Born and raised in London, Fae Simon is a soulful jazz singer, a gifted songwriter, and a vocal performance instructor with over 20 years of on-stage experience. Formally trained in Opera and Jazz, Fae’s performance style fuses these traditional genres with Hip-hop, Rare Groove, Soul, and Dub – a unique sound that electrifies audiences when she performs with her live band. She’s back with her first release of 2022 ‘You Don’t Know Me’, a collaboration with DJ Shaun Ashby. We caught up to talk about the track and forthcoming projects.
Fae, thanks for taking the time to speak to us. It’s been a while since your last Occhi Magazine interview. How are you and how have you been managing the pandemic?
Always a pleasure! I am well thank you! I just had my first release of the year, ‘You Don’t Know Me’ Shaun Ashby ft. Afrofaerie, on Moving Deep Records; so my smile is broad right now!
I use the pandemic as much to my advantage as possible. As a teacher, I had to learn how to use Zoom and Teams, so I could teach online; and I also challenged myself to do new things, as I not only had the time, we all learned just how short life can be. I decided to be as productive as I could.
I read 9 books in 9 weeks, did the 28 Chopra meditation challenge, performed via live stream, moved home and set up my home studio, started a personal art project, participated in the Hope Tree Exhibition with Donald Waugh, and even helped him create a dress made of recycled material for London Fashion Week! I also learned how to record my own vocals using Ableton, so I have been collaborating too.
The COVID pandemic has impacted many artists and their careers. However, we can look forward to your first collaboration this year titled ‘You Don’t Know Me’. To what extent has the pandemic impacted you, and how did the collaboration with DJ Shaun come about?
One positive thing the pandemic did do for us artists was, remove the burden of competition. Regardless of if you were Kylie or your local busker, we were all suddenly in the same position, so it enabled me, and many other artists, to just be creative with no constraints. That’s been some relief and allowed me the freedom to just create and keep it fun and exciting.
Ironically, I recorded ‘You Don’t Know Me’ before the pandemic, so the frustration of being restricted and the constant uncertainty of whether we would be able to promote the track effectively if no one was allowed to dance and perform; meant we had to wait until now before we could release the track.
It does have a pretty good origin story. DJ Fiddla from Moving Deep Records, asked me to write to a track from another artist, and whenever I work on house music, I consult Shaun, because he was my first house collaborator and he has a very eclectic taste and great passion for music, so I can bounce ideas off him easily.
The beat was very AfroTech, so I was a bit reluctant at first, and he encouraged me to work on the track and gave me some inspiration of how to approach writing to it, by recommending other tracks to listen to. One of the tracks that inspired this song was ‘Deep in the Bottom’ – Monique Bingham, Black Coffee. I wrote and recorded the track and sent the demo to Fiddla and Shaun. They both loved the track! Shaun loved it so much, he asked Fiddla to remix it; during which time we experienced complications with the original producer. So, the remix became the refix, and Shaun made his magic, with his signature running buffalo bass line and yet another collaboration between the Afrofaerie and the Superhero, was born!
What projects are you currently working on?
My next release ‘Burning’ with DJ Fiddla is due for release next week, on Liquid Deep. It’s our first collaboration together, and on a renowned house label, so I am anticipating this one too! It’s exclusively available on Traxsouce for digital download.
I have just started a new EP with my first ever producer Jnr Sas! I am so excited about this! We have known each other since we were 16, he was the first person to trust me to write and record to his beats, and our first ever tracks finish and end my first album ‘Mellowdrama’. So, it’s gonna be Jazzy, Soul, Boom Bap with every track!
I have a pending EP with Shaun Ashby due for release this year, and I love every track because they’re all so different, but it has a narrative. I’m intrigued by how it will be received, as our first ep ‘Upendo’ did so well on the digital house scene.
I also have a pending EP with Kyza, which I’m looking forward to sharing with the world, as we are taking it back to Soul and Jazz on this ep too.
I have recorded some singles with Chriz Gabriel, Kinetik, and Gilberto Caleffi; all waiting for release as well. I was definitely keeping busy during this pandemic.
I am still working on my Rap Gods painting series; a dedication to Black the Ripper, Ebow (Foreign Beggars), Ty, and MF Doom. The four Black British rappers who died during the pandemic.
Now the restrictions are being lifted when and where will we see you performing live?
I just did a double bill of ‘Ordinary Giants’ at Chats Palace, Hackney, with Robb Johnson. It was wonderful to be back on stage in the first month of the year! The encore screening tickets are now on sale: https://chatspalace.ticketco.events/uk/en/e/encore_screening_robb_johnson_presents_ordinary_giants_live_at_chats_palace
All Encore Screening ticket holders will be able to watch the recording until 1 March 2022, when the event will close.
I’ll be performing with him again on, April 3rd in Brighton at the Albert, June 4th Glastonwick Festival, and September 25th Southdown Festival in Bognor Regis. I am planning my own gigs this year too, but I want it to be off the back of one of my EP releases; so when I know, I’ll definitely let you know
For more info on Fae visit, the following links
Photography by Jimmy ‘Camera’ Chiba on the One That Got Away video shoot.
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