EP Walkthrough: BIIG PIIG guides us through her new EP, The Sky Is Bleeding

At some point in the last half-year, there's a strong chance that Biig Piig's music earwormed its way into your brain and not left since. The Irish-born, Spanish-raised, now-London-based musician has become one-to-watch over the last few years, but a breakthrough single at the tail-end of last year - the hypnotic Feels Right - became a blossoming moment, launching Biig Piig forward as an artist destined to explode in 2021 - something that's been a long time coming, admittedly.

It's not too difficult to work out why there's so much potential nestled within Biig Piig's music either. Her work flirts with decades' worth of inspiration and influences, capturing the forward-thinking adventurousness of acts like ROSALIA but with a touch of the Bee Gees and Beach Boys thrown in there too; the end result being flickering of indie, electronica, hip-hop and beyond that together, create a sound that's almost entirely unique to Biig Piig.

It's something that's showcased on her new EP The Sky Is Bleeding, and while it may be an introduction to Biig Piig for many, it's also an opportunity for her to showcase how she's evolved and grown herself over the last few years. The Sky Is Bleeding is a swirling six tracks of multi-genre musicality; intimate and subtle in its nature but freeing and experimental simultaneously, digging deeply into the world of Biig Piig and communicating it through genre-flirting moments of brilliance. There are flourishes that dance with the same emphasis as Feels Right before it, and there are other moments that sing more subtle and soft, as they look into the world of Biig Piig and everything happening around her.

"[The Sky Is Bleeding] is about secrets; kind of written for myself, but putting them out into the world," she says on the EP. "No shame and guilt - it’s healing thinking it’ll be out there - it’s about sex and drugs and my experiences." The Sky Is Bleeding is an exploration of Biig Piig just as much as it is an exploration of her music, delving into the depths of her personality and coming of age, and creating layered, heavily textured music in the process of doing so. It can be difficult to do that - often, artists forgo one in favour of the other - but Biig Piig is able to balance on that tightrope with ease, and that's something that makes this such a special release

As such - and as mentioned - it's a brilliant introductory point if you're yet to be formally acquainted beyond the ringing out of Feels Right at parties throughout the last six months, and if you're already well aware of the talents of Biig Piig, then The Sky Is Bleeding feels like a masterclass in what she does best, and how she's ensuring her growth into the future.

There is plenty more to come, but in the meantime, you can take a dive into the EP with an EP walkthrough below, in which Biig Piig breaks down the record's themes and creation one song at a time.

REMEDY

Oscar Scheller and I made this - it would have been at the end of last year - and was one of the first things we made. I already had pretty much everything else ready apart from American Beauty down with Gianluca [Buccellati], and so I kind of knew I wanted to make something in that world. I think he just picked the perfect sounds. The drums especially just feels like OK cool: we get this, we're in this place together and it sounds good.

It was just really easy, it maybe took an hour, maybe. Delving into the fantasies and more secret sex life vibes, it explores that. Vulnerability and submissiveness and the power in that. So that’s kind of the intro track. I feel like it was nice to begin with this track just because it feels like one of the more vulnerable tunes and I feel like putting myself in that position. The rest of the EP feels opened up, like we’ve delved into this, it’s going to be a vulnerable EP. 

TARZAN

Tarzan is a track about someone coming over, again very sexy vibes, it’s admiring someone’s form. I like the sultry, dark feeling with the bass and the drums in this track. I feel like yeah it just kind of came out when I was writing it.

The reason it’s called Tarzan is because of the line “where’s your Jane?”, thinking about “where’s your partner?”. Again, it’s delving into what’s behind closed doors. I just wanted this whole EP to be really transparent as to where I was in my head and what was going on, and I think even listening back to it just brings back a lot of memories of headspace I was in. That track in particular is very intimate, but at the same time the person is faceless in my mind when I listen to it.

