Something Tragic This Way Comes

There's something brave about acknowledging the general direction of your artistic endeavour. I don't imagine there are many artists that would outright refer to themselves as 'Tragic', but that is exactly what Tragic Sasha is doing. On the surface, you could argue that it's just a name, a beacon bringing in a certain audience, but delving deeper into the tracks of Tragic Sasha reveals more commitment to this than it would first seem.

Image Credit: George Walker

I've spoken about Tragic Sasha before in my writing about Greta Isaac. Tragic Sasha has performed backing vocals in Isaac's band before and even supported her in Cardiff at the end of 2017. This was before Sasha was Tragic, and just...Sasha. Her first single was a track called 'Fall On My Feet' backed with a demo called 'Into The Wild'.

Fall On My Feet is an excellent example of Sasha's early style. Sedate and calming, with Sasha's sweeping vocal soundtracked by piano and light electronics. Into The Wild is a song about Sasha leaving home. It's more stripped back than the A-side, mostly vocals and piano, but that's all this track needs. Released in May 2016, there wouldn't be a follow-up single until the end of March 2017 with 'Gracious'.

Similar in style to Sasha's debut, what I love most about this early work is I find myself not paying too close attention to the lyrics, rather treating it like part of the overall sound in a similar vein to a band like Cocteau Twins. When you do delve into the lyrics though, it leaves more questions than answers. The second verse reads 'Boldly, forwards you go, blessed steady, slow, I throw my faith to the wind, the unknown.' Poetry. I naively thought this might've been a more religious lyric, until the second chorus led me to believe it's relationship based, 'I'm caught, in the wake of a thunder storm, and it's all I can do not to run. How am I the only one? Why are you so calm?' Three more singles would be released in 2017. 'Picking Flowers' came in June with 'Skin Deep' being released in September. 'Headlights' was the final single of 2017, having been released in October that year.

Headlights was the point where I picked up on Sasha, and I immediately fell in love with this song. Beginning with vocal samples, there are two interpretations of the lyrics I've found online, both seemingly with errors. Depending on the point of view, this could be about someone battling depression in the first or third person. What I really love though especially in these early songs is Sasha's choice of words that gives a very open pronunciation. They are both soft and outspoken, breathy but clear. The words are rounded and so very pleasing on the ear. Headlights is also the only single in Tragic Sasha's career to receive a revised version, with Isaac supplying the backing vocals in an a cappella edition. Isaac being the group-name of the sisters Isaac - Greta, Miriam and Elan. Their addition both imitates the vocal samples in the original as well as adding supplementary arrangement.

Though it would still be more than half a year before Sasha would get a little Tragic, I believe the beginning of this transition starts with 'Waterworks'. Just look at the video with those zooming in shots, half at the seaside, half in a photographic studio. The photographic studio shots seem to be mocking the serious side of the project, indeed the shots from this session are used as promotional materials for the rest of 2018. Waterworks itself is more upbeat instrumentally, and the lyrical focus is more on the self-deprecating. Handclaps and a synthesized bassline are new sounds for Sasha, as well as the more assertive vocal tone.

'Not Your Problem' was the current single when I saw my first Sasha headline show at The Waiting Room in Stoke Newington, London. This opened the show, serving more as an introduction piece rather than a fully blown single, especially due to the length of a minute and 45 seconds. At the great value of £5, I not only saw superb support act Emma Miller, but Sasha also debuted some new music too. This included a track called 'Ouch!', a solo piano piece called 'Pity Party' which remains unreleased, 'Difficult', also unreleased, and a future single called 'Pushover'. Sasha was augmented during this performance by Danny Johnson on bass and synth bass, electronic drums by Joseph Watt, and percussion, guitar and violin by Estelle Renaud. Sasha spoke honestly between songs, even when she announced the band, finishing with Renaud, 'I've always introduced her as Estelle because I've never really known what your last name is? It's probably quite embarrassing to admit, I just did now.'

Prior to performing Pity Party, Sasha spoke about her partner in collaboration, Scott Colcombe. '...for the past year, I've been working on writing some new music, which is fun and upbeat. I've been working with my friend Scott, he's somewhere in the audience. And beforehand I was just kind of writing all the songs myself, and we worked on the production together, but since the start of this year we've been writing together and we started a lot more fun and upbeat numbers.'

One of my favourite memories of this gig is this titbit. 'How does everyone feel about the massive posters of my face? Good. I made a massive mistake. I don't really understand the sizes of paper, at all. I