The month of spook is almost upon us and we’re fully ready to embrace everything from our autumnal wardrobe to a multitude of festive drinks.
But what we’re most excited for?
Why it’s the brand new EP by MXYM of course and we’ve got the full tea to share with you!
Yes that’s right, one of our favourite local queer musicians is back and they’re bringing us the edge and emotion we crave, perfectly in time with the witching season.
MXYM’s body is cold and ready for examining in their new EP Memento Mori, which makes for a chillingly beautiful cover if you ask us.
We’re being treated to a 6 track exploration into all the deaths we endure in life; death of a loved one, death of a time, death of a relationship, and the many deaths of self we must live through to become who we are today. Strap yourselves in gals, gays, theys and all other fabulous creatures of the night, we’re going for a real ride.
Memento Mori follows the footsteps of MXYM’s genre blending back catalogue while turning the dial up to 11 and proving why they’ve quickly became an icon on the Northern scene. From the explosive introductory goth banger ‘Six Feet Deep’ to the apocalyptic area rock anthem ‘La Dolce Morte’, this EP dives deeper into MXYM’s musical landscape, showcasing a love of gritty bass, heavy kicks and thrashing guitars – all through a glamourous art rock lens, naturally.
Now we are a bit biased and won’t pretend any different, but we’ve had an exclusive early listen and honestly there isn’t a skippable trap on the EP, it’s not a long journey but it’s undoubtedly an enjoyable one. One of our personal highlights of the album is the ongoing guitar riff on “Cross To Bear”, it brings a great feeling of queer and punk rock merging and feels so damn good!
A chat with the Artist
So as you can imagine we just had to reach out to MXYM for a little chat to find out more about the EP, but also let’s be real, we also just fancied having a catch up. Enjoy!
GURL: On a scale of 1 to 10, how excited are you for the release?
MXYM: Is it cheating to say 100? 10000? 1000000??? Honestly, truly I can’t put into words how excited I am, and not just for the music. I can’t wait for everyone to see all the visuals I’ve been working on, the new videos and the live shows, It’s gonna be magic getting to see everyone fully go six feet deep into this new EP.
GURL: What was the writing process like for this particular EP?
MXYM: This was genuinely a super difficult project to write. From top to bottom this is quite a heavy EP, it’s the most honest and genuine I’ve ever been in my music, which is pretty scary. Up until now most of my songs have been written about experiences I’ve had, and I’ve used them to unpick my past to understand why I am who I am, whereas with Memento Mori I was in a position where I had to write about what I was living through in that moment. It truly felt like I was writing for my own survival to make it out alive, but I think in the final product it was all for the best. You can hear the true raw passion, aggression, and sadness and it makes the whole thing feel so much more vibrant and energetic.
GURL: Which track do you think will be the biggest surprise to your fans?
MXYM: I think at this point I’m known for a banger, MXYM loves those big booming heavy hitter tracks, and while this EP is full of them, I think track 3 “Punk Narcissus” will be the big surprise. The track itself is essentially a diss track to myself, where I take a moment to look at myself in the mirror and process all of the flaws, mistakes and rejections I’ve let simmer and rot inside of me. When I’m producing my tracks I’m always adding layers and layers of harmonies and guitar lines everywhere and when I was making Punk Narcissus I did try to add all the usual MXYM flair, but it felt dishonest. So, I knew this track had to be laid bare, cold and open, with just one vocal take straight through so I couldn’t hide anything. It’s a lot more different to tracks people have heard from me before and it’s gonna be interesting to see how people react.
GURL: What was your favourite thing about the video shoot for “Coven”?
MXYM: Filming Coven was genuinely magic, which is pretty fitting for the witchy vibe! It was one of the biggest sets myself and TJmov have ever made and it was so impressive to actually be in. But my favourite thing was OBVIOUSLY getting the honour to work with the 4 incredible queens who made up my twisted coven. It was truly a privilege and I’ll be eternal grateful to Laila Sagittaria, Gloria Love, Mea T Cleaver and Bonnie Love (who is no stranger to an MXYM video, appearing in my videos for Starfire, Hot Stuff and more)
They were all beyond amazing and I was blown away by how much they got into the MXYM vibe, going full goth ghoul glamour, and then I got to spend the day watching my own private drag show, with a bunch of Newcastle legends performing my song all day.
GURL: What can we expect from the release party?
MXYM: You can expect a damn good time. I’ve said this is going to be an immersive gig experience and I really do want it to feel like more than just your average music night, the general theme is “David Lynch throws you a funeral party while you’re on your hospital bed”. There will be photo ops, bespoke visuals, themed cocktails, and vibes a plenty! Which hopefully the crowd will help with as I’ve asked everyone to arrive in their funeral best.
I wont be alone, I have the wild honour of being joined by two local icons of the Newcastle music scene, Holly Reese and KKETT. I still kind of can’t believe I have this line up for my EP launch, I admire and love them both so so much and I’m so excited to see them performing back to back (I’m basically just making my dream gig for my own enjoyment at this point).
GURL: What are your 2024 goals following the EP release?
MXYM: I really want this EP to reach as many people as possible and make an actual impact, which at this point has been pretty promising. Keep on gigging and bring the MXYM party to new places and faces. I already have some pretty ambitious music video plans which are in pre-production right now that you’ll all get to enjoy from now through 2024, get ready for plenty of blasphemy, death and maybe more of our iconic Newcastle Queer scene icons. And of course my main goal is always, to quote Madonna, to rule the world.
Memento Mori chronicles MXYM’s journey of grief, understanding and letting go, while we can’t help falling, we can eventually learn to help ourselves.
The EP is available everywhere Monday 2nd October!
MYXM will be celebrating the release of Memento Mori with an Immersive EP Launch Event on Friday 13th October at Northern Stage, Newcastle, featuring support from Kkett and Holly Reese.
(Tickets available by clicking right here)
We’ll see you there, but until then you can watch the music video for Coven below.
Peace out Witches xo