BABY ZOMBIES

Baby Zombies is a track about the morning after the night before -  there was way too many of those going on at the time. When you just want to stop so you’re stuck in the cycle of chasing the dragon in a sense. Feeling like I'm not happy and I don't want to be doing this, but I can't stop doing this.

I think this was the first track that I made with Gianluca, like 2 years ago. Throughout this project there’s a transformation from the start to the end; it’s nuts the person I was then. I can hear it in this track in particular because it was recorded after 3 nights of no sleep. I almost actually cancelled the session that day and I never cancel sessions. Back then, I could be hungover, on a comedown whatever I would never cancel a session. I remember being like “ah man I don’t know if I can do this” but I'm so glad something made me just push through, and go, and then that's when we got Baby Zombies.

It's just a real-time capsule for that moment; I was going through some shit and from my perspective now I'm in such a better place. Now I look back in it and I'm a little bit like “oh no, someone go call her, someone’s gotta stop her!” But it’s growth and it’s nice to have in a sense as it reminds me why I don't want to be doing things I was doing back then. The line “I can hear the wall’s talk” like that was real! It got to a bad point where anything was like that just reality wasn't real – it was not good – but beautiful song! I feel grateful that I had music in that moment because I don't know how I would have coped otherwise. I’ve referenced it in tracks before, even in Oh No; while I'm in this room like I'm safe, almost like I'm safe from myself. I know that I'm going to be here for next 6 to 8 hours so I know that I'm not gonna be doing any fuckery. Listening to that track really reminds me is how important the studio was for me and how important music was generally, somewhere to put those feelings and somewhere where I could be a little bit settled and not causing havoc. 

LAVENDER

Lavender is a very passionate song; I think I always get asked about the title because Lavender is quite a calming, relaxed idea but I feel like with the beat of his track and even with the lyrics it's a little bit intense and in your face. But that's the thing, when I escape into that world where I’m confident and feeling like myself with no judgement, I really do feel calm and settled, more myself. In the chorus that line ‘I wanna hear like the bass hit to my thighs’, it’s almost like the passion that I've got for music is as strong as sexual passion. I just love it so much and I want to go to a club and feel it all.

Thinking about it, I felt quite numb at the time so the music like made me feel something, the same way that the sex and the drugs made me feel, like there was something tangible, something there. The track is a subtle drive and a subtle punch but it feels good.

DRUGS

I don't want to talk about the same thing but I feel like yeah, it was after another night, another morning hanging out my arse situation. The track kind of spilled out, I guess it was kind of a conversation with myself I was having in song. I had no idea that I was moving to LA when I wrote the lyrics, it was never in my head when making this track, it was all about escaping reality. And then I did actually move to LA like it's weird things like that happen. You write something that you’d like to say and it feels like you really have to say it, then it like comes to life and you’re like “oooh, weird”. The power of words.

The track again is about not being able to stop doing the things I was doing, feeling like I want to escape myself. I always find that the best thing to describe that time with that track is the lyric “don't hold on too much I still can't give it up”, and it reminds me of a time where so much in my life was take it or leave it. It was just a case of moving a lot around to different houses, partners coming in and out like a revolving door. Nothing felt solid, I wasn’t attached to anything, but the only thing it did say constant was that need to feel better through substances or whatever, it just took over a bit. When I was writing that I was in a bad place to but listening back I do love that song! So we’re in a good place.

AMERICAN BEAUTY 

I wrote this track this year when I was in LA, so it's quite recent, with a guy called Zach Fogarty – incredible producer. It was the first track we made together and it’s about a happier time in my life when I was starting to feel better. It’s also about a girl crush. I loved his (Zach’s) guitars on the track, it's another sexy sultry vibe and feels a bit dreamlike. I think it’s kind of different to the rest of the project, I wanted to end on a positive note, like “hey, things are getting better, we're good, let's go!”  because I know the rest is quite dark and downbeat which I still love so much but then I think that track feels like it was opening up a new chapter. I think that was really important for me to have at the end. 

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