_{By Arthur Hatton}

Roxy Rawson’s music will strike you immediately as music like you’ve never heard before (in a good way). Her songs are delightfully eccentric, with jumping melody lines, colorful lyrics, and unorthodox rhythms. These kinds of musical isolates are rare these days. Try her song “Riddle It” on for size. Roxy agreed to be interviewed for Linescratchers and now adds an amazing amount of color to the blog.

Have you been a member of the Church your whole life?
Yes.

You’ve said you started playing after hearing the piano and hymns at Church. Has the musical tradition of the Church influenced your music?
Not very much, but I do have the Infinite on my mind and I’m sure there’s that influence in my songs.

Do you feel more comfortable on violin or on piano?
Violin.

Tell us about your musical studies and/or training.
I have played piano/violin since I was a little girl and heard the piano in church. I played classical for years and studied Music at Uni. I spent two years in Paris as part of my degree and studied at a conservatoire on both instruments. I started to sing to myself for the first time as I pottered round Parisian streets. I recall I sang lots of jazz standards and I was really into the underground jazz scene in Paris. After two years there, I came back the UK to finish my degree and around that time, when I got frustrated as I was training intensively on my instruments, singing and bashing the piano became therapeutic and my first songs started to come out.

You took a self-imposed sabbatical from music for a time. Why did you do this?
After I graduated, I realized I knew nothing about the world and felt like giving up playing completely to concentrate on feeding my mind more. I studied a bit of philosophy, world politics, language and International Development. Then I started to play again, slowly… and I started to play with other people.

Do you feel that it made a positive impact on your music?
I went to open mics where all sorts of musicians would come and play. I started to find my own way to express myself rather than rendering homage to other peoples’ music – not that that is not a worthy pursuit in music. I think I was looking for my own way. That seemed more important at the time. I don’t think I would have started to write my music in the way it is now, unless I had started on some journey of shedding things I learnt before in my training.

You have a very expressive, eccentric and delightfully unique style. What musicians or artists have influenced or inspired your songs?
I feel inspired/uplifted by artists who are gutsy and raw, honest/generous, and I want the music to be beautiful – or aesthetically pleasing, but I know that’s subjective. I like Laurie Anderson, Rikki Lee Jones, Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Regina Spektor, Joanna Newsom, Brother Danielson (a very exciting, possibly disturbed Evangelical Christian), Heartcore, the Winks. And older stuff, like The Slits, The Beatles, Most Serene Republic (live only), Adventure Feet/The Greenland Choir, Mozart, Haydn, Biber, Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, Eric Satie, Steve Reich, Matisse, Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir, Degas, Jackson Pollack, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Carravaggio, Rodin, (flesh/shape/colour), and organic architecture like Gaudi.

Is it possible to hear bits of your faith in your songs? How has your spirituality influenced the music you create?
I think yes, a lot of what I write is about escape from earthly things, or wrestling with earthly things and the non-sensicalness of life. Often, things feel absurd to me.

How’s the music scene in England?
The music scene in London (I don’t know about rest of England) has different strands going on in terms of different styles. I was part of an acoustic anti-folkish collective that was fun, with musicians such as David Goo, William Nein, Miss Jo Williams, The Zetland Players, Left With Pictures – all very exciting/inventive musicians.

To support Roxy in her music, stream “Riddle It” below.