London-based artist Marika Hackman gets vulnerable on her third LP (and first for local label Sub Pop) titled Any Human Friend. “This whole record is me diving into myself and peeling back the skin further and further, exposing myself in quite a big way. It can be quite sexual,” she says via a press release. “It’s blunt, but not offensive. It’s mischievous.”
Today's featured track, for example, was inspired by “the trope a lot of gay women experience: sleeping with someone, then it becomes apparent you’re kind of an experiment.”
The album comes from a place of pain, after the end of a long-term relationship. “I think because my life was flipped upside down, it was taking me longer to write,” she says. “This was definitely the hardest process I’ve gone through to make a record. I stopped being able to sleep properly. I was waking up in the middle of the night to write songs.” Working with co-producer David Wrench (Frank Ocean, The xx), she used the slower pace to experiment with electronic music in the studio.
“I really did have a good time working on this album,” she promises. “It’s just emotionally draining to write music and constantly tap into your psyche. No musician is writing music for themselves to listen to. It’s a dialogue, a conversation, a connection. I’m creating something for people to react to.”
