Feature: Asha Jefferies - Desire Is An Angel
Asha Jefferies wanted to make music that would soften her, as she started writing for Desire Is An Angel Jefferies began listening closely to her desire.
We tend to think of desire as stemming from lack. But on her new album, Desire Is An Angel, Jefferies depicts desire as an essential force in the development of our self-knowledge.
Speaking about the 'What The Hell', Asha says,
“This was the first song I wrote for the record. It literally took me years to finish though and the chorus sat on its own for a very long time. I wanted it to feel celebratory, not self-centred. And walk the line of expressing forgiveness and resentment. It’s a song about wanting someone’s words to reflect their actions and vice versa.”
“It's less about getting what you want, and more about understanding what you want and why you want it,”
Jefferies says. Making the album was a transformative process, she adds,
“It has taught me how to feel more confident and comfortable within what I desire. I think before, I was quite timid and hesitant to want things.”
Jefferies explores her former tendency to silence desire on the album’s first single, the symphonically-adorned ‘Backwards Baby’.
A similar effort to stamp out desire shows up in ‘Cool Guy’, a crescendoing alt-country song that starts out sounding like a scratchy home demo and ends sounding like the sort of power ballad that could bring lighters into the air in a packed arena.
On the meditative title track, Jefferies draws attention to desire’s spiritual dimension. “Desire is an angel, I can’t turn it off,” she sings.
On ‘Art of Suggestion’, one of the record’s most classic-sounding pop songs, Jefferies plays with the imaginative potential of desire. On ‘Lilo & Switch’, a song that recalls the punchy and emotive indie rock of Soccer Mommy and Lucy Dacus, Jefferies illustrates how desire goes to the core of our being.
“I wanna listen,”
“Wanna reach some wisdom.”
She sings.
At the centre of Desire Is An Angel is Jefferies’ voice, which never sounds formal or abstract, even when she flaunts her vast vocal range. Every line is delivered with emotive intent, with Jefferies occasionally attenuating vocal phrases or shifting into a conversational tone to better evoke the complex feelings being explored.
The album is by turns raw, sympathetic, elated and erotic. But the ultimate effect of listening to Desire Is An Angel is a softening. "It's a way of processing my life as well, to digest what I really want and look at what that might mean,” Jefferies says. “I've learnt that I can give that to myself.”
Asha Jefferies latest release Desire Is An Angel is available to stream now via Nettwerk.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO DESIRE IS AN ANGEL
CLICK HERE TO WATCH WHAT THE HELL