer songwriter can be somewhat limiting, so my intention with the tracks on this tape was to limit myself to the boundaries of the genre to see how I could challenge them. Through sounds and lyrics, I tried to explore the contrast between masculine and feminine, ownership and power in relationships, as well as question how media affects the way we present and perceive image, sexuality, and emotion.
Listen to Aging Aesthetics here:
Aging Aesthetic EP track list:
- “Dirty Pictures”
- “Valentine”
- “Crazy
- “Let Us Go”
- “Fake Boobs That Have Lost All Feeling”
