Imagine one day finding a handwritten note in the pocket of your jacket, revealing things that even a close friend wouldn’t know. Well, that’s exactly what happened to Aphir, the solo electronic project of songwriter and engineer, Becki Whitton. ‘Close Proximity’ pushes the limits both sonically and technically, as Becki shares that the ethereal pop number took over a year to perfect due to testing new production methods and vocal arrangements, “It felt so magical when I sat down with the chords and the vocal melody that I suddenly felt a lot of pressure to produce it in the most perfect way” she says, “I had a vision for how it would sound that wasn’t like other beats I’d made before. It took me over a year of doing little bits an pieces, leaving it alone and then coming back to it before it really came into its true form.” A wonderfully stripped down and personal piece, ‘Close Proximity’ touches a nerve deep down that only the most heartless of souls could ignore.
“About a year ago I went to a party that a friend of a friend was throwing where I knew hardly anyone. I was in a rare mood where I wanted to talk to strangers and I had a dozen or so conversations that seemed like a fun skimming of the surface of people’s lives. at the end of the night, though, I found an unsigned letter in my handbag which went into intimate details about that person’s (unhappy) relationship. I still have no idea who wrote it, but I hope they worked things out. This song is about their story.”
As Aphir, Becki has performed her vocally-driven electronic pop locally and internationally, including performances in England, Austria, and at Berlin’s 2016 Music Tech Fest. Becki’s 2017 LP, Twin Earth, saw her heralded as one of ‘Australia’s new wave of female electronic innovators’ by Triple J’s Tim Shiel. She has since toured around the country playing numerous festivals and support slots for beloved Australian artists such as Kllo, Japanese Wallpaper and Banoffee. Last year Becki collaborated with producer Wayfarer// to create the intimate and soaring track ‘Trust’, which paired Becki’s beautiful, haunting vocals with Wayfarer’s intricate production.
As well as working on her own music Becki is also known for her sound engineering work. Over the last three years, Becki has worked alongside renowned Grammy-nominated producer Andrei Eremin. Becki also collaborates with many other Australian artists – writing, mixing and mastering for the likes of Japanese Wallpaper, Stella Donelly, Eilish Gilligan and Essie Holt. In 2018 Becki received an Australian Women In Music Award nomination for her studio engineering work.
Upcoming shows (AU)
Feb 22 – Aphir supporting Wafia @ UC Hub Canberra
Feb 23 – Aphir supporting Angus Dawson @ Boney Melbourne
March 8 – Aphir performing at Canberra Theatre Centre
Stream, download, share ‘Close Proximity’
fanlink.to/aphircloseproximity
Socials
twitter.com/aphirism
facebook.com/aphirism
aphir.bandcamp.com
soundcloud.com/aphir
Photos by Isabella Connelley
