Hopeless romantic, shoegazer and star-catcher piiico is FBi’s Independent Artist of the Week. He popped by the studio for Up For It with Ify & Benny to discuss his debut EP warmth. Unfurling the nostalgic intimacies that inspire him, the six-track composition of dreamy textures is a sentimental love letter, an ode to togetherness.
Released in a time where the world could use a little more tenderness, warmth is a comforting reminder of the everlasting bonds that are ushered within vulnerability and sincerity. Flirting with forever, piiicos’ raw anecdotal lyricism and imagery is referential and unguarded.
“It’s an album about love, just like different kinds of love. Young love, new love. … The kind of vulnerability that you experience in a relationship, self love as well… Love in general.”
Boundless love is the undercurrent of warmth. The EP is an exploration into the delicacy of intimacy and affection across all types of tender relationships. piiico shared with Ify and Benny his musical beginnings: since he was first introduced to instruments as a child by his parents, the comforting practice of play and confession became an important methodology for him.
“When I was young, [my parents] got me to play instruments. I did piano lessons when I was like eight and then I learned the sax as well. They got me a little APC keyboard when I was 10 and I came with a free version of Ableton. So I would sit on my dad’s laptop and just make beats over the Christmas holidays.”
On the inspirations behind his cinematic and experimental sounds, layers and construction, piiico cites composers Hans Zimmer, Nicholas Brittel, and Emile Mosseri as deeply influential. His illustrative sonic production includes saxophone, breathy exhales, intertwining MIDI strings and floating lyrics,ll of which successfully overlap and create atmospheric dreamscapes encapsulating the all-consuming, euphoric high of unabashedly loving someone.
With a particular mention to, piiico also divulged the importance of field recordings of serendipitous moments, particularly those by Dijon on his album Absolutely, inspired his practice.
“ [Absolutely] Sounds like [Dijon] was sitting at a dining room table with his friends and he’s just screaming his heart out and there’s beers being opened in the background and clapping… That’s why there’s so much field recording in this. I just wanted to make it feel like you’re at a party.”
With the debut EP officially released, piiico teased potential live shows to come. Expect the intimacy to become tangible, and to be curled in a cozy venue with those you hold close.
“Something small, something intimate… With my friends, maybe whoever else wants to come completely free… Just maybe me, a drummer, guitarists, a low lit room or maybe some warm lighting, a little rug, a couch to sit on, something like that.”
warmth is for those daydreams about your forever crush, for basking in the sun and feeling the heat seep through your clothes and onto your skin, for when you cannot help yourself from gushing about the blessed loves in your life, and for when you need a gentle reminder that vulnerability and tenderness exist to be shared.
Words by Izzy Feek