I’m Maya, an artist and singer songwriter based in Norwich. I’m starting a new segment in the lovely Wordplay Mag where I get to chat to fellow artists about all things music. I thought it would be nice to have an Artist on Artist section to mix up the Q and As we all know and love, PLUS that means I get to meet up and chat with some very talented people. The first one up is the multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter Freya Roy. We live together so it was really easy to organise a cup of tea and a natter. Freya has a year of exciting releases coming up and I had the pleasure of finding out some more about her music, history and preferred pub order.

Hey Freya! How has 2021 been treating you?

So far, it’s been good. It’s been an interesting year - I’ve found that with live music coming back, I’ve loved going to gigs and taking advantage of that. But I have found it quite hard to get back into playing live myself and dealing with the energy that goes in to a live set. My nerves have been next level! In general though, it feels good and I’m pretty optimistic about moving forwards.

I know your music very well and am a big fan, but how would you describe your current sound to somebody new?

I think I’m currently in a transitional period - I’m about to start putting out music that’s very different to what people have heard before from me. With that in mind, I’d say it’s a mix of nu-jazz, alternative soul and electronics.

In terms of that transitional period, I definitely felt that after hearing Fantasies for the first time, prior to being a part of it. I felt that your sound had drastically changed from your album AHLKE in a matter of months. Was this a conscious decision or did it come quite naturally?

It was definitely natural. When I was finishing AHLKE there were a few production-y things that featured on a couple of tracks that I got really into. There are some small electronic elements in Midnight Train and Say Something (both from AHKLE) and I just got really interested in the synth parts or the drum sequencing for example. I remember finishing the album and thinking I could already feel myself moving on from it - I already had a new sound in my head. In between releasing the album and releasing Fantasies, I bought a synth! I’d used plug ins and in the past but I really got my head into these other elements, and reached this area of my music that I hadn’t focused on too much before. 

You’ve been collaborating with the likes of Gabriel Gifford and Leo Lore - was this to do with your transitional period and maybe taking on a more production-heavy role in music? 

I think it’s still a process of finding my confidence outside of my own work. It’s one thing producing your own tunes but it’s completely different when you have to step outside of your comfort zone and think about another artist’s sound. I’ll feel differently and more confident when I’ve got a catalogue of music released that represents me fully and shows other people what I can do. It’s definitely something I’d like to do more of, we’ll see what happens.

What will you be dipping your toe into next?

I don’t know! I’d love to be making instrumentals for people because I can focus on different aspects of production and composition. It would be nice to bring my own thing into someone’s sound but also bear in mind their music. It’s definitely something I hope to be doing once people have heard this new project.

I’m gonna go back in time a little bit if that’s okay. After studying Jazz Guitar at University, you had to take a break from playing a few years ago due to an injury - what advice would you give to past Freya at that time?

I would say listen to your body. Look after your body. Your instrument, whether that’s your vocals, guitar, piano needs to be treated as, you know, another person. I always think a sportsperson wouldn’t ever do a competition without warming up first. With that in mind, you need to think “okay, I’m gonna do X Y and Z to look after this thing that I’ve got”. Don’t force it, don’t play through pain, be patient.

Only 5% of Jazz musicians are women and the statistic is similar for women in the tech industry - does this encourage you to change the industries that you work in and can it sometimes be a bit disheartening?

Yes to both of those. It is definitely disheartening. Because of the way that the industry is and the gender imbalance, it often leaves me with, you know, imposter syndrome. It stops you from what going for what you want. Women are just treated completely differently and I have definitely found it very frustrating. I’ve seen a pattern in young male artists starting out and progressing very quickly up the ladder in comparison to women starting out. There’s this statistic that male artists are favoured more highly by Spotify algorithms, so before anyone’s even chosen what they want to listen to, you’ve got men shoved to the top of playlists. It makes me want to do my bit in helping the change - I would love to take a workshop around schools for young girls at some point in the future. We need to give our young women confidence and make them feel worthy in the creative industries. 

Fantasies Reimagined shows us a different take on your track; why did you choose this as the first single before your upcoming EP?

The original Fantasies came out just at the beginning of Lockdown so it was a weird time to be releasing music. It was inevitably going to be different due to things out of my control and I sort of felt unfulfilled about how it went the first time round. Also, I still really like the tune! I feel weird saying that because I usually move on quite quickly after a track is out, but I’m still into it and it’s still a part of my live set. It also follows a similar story to the EP even though I wrote it over two years ago. It’s kind of like the first part of the narrative so I felt like it needed to be there in some form. 

Can you tell me a little bit about that story?

It’s essentially a break-up EP but strangely, half of the songs I actually wrote before the break-up. I think it’s a common thing in songwriters to write a tune, or some lyrics and you don’t really know where it’s gonna go. You find yourself 6 months down the line and it suddenly makes sense to you. There are a few tracks on the EP, Fantasies is one of them, which are basically a letter to future me. I was unhappy and wanted to fuck things up to get out of the situation. And so the beginning of the EP takes you through that narrative and on to me leaving this relationship, moving on to something else and someone else. The end of the project rounds off with me growing into something new. That’s kind of why it’s taken me so long to get it out too, this project isn’t just a set of tunes about one thing. It represents a long period of my life, a good 4 or 5 years. 

2020 was a bit of a shit-show for most of us - was there a particular highlight that made the year a little bit brighter for you?

I felt like I grew as a person, and I felt like I was moving towards something nicer, a place where I actually wanted to be.

That’s lush, thank you Freya! And finally what’s your go-to pub order?

A pint of gluten-free lager. 

Check out Freya’s new track Fantasies Reimagined featuring myself and Gabriel Gifford on all streaming platforms. Fan Link

@freyaroy