Something I’ve come to terms with about myself, my art, and my identity is that I am in fact a relentless optimist, a hopeless romantic, and an addictive personality.
My name is Eliza Legzdina and I released my debut EP in the middle of a pandemic where social media was predominately used for survival and virtue signaling (has it got any better we keep asking), but now I am so excited that my sophomore EP, Silver Linings, will soon be out for the world to consume.
Last year, I was living in East London and recording whenever I could, when my friend/star girl Yiigaa introduced me to her producer JarJ. In our first session together as a 3sum, “Composure” was born.
Jordan (JarJ) is massively talented and produces music across genres, which is something the three of us had in common; we all love music that blends styles and ideas. As soon as I heard Jordan playback the first elements of the beat, I immediately transported to my teenage self listening to Lady Gaga’s Fame Monster, and my preteen self ooogling over Jennifer Lopez’s On The 6.
There was something glamorous, poppy, but sensual all packaged in a way that became the first track off my next EP. “Composure” is the natural development of my sound because it pulls on more of my influences, and is succinct in its sonics and synths.
My debut EP Iron Curtain Golden Pussy was, in sound and message, more underground, more aggressive, and in ways more juvenile. It was the first time that I had ever put out a project and felt secure enough to share parts of my craft with others, but with this next project I came to it with a sense of security and self awareness.
When writing “Composure” with Yiigaa in the first session, the words for the first half and the hook just fell out of our mouths. It was as if though the words had already existed and were waiting at the tip of my tongue to jump out a bless the mic.
The song was about the moment in which one is beginning to lose their cool, having to acknowledge just how much one enjoys spending time with someone, how much one begins to invest in an intimate connection. The awareness of being in a great part of your life where you’re connected to yourself, but you still have the yearning for someone other, how this yearning makes you act and feel different.
Sonically perhaps the first similarity you can hear in “Composure” is the relation to Kaytranada and the funky, disco elements of “Composure”. Without doubt, Kaytranada has been a massive influence and love of mine for years, and the glamorous and rhythmic music of his that makes you want to dance, has affected my mood and got me through funky mental spaces. “Composure” is a distant relative, a long lost Latvian cousin to his work.
As an artist, I have had relative success with electronic music, especially dance, house and bass genres as a vocalist. These days, I’m working hard to share and make note of my own interpretation of this dancey space without feeling like my voice captures the zeitgeist for others.
“Composure” has been supported by so many amazing DSPs and playlisted with Ministry of Sound, and at this time, I feel as though I am beginning to accept that I am myself developing a brand of electronic music that exists outside of any one genre. Music is fluid, and we love fluidity.
Being in this dance electronic space as a femme vocalist is a challenge in itself. I often feel disregarded because I work with producers and don’t engineer everything myself, but I feel as though someone’s always got something to say and I’ve given up on pleasing the industry and making music to fit a box.
“Composure” to me is a smooth and suave dance space that I’m exploring, and although discussing a state of chaos, the song is very polished and metered and rooted in a pop tradition.
“Steamy – I won’t be asking you to free me and I won’t offer myself freely, you gotta need me / Didn’t have a choice, I was taught to be discreet / Yeah You think that I’m deceiving cause my energies a tease / So if you get a chance to get involved make sure you thank and please me / Like the lord / You’re greedy – and I won’t fight you in the deep end / Show me how you swim and I will tell you how I’m feeling”
All of my music can be viewed through a feminist lens, “Composure” too. In the second verse of the lyrical narrative, the song takes back control. Originally I thought it would be funny to say “So if you get a chance to eat it raw” instead of get involved, but decided for the less raunchy expression, even though the sentiment remains the same.
The thing I wanted to convey was that you can be losing your sh** but still know your value and have self awareness. Controlled chaos. Confident Chaos. Comfortable chaos. People are chaotic for sure, and the pull and push between tension and ease is what motivates us and keep us going through the storm for love. The right amount of friction to keep things interesting, and enough harmony for us to feel supported.
I’m glad I got to introduce the EP through this glamorous musical moment, and I can’t wait for everyone to hear the rest of Silver Linings.
Listen to “Composure” below!
Words by Eliza Legzdina // Follow her on Instagram + Facebook
