Start Listening To: Heka

In our interview with Heka, the Tuscany-turned-London-based artist talks about the process behind her upcoming EP, (a), and the people behind it, and hints at her ambitions for this year.

For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from, and a little bit about the music that you make?

My name’s Francesca, a.k.a. heka. I grew up in Italy, near Florence, and moved to London after high school to work and make music and eventually study. I like to combine folk, rock and electronic influences in my music and just play around with different sound textures, song structures and styles of writing so I guess I feel most comfortable in the in-between genres.

How has living in London influenced you as an artist?

I mean it changed me so deeply as a person that it must have certainly done something to the artist in me too but I don’t know that I know exactly what. It’s the city where I’ve grown up as an adult and learned about myself the most and where I had the first taste of the rest of the world outside of my hometown. It was also my first real experience of living in a big city. The dynamic pace, the expanse and richness of London’s character, the hybridity and diversity of the realities that live nestled together in this big sprawling jungle. These are definitely aspects that have affected me, and that probably seeped through to the way I write and produce.

What is your songwriting process like?

I don’t know that I have one, it kind of just happens and it has changed many times throughout my life. Sometimes it starts from some poem or lyric I’ll have written on my phone, sometimes I just pick up a guitar and start improvising and something comes out. My trusted loop pedal was a revolutionary tool for my songwriting, it made it so much more immediate and experimental. I think changing instruments really helps diversify the writing and it offers a fresh outlook when you come to a song from a different angle. Songwriting, for me, always comes from a place of experimentation and play I think, I just sort of let my mind wander off as I improvise, either with sounds or words. I play until something clicks or write until something grabs my attention. I think on a level I’m constantly writing in my head. It’s kind of just the extension of my internal monologue becoming external. Anything I think, feel or experience is a material in a way, so I’m constantly sourcing and either assembling or discarding, then when I sit down to play, that stuff is already there, it just has to be sung some way or another. But yeah it’s all really organic and non-linear so I guess it’s hard to explain.

How did you produce your upcoming EP (a)?

Well, mostly in my room! Apart from ‘(a) wall’ which was co-produced with Ed Tullett and featured Jemima Coulter on the trumpet and so involved quite a bit of emailing stems and recording stuff long-distance, the rest of the EP was really just this very intimate late-night production at my desk type of thing. I really enjoyed being in control of the mix this time around, though it wasn’t without its challenges. I learned lots from it and I think it made the whole project more experimental and less structured than it might have been if someone else had produced it or if I’d been recording in the daylight haha. There’s something about the intimacy of a set-up like that which makes for a more spontaneous, less filtered approach to recording that I think was really beneficial to this particular project and I cherish that experience.

What is the origin of the title of the EP?

Um, it’s actually a bit silly but it literally just came from the names of the tracks. I had actually been planning on releasing these songs as a collection for some time and I just remember writing them down in the order I thought they should go and noticing that they all started with ‘a’ apart from one (wires). I quite like patterns and thought that was funny so I just called it (a).

Could you tell us more about the lyrics in recent single ‘(a) dab’?

The lyrics are about the addictive nature of unrequited love, and use drugs as a metaphor for the kind of pull that you feel in these situations even when everything around you is warning you against it. Oldest song of the bunch!

Is it just yourself who performs on this EP or did you work with anyone else?

Aside from Ed Tullett’s piano, bass and guitar, and Jemima Coulter trumpet on ‘(a) wall’, the rest of the EP was just me doing everything else.

Which is your favourite track from the EP and why?

‘(a) mask’, the opening track of the EP. I’ve always loved this song, don’t really know exactly why. As a writer, I’m always pretty attached to the latest thing I write, but this one remained my favourite for some time and I’m still not bored of it which is rare — I get bored pretty quickly and my taste is constantly evolving and pulling me in different directions. New songs always feel the most true to how I am and what I like at any given time, but this one seems to have stayed with me through the changes so it feels special to me.

Are there any venues/stages you’re hoping to play one day?

Oh wow, I don’t think I have any specific venue, I don’t know that I think like that heh. But I hope to have lots of experience with several. Don’t know if it classes as a venue but I would definitely lose it if I ever got to play live on KEXP. :)

What do you love right now?

Restaurants and pubs opening up again.

What do you hate right now?

The weather.

Is there any new music from 2021 that you’re enjoying?

I’ve been completely obsessed with Saint Jude’s song ‘The Archeologist’ from his new EP; ‘Animal’ by LUMP; and Lael Neale’s latest album is really beautiful.

What else can we expect from you in 2021? Any more releases planned? 

Yes, some interesting collaborations actually! Hoping to release something sometime in autumn perhaps, but it’s still early to say.

Do you have any final life lessons or tips for our readers?

Graduating and releasing an EP at the same time is not advisable. Though not impossible :)