Gorgeous Girls Stream 'Gorgeous Groove'

Vibrant, dynamic and present, Afiah Achi is a student musician who has just released her debut album: Gorgeous Groove. Earlier this week Afiah performed at the Norman Rea Gallery’s opening of their latest exhibition, Resuscitate, and the vibe was phenomenal.  She gathered crowds of spectators who paused their discussions  of the artwork to watch and listen to her sing both released and unreleased songs. Bodies swayed to ‘Lounge Ocean’ and let loose to ‘NRG Enormous’ – two of our favourite tunes.

The setup was incorporated into the exhibition, and saw her against corrugated metal sheets and repurposed tyres that had been decorated by both Afiah and members of the public in the workshops prior to the event. We caught Afiah beforehand to ask her about her music, motivations, and the projects she’s got lined up for the future.

Starting young, Afiah has always felt a need to express herself creatively, and has been doing so since the age of five. She notes, “I always used to draw before the music stuff, my dad was always big on making my brother and I create.” Her dad is the one who first gave her a guitar, which is when she began experimenting with music at the age of 14. She reflected on this by saying “I think that my dad getting me an instrument had a lot to do with expressing myself through music, and discovering it as my forte.”

Her creative process begins with the melodies, which she makes a note of when they come to her, and later adds lyrics. Her life experiences and the emotions she feels form the basis of her musical inspiration: “Usually I find that if I’ve just gone through something in life, I make the most music.” It’s an organic process for Afiah, who describes creating music as “a nice release when I’m going through stuff. I want to make music to represent what I’m feeling, but also to express myself creatively.”

She also takes inspiration from other artists, both musically and from other mediums, saying “I like to listen to more underground artists because I think they have such amazing vibes.” She expresses how lucky she feels to be part of creative communities both at University and home – “One of my best mates’ housemate, Mary, is really creative and I like her stuff. I wouldn’t describe my music as Indie but I’ve been experimenting with that because I love Mary and what she does. I think it’s really cool when you have people around you who create because it creates a really nice environment.”

Having Afiah sing at the exhibition opening night generated a really unique opportunity for the city’s creatives to converge in a shared appreciation of the different artistic mediums and genres that were showcased.

The process of releasing her first album last year is one Afiah describes as “probably the most fun I’ve had with a project in my life.” The album is made up of 11 songs with meaningful lyrics set to cool and innovative sounds. When discussing the name of the album Afiah notes “In May I decided to call it Gorgeous Groove and then there was a process of creating more music to suit that vibe, as well as the other stuff I already had – hence why I made a whole project to showcase it all, rather than just releasing a song.” Her music suited the Resuscitate exhibition perfectly, and the eclectic, repurposed furniture sat well against a backdrop of fluid sounds.

Her monochrome album cover for Gorgeous Groove features Afiah photographed from below, against a backdrop of York’s famous Minster, which is where she is based while she completes her studies. She has so far succeeded to balance making music with her undergraduate degree, but is feeling squeezed for time now having embarked on a Masters.  “'Creative over the Summer' was fine, and because my inspiration comes in bursts it’s easier to do over breaks, when I have more time.” University life hasn’t halted any of Afiah’s drive, as she has more musical plans in the pipeline, teasing “I’m releasing a new album soon, which will be called Planet Chi”.

The future is bright for Afiah, who is anything but strapped for content, revealing that “at the moment there are too many songs on there and I want to cut them down to be more memorable. I haven’t long released my last album so I’m waiting a bit because I really want the music to stand out on its own.”

We loved Afiah’s performance at the exhibition opening, and anticipate her next one. Listen to ‘Afiah Achi’ on Spotify and Apple Music, and follow her Instagram @afiahachi for more sounds and updates!

See original article