Salt & Copper by Aphty Khéa

The dynamic and immensely talented Greek singer, multi-instrumentalist, and electronic producer Aphty Khéa crafts a deeply personal and beautiful record on their 5 track ‘Salt & Copper’ EP, which has gone through many transformations and emotions during the four years in which they took to make it between London, Granada and Berlin.

Due for release on Athlete Whippet’s Squareglass imprint, Aphty Khéa innovatively blends warm, blissful, driving electronica with soulful melodies and captivating vocal harmonies. Produced mostly by themselves (with the exception of a couple of collaborators) they use a mixture of chopped, pasted and edited samples, surgically dissecting every sound they make including the bass, synths and piano. Every single vocal sample that exists is Aphty’s voice.

Fans of Little Dragon, Toro Y Moi, Sade, Floating Points, Flying Lotus, Elliot Smith, Bonobo and Radiohead, will likely find sanctuary in this stunning collection of tracks just as the likes of 6 Music’s Mary Anne Hobbs, Tom Ravenscroft and Mojo Magazine have done in their previous works. ‘Salt & Copper’ EP has been a sidekick to Aphty during a tumultuous journey, and they hope to provide comfort to others who may be in the depths of struggle, just as they found salvation through the many mediums of music during difficult times.

Lyrically ‘Aphty Khéa’ bears tales of vulnerability with poetic messages. Tracks like ‘Company’ describing the process of realising and coming to terms with being non-binary/genderfluid, and the social anxiety around it. Title track ‘Salt & Copper’ is about an emotional, sexual encounter by the sea whilst menstruating - "Salt" being the flavour of the sea and “Copper" the flavour of blood - and embodies radical self love, accepting and finding a home in your own body, even when society deems it as filthy, unwanted or taboo. ‘Close To You’ describes the thrilling emotions that are experienced when you come into close proximity with a person you feel
romantic/sensual emotions towards, and ‘First To Go’ touches on the worry in the inevitability of one day losing your friends and close ones.

With a musical background that spans choir from the age of six, studying classical singing and piano at music school, winning junior Eurovision in Greece, then swapping their home country for London at 18 to study contemporary singing and vocals at the ICMP Music Institute, and finally a degree in songwriting, Aphty Khéa is fully equipped. Beyond composing, performing and producing their music Aphty has participated in the radical left scenes of Greece, France and Germany Standing strong in solidarity for dignified living, LGBTQIA+, anti capitalist, antiracist, antifascist and antisexist scenes. There is no doubt this record has a heady amount of depth, but this reflects the remarkable personality and journey of Aphty Khéa.

BBC Radio 1 supported, queer Greek-British artist producer, singer & visual artist Aphty Khéa, blends driving beats & captivating melodies, that journey from warm harmonies, to distorted and aggressive tongue-in-cheek shouting. Their lyrics are in English and Greek, and their productions explore the worlds of electronica & UK rave culture, including electropunk, electroclash & hard dance.

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