Ann Arbor singer-songwriter Elisabeth Pixley-Fink premieres new music video for ‘Fearless and the Pure’
Songs by Pixley-Fink first premiered on WDET’s airwaves via MI Local, hosted by Jeff Milo, heard Tuesdays at 9 p.m.
Still from the new music video for "Fearless and the Pure" featuring Elisabeth Pixley-Fink.
“As an independent artist, you have so many limitations, but I actually enjoy them…”
Ann Arbor-based singer-songwriter Elisabeth Pixley-Fink is describing that ever-uphill feeling countless artists know all too well, appreciating how necessity breeds invention and how lacking the luxury of certain resources spurs a fruitful spontaneity. This particularly applied to the filming of Pixley-Fink’s new music video, as she and director Pia Lu only had four hours in which to film it.
“We filmed it in my parents’ backyard while they were out for an afternoon,” Pixley-Fink said, referring to the captivating visuals for her latest single, “Fearless and the Pure,” which premiered last Friday. Utilizing interior vestibules, driveways, austere fields, and even a cautiously shattered mirror, they were able to effectively finish just around sunset.
“Fearless and the Pure” is featured on Pixley-Fink’s latest full-length album, “Heartskin,” which dropped on Feb. 28. This is her second full-length album since emerging into the Michigan music scene more than a decade ago, along with four EPs (which you can find on bandcamp). Pixley-Fink is known for gracefully shifting from richly resonant and melodic ambient folk ballads to gritty garage rock gusto.
Inspired by a masterful blend of riot grrrl, ambient stillness, and the work of queer Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca, “Heartskin” is 12 songs of a heart shedding its own skin. Pixley-Fink admitted, “…it’s a hard album for me to talk about because it came from a process of experiencing heavy, painful growth and transformation.
“…the title comes from this poem by Lorca, ‘Corazon Nuevo,’ which conjures this image of a person holding their ‘heartskin’ in their hands, like a serpent shedding its skin, ‘…full of honey and wounds…,’ so it’s the love and sweetness and the pain. That’s what the album is about — the sweetness and pain of being in relationships with other people, whether it’s romantic or not. I also think of heartskin as a membrane that we all have over our chest. It’s how we connect with other people — how we can create loving boundaries, but also how we shut people out.”
Pixley-Fink said she wanted a key visual element of the video to be about “reclaiming the color red, as an exploration of femininity, of purity and seductiveness, or sexuality.”
“I also love performing live, and I’ve loved the experience of coming alive while performing for an audience, so I wanted to use a microphone and mic cable as my main prop,” she said. “I wanted it to be pretty playful and endearing, but also serious.”
The video, which was edited by Detroit-based artist Phillip Carel, effectively captures the beautiful messiness of how we navigate our way through any relationship; it’s often imperfect and impulsive and can not only break our hearts but wrack our brains. The sonic aesthetic of the song also taps into that singular angst we encounter when navigating relationships.
“I wanted (the music of ‘Heartskin‘) to be as live as possible,” Pixley-Fink said, noting that she recorded it to two-inch tape at a Detroit-based studio known as The Deli.
“‘Fearless and the Pure’ is a live take of me singing and playing guitar. And because we recorded to tape, there were literal limitations of how much (tape) we had — so I had to make choices in the moment and stick with them. I had to stick with any imperfections in the music, as a testament to how we show up in relationships with other people.”
Pixley-Fink regularly performs around the state, either as a solo artist, or with her five-piece band, informally known as EPF the rock band. She has a show set for May 31 at the North Star Lounge in Ann Arbor, and is currently planning a Detroit show, with no set date yet. Music-wise, Pixley-Fink said she’s excited to get back into the studio, as she’s already got more than enough songs written to fill her next album, whenever and whatever that will be.
Find Elisabeth Pixley-Fink’s music on bandcamp, and follow on Instagram for more!
MI Local with host Jeff Milo exposes diverse emerging artists, bands and acts local to Michigan. Listen every Tuesday from 9-10 p.m. ET, or catch the re-air Saturday from 1-2 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET FM or stream on-demand at wdet.org.
Support the shows you love.
WDET’s unique music programs are dedicated to exploring the music and culture of our region and the world.
Keep the music going. Please make a gift today.
