Micachu interview
Wed 17 Jun 2009
Shapes Of Things Before My Eyes
Mica Levi has been surrounded by music her entire life; she admits to knowing little about life itself but it doesn’t seem to bother her. She’s emerged from the British underground like a hurricane, creating a musical genre all of her own. Whether she wants to admit it or not, her music is truly unique, paving the way for a whole new musical transition, blending together 300 years worth of musical history. It was such a privilege to chat with someone so passionate about music.
Nicknamed Micachu by a rapper from the London underground grime scene, Mica Levi has already witnessed a large cross section of music in her 22 years. The young British musician was raised in a musical family, from the age of four she herself was writing and playing music. As a child she had access to a vast library of classical and popular music; her father was an avid record collector and she describes him as “practically geeky”. She admits to being totally engrossed in music as a child: “I had access to a lot of music and have absolutely no knowledge of anything other than music at all… any school subjects other than music I sucked at, basically.”
Her passion for music led her to attend the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she studied and learned classical composition. But she was no ordinary student, she didn’t completely enjoy the school’s curriculum and she became fascinated by experimenting with different musical arrangements. She says it was “pretty weird” and there was “lots of emphasis on succeeding and things that I don’t find very interesting. It was weird but good, because I was quite crap compared to everyone else that went. So I wasn’t very good in that kind of respect so I just got on with my own things.”
It was during her time at music school that Mica first became involved in the London grime scene, an underground music scene that attracts musicians from all walks of life. It proved very influential to her own development as a confident musician, as she set about involving herself with amateur hip-hop artists and beat makers. She denies any claims that she ever MC’d but confesses to having a deep admiration for hip hop music. “I felt like I could put my foot in and do some production but I didn’t feel like I could ever start pretending to be a rapper. I was just a big fan of the music and the amateur production.”
Despite making many life-long friends and working with several musicians on her critically acclaimed Filthy Friends Mixtape, she is unsure if she would like to ever work with them again. She says, “I was mainly working with amateur dudes, you know, they were pretty unreliable then. It was great, I had a lot of fun but they’ve basically got their own things going now. They’re like, young guys, sort of just doing whatever, on the road as they call it. We just have very different lives, we have a different clock.” Even after I mention that perhaps they’ve matured in different ways, she still seems a bit uneasy, adding, “I don’t know, I wouldn’t like to say that. We’ve all got very different lives. It’s hard to make money as a musician, I don’t know, maybe we will work together, it’s more just the reliability thing. They kept on going to jail and it was difficult organising anything. I really love doing it so I’m happy to do it again, who knows, who knows.”
“…I love hip hop, I will never not listen to hip hop everyday, I love it.”
Mica has now moved on, her debut album Jewellery came out in early 2009 and presented a whole new side to her music. It is a complete contrast to her Filthy Friends Mixtape, this time it’s Mica along with her band The Shapes, Raisa Khan and Marc Pell. The album delivers a huge range of experimental sounds, bending many contemporary musical styles into a new deranged blend of electronic pop music. Composed on home-made instruments including a vacuum-cleaner (’hoover’ for those in Britain), the music is a unique journey into an untitled genre of popular music. Mica credits her love of music as the main influence behind the new record. “I think with this record in particular it’s a bit of a mish-mash because I was coming at it particularly as a music listener. I go through phases like most people go through phases, of just you know, picking up something and getting excited about it. I love hip hop, I will never not listen to hip hop everyday, I love it.”
Despite being incredibly hard to pigeon hole, Mica still describes the music on Jewellery as pop, but she does have an interesting explanation. “Because it’s such a mish-mash of styles in a way, but for for me a lot of pop records are. If we’re looking at poppy pop stuff like Katy Perry or Britney Spears, when they put out a record there’ll be a track on there that’s like a hip hop track and there’ll be one that’s like a country track and there’ll be one that’s a salsa track, you know what I mean, it has a variety of styles.”
Mica Levi is definitely a very fascinating individual. Her passion for music is undeniable and it comes through strongly when she describes her own music. We probably could have talked all day but as she said, “I could tell you about all the domestic shit I have to do today but it would bore you shitless, so I wont.”
Micachu & The Shapes- Curly Teeth: MP3
Posted by Nick Fulton under UK
