INTERACTIVE VIRTUAL LISTENING PARTY @ 5PM BST VIA SPOTIFY
SECOND WEEKEND OF SELF-CURATED ALL-FEMALE-IDENTIFYING FESTIVAL
PXSSY PANDEMIQUE LAUNCHES TODAY
Today, Self Esteem has released her brand new EP, Cuddles Please, out now via Fiction Records. The EP comprises three special alternative versions of songs from her critically acclaimed 2019 debut album Compliments Please, and a cover of Alex Cameron’s ‘Miami Memory’. To coincide with the release, fans can join her at a virtual listening party this evening (5PM BST) via Spotify where they can listen to the full EP and chat with Rebecca herself.
Today also marks the launch of PXSSY PANDEMIQUE 2. The second weekend of her self-curated digital festival featuring an all-female-identifying lineup of artists, poets, comedians and more, including the likes of NIMMO, Bishi, Little Boots, Helen Bauer, Rozi Plain and many more! It follows on from the huge success of the first PXSSY PANDEMIQUE last month which raised an impressive £6,000 for Women’s Aid.
Chatting about PXSSY PANDEMIQUE, she says “Before the Pandemic I was pretty annoyed about the discrepancy between male and female acts on festival bills. I had gotten into a dialogue on the internet with some of the replies being ‘there just aren’t as many women making music as men’ which obviously boiled my brain and made my nose bleed. So anyway Kelli (collaborator and bestie) and I thought why not organise a femme-only festival online in the first few weeks of the lockdown. I couldn’t believe the amount we raised for Women’s Aid and I felt as soon as the government inevitably announced an extension of the lockdown we should do another one. So here we are. Hoping to add to the 6k total and also have a fun joyful weekend of art music and poetry made by femme-identifying legends!”
The EP was co-produced by David Glover and Rebecca Lucy Taylor (aka Self Esteem) and recorded with the Sheffield-based choir, Neighbourhood Voices, which was founded in 2017 with the aim of creating a safe space for Sheffield singers to find their voices. Inspired by female-led, modern pop and indie choirs, they now consist of 60 singers and performed with Self Esteem at her recent Sheffield show for independent venue week.
Rebecca is also set to perform her cover of ‘Miami Memory’ live on Radio 4’s Loose Ends this Saturday. Chatting about the track, she says: “I think that ‘Miami memory’ by Alex Cameron is one of the greatest love songs ever written. And not just for that lyric. It’s such a perfect beautiful description of spending time with someone and truly being there in the moment. Even though the world is ending. Enjoying someone else as the world burns. I f***ing love it so much. I really love being solo because it means I can love a song to death then cover it and nobody can stop me”
Cuddles Please EP tracklisting:
- Favourite Problem (Alternative Version)
- The Best (Alternative Version)
- In Time (Alternative Version)
- Miami Memory (Alex Cameron Cover)
Live dates:
Near Future festival, UK – 3rd October 2020
Live At Leeds festival, UK – 28th November 2020
2019 was a stellar year for Self Esteem, a sold out headline tour in the Autumn, and performances all across the UK throughout the year, including shows at Glastonbury, All Points East and Latitude festivals to name a few, as well as support slots with Florence and the Machine in London and Edinburgh, culminating with a tour of intimate piano shows.
Self Esteem’s highly regarded debut album, Compliments Please, was released in March to a raft of glowing reviews from the likes of The Guardian (“sly, covetous pop”), Financial Times (“lithe electronic pop”), Uncut (“a heady emotional brew of pain, thwarted lust and giddy pride”), Drowned In Sound, Clash, The Line of Best Fit, DIY, Dork and more. Compliments Please (Deluxe) is out now via Fiction Records
BUY / STREAM / DOWNLOAD COMPLIMENTS PLEASE (DELUXE)
Self Esteem is Rebecca Lucy Taylor, and a project which began with painting and prints and video alongside her day job writing and performing as one half of Slow Club. Since her musical divergence from the band, Rebecca has revelled in unleashing a whole version of herself with no compromises, no reducing herself, no hesitating. She would go on to write the songs that had been rising up inside her all through the years — big songs, that spoke of love and sex and chaos, that brought in huge basslines, gospel choirs, the kind of polished, provocative production she admired on the biggest pop records.
Praise for Compliments Please
“sly, covetous pop – Taylor balances forcefulness with elegant and impactful production that veers from bluesy experimentalism to psychedelic soul” – 4*, The Guardian
“Compliments Please’s songs are so smart and empowering that, frankly, more people should know them.” – Sunday Times Culture
“a definitive alt-pop body of work that flirts with different genres alongside weird production that gives her big, emotional voice space to breathe” – Noisey
“Compliments Please delights me more and more with each spin” – 9/10, Drowned in Sound
“one of the most interesting and outspoken pop talents Britain has” – i-D
“a heady emotional brew of pain, thwarted lust and giddy pride” – 8/10, Uncut
“an astonishingly ambitious album of hits, bristling with pure pop intelligence”
– Loud & Quiet
“lithe electronic pop” – 4*, The Financial Times
“a concoction of high octane, R&B infused pop” – 8.5/10, The Line of Best Fit
