Irene Wilde Interview
Q: Can you talk about your history as an artist?
A: Though I grew up playing guitar and painting, it was when I was in college for architecture that I really started writing lyrics to my songs. Maybe it was the stress of school, or the onset of my bipolar I disorder but either way creating helped me deal; confront myself and what I was feeling. I’m not the greatest at real-time communication of what’s going on in my head but I can write a song or paint you it.
Q: What was your recording process like for Pyrrhicae?
A: I began producing Pyrrhicae about six or so months after completing Spleen and Melancholia, the first two installments of “The Blackest Bile.” The “heart” of the album – namely ‘I am here’, ‘Turbulent, me’, and ‘Good, too’ were already written by that point. Unlike the previous installments, I allowed myself to write/produce more freely with just the concepts I had for the rest while in the throes of production; some even were created from scraps of other material for Spleen that I deemed too “optimistic” for that recording. The majority of Pyrrhicae was created in a tiny house by a lake while I was unemployed for a month.
Q: What is your creative process like?
A: Unlike Spleen, where everything was pre-written, Pyrrhicae was just about play and exploration. Allowing on many tracks, my production style to start a track rather than a fully laid out song.
Also, black coffee and a lot of it.
Q: What are some themes that are touched upon your release Pyrrhicae?
A: Pyrrhicae is meant to be a bittersweet finale of “the blackest bile,” though I’d argue it’s also stand-alone. Initially it was meant to be a resolve/acceptance of living with mental illness and still seeing the joy in life. But honestly, life isn’t always that simple.
When I added “I am here.” And wrote “Righteous virtuous. Woman” in a day when I found out about Mississippi trying to overturn Roe v Wade I realized it became a stance on ‘worth.’ Thematically it shifted to surviving assault and going through that healing process. I particularly love the song “weak as me” for it is that song that shifts the album from the healing process to “I am worth loving / I am still a sexual being and I am not ashamed of myself anymore.”
But to put simply: we all go through trials in life. But what has once hurt us, burdened us doesn’t have to dictate our lives forever. It’s about acknowledging, as a woman, I still have value and that I can still love. I am worth receiving love.
Q: Have you started playing shows or virtual shows?
A: Honestly, here and there. I’m currently writing for my next project “Hysteria” but also preparing myself for shows in the spring/summer. As a solo artist making pop music, I’ve been retro-fitting the songs for a better, more lively performance. More to come soon. (Also toying around with an acoustic rendition of some of my favorites from the whole “Blackest Bile” trilogy because I write on guitar!)
Q: What else should we know about your music?
A: I create to heal, I create because I need to. But since I’ve really started to find my voice and my sound, I want to show the realities of living with mental illness. It is rare to see a true reflection of self in how media portrays us. And honestly, some of the stuff I can finally say now that I’m almost 30 I wish was said to me when I was younger. I’ll just keep making music so you know, “You are not alone in feeling.”
Q: Can you talk about your history as an artist?
A: Though I grew up playing guitar and painting, it was when I was in college for architecture that I really started writing lyrics to my songs. Maybe it was the stress of school, or the onset of my bipolar I disorder but either way creating helped me deal; confront myself and what I was feeling. I’m not the greatest at real-time communication of what’s going on in my head but I can write a song or paint you it.
Q: What was your recording process like for Pyrrhicae?
A: I began producing Pyrrhicae about six or so months after completing Spleen and Melancholia, the first two installments of “The Blackest Bile.” The “heart” of the album – namely ‘I am here’, ‘Turbulent, me’, and ‘Good, too’ were already written by that point. Unlike the previous installments, I allowed myself to write/produce more freely with just the concepts I had for the rest while in the throes of production; some even were created from scraps of other material for Spleen that I deemed too “optimistic” for that recording. The majority of Pyrrhicae was created in a tiny house by a lake while I was unemployed for a month.
Q: What is your creative process like?
A: Unlike Spleen, where everything was pre-written, Pyrrhicae was just about play and exploration. Allowing on many tracks, my production style to start a track rather than a fully laid out song.
Also, black coffee and a lot of it.
Q: What are some themes that are touched upon your release Pyrrhicae?
A: Pyrrhicae is meant to be a bittersweet finale of “the blackest bile,” though I’d argue it’s also stand-alone. Initially it was meant to be a resolve/acceptance of living with mental illness and still seeing the joy in life. But honestly, life isn’t always that simple.
When I added “I am here.” And wrote “Righteous virtuous. Woman” in a day when I found out about Mississippi trying to overturn Roe v Wade I realized it became a stance on ‘worth.’ Thematically it shifted to surviving assault and going through that healing process. I particularly love the song “weak as me” for it is that song that shifts the album from the healing process to “I am worth loving / I am still a sexual being and I am not ashamed of myself anymore.”
But to put simply: we all go through trials in life. But what has once hurt us, burdened us doesn’t have to dictate our lives forever. It’s about acknowledging, as a woman, I still have value and that I can still love. I am worth receiving love.
Q: Have you started playing shows or virtual shows?
A: Honestly, here and there. I’m currently writing for my next project “Hysteria” but also preparing myself for shows in the spring/summer. As a solo artist making pop music, I’ve been retro-fitting the songs for a better, more lively performance. More to come soon. (Also toying around with an acoustic rendition of some of my favorites from the whole “Blackest Bile” trilogy because I write on guitar!)
Q: What else should we know about your music?
A: I create to heal, I create because I need to. But since I’ve really started to find my voice and my sound, I want to show the realities of living with mental illness. It is rare to see a true reflection of self in how media portrays us. And honestly, some of the stuff I can finally say now that I’m almost 30 I wish was said to me when I was younger. I’ll just keep making music so you know, “You are not alone in feeling.”