To call Wild Things Ladyhawke’s (aka Pip Brown) latest album anticipated would be an understatement. The impressive rew record is the first album release since 2012’s much loved Anxiety.
“People wonder why there’s always a massive gap between my albums,” says Pip. The reason is both complicated and easy. “I’ve never released anything I’m not proud of. That’s important to me. I don’t want to release anything that I have a weird feeling about.”
Over three years following the release of Anxiety, Pip scrapped a full Ladyhawke album because “The material didn’t feel like me. It felt too dark or something”.
Once reliant on alcohol to surmount social anxiety, she quit drinking and focused on getting healthy. Then she welcomed that newfound clarity by crafting her latest release, the blissed-out Wild Things. Both fresh and familiar Wild Things is a stunning effort from this incredible songwriter, and a record that was definitely worth the wait.
To celebrate the release of Wild Things, Pip has penned a track by track run down of the record which you can check out below along with the LP stream, give it a listen and if you like what you’re hearing pop by www.ladyhawkemusic.com for more info. Wild Things is out now via EMI.
A Love Song
First song of my album, Wild Things, is called ‘A Love Song’. I didn’t so much want it to be a traditional love song. I wanted it to be more like – if you stay with me through all the bad stuff, then you know you’ve got someone good, so it was a sort of different take on a traditional love song.
The River
Second track of the album is ‘The River’. I just remember me and Tom really wanted to have some fun experimenting with percussion with this one. So we had all sort of percussion stuff going on, and shakers. I even think we had a Cuica which is a percussive instrument. And this was just a sort of a fun song. A little bit inspired by maybe a bit of Paul Simon.
Wild Things
Third song on Wild Things, is ‘Wild Things’. This was like a sort of an attempted of a more ballady song I guess, but without being a traditional ballad.
More like a dreamy nostalgic love song about reminiscing on your wayward youth, or you know, thinking about all the exciting time you had in your youth, and finding someone and being able to dance around the fire with them literally.
Let It Roll
Fourth song of the album is ‘Let It Roll’, and that’s another one where me and Tom and a lot of fun with percussion and trying out an interesting beat. This one is sort about letting stuff wash over you, don’t let stuff get to you. Life can be hard, but just let it roll, don’t sweat the small stuff basically.
Chills
‘Chills’ is the fifth song of the album and it’s about someone giving you chills. I was really excited when I wrote that with Scott Hoffman, also known as
Babydaddy, from Scissor Sisters, who were one of my favourite bands for a long time. We worked together on that song. It’s the only song I did with Scott on the album and the him and Tom co-produced it. Me and Scott had a lot of fun with that, bouncing beats. He sat down on the keyboard and I sat on the bass and chills appeared.
Sweet Fascination
Track number six on the album is ‘Sweet Fascination’. That one Tom really wanted to try a messed up beat. Like beat that you listen to and you almost can’t quite get it. You don’t know where to come in the right time. I wrote that song about obsession basically. I get obsessed with heaps of stuff.
I’m an obsessive an addictive personality, I’d say. I’ve always been quite fascinated in the way people can get obsessed with human beings. It can be somebody that they’ve never met in their life but they’ve seen them on TV or Film and they make up this fantasy and think they are somehow connected.
And that’s always peaked my interest, thinking that somebody knows you and you create this entire world in your head that doesn’t exist and it can make you make terrible decisions, and do really stupid things. It’s almost like you are out of your mind temporarily.
Golden Girl
The seventh song of the album is ‘Golden Girl’. It’s just a fun song Tom and I did, playing acoustic guitar and chopping up. With a fun little loop. It’s a sort of poppy, light hearted song. About being someone’s golden girl really.
Hillside Ave
Track eight on the album is ’Hillside Ave’. This song is one of my favourite’s actually. It’s a sort of a quite a dreamy song. I’ve named it after the street I live on because for me at the time, Hillside Ave, was a sort like of a haven.
I snapped out of a whole bunch of stuff and started to really appreciate my life, work hard on my music, my relationships and my family. That song is a dreamy one to me about you know falling asleep and having these amazing dreams, and then waking up and not being ready to wake up but you wake up anyway. You know, amazing day outside cos you’re living in LA.
Money To Burn
Track number nine is ‘Money To Burn’. That song is about that sort of privilege that some young people that grow up as trust fund kids have – I’m not saying that there’s anything wrong with it – but some of them don’t place any value on money and they don’t know how it feels to work hard and still don’t have much money.
And that was a sort of a tongue and cheek look at that world of not really giving a shit on what you do with your money and thinking you can buy everything, including people.
Wonderland
Track number ten on Wild Things is ‘Wonderland’. It is the very first song I wrote for Wild Things. I knew that was setting the tone for the rest of album. I remember the minute me and Tom finished the song. I was like this is it. This is the album. This is what’s gonna sound. These are the colours I’m getting in my head like pinks, yellows and oranges, warm tones. I just had a great feeling and I knew that song really set the tone for the rest of the record for me.
Dangerous
Last song of the album is ‘Dangerous’. We wanted to try something a little faster, a little more cheeky or something inspired by 70’s disco. Dangerous is about the hell and heaven you can feel when you’re falling in love with somebody. It can be amazing but at the same time it can be torturous. It’s like a messed up exciting rollercoaster that you go on.
So that’s is my album Wild Things in a nutshell.
Upcoming Tour Dates
Thu 14 Jul – The Zoo, Brisbane
Fri 15 Jul – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Sat 16 Jul – Howler, Melbourne
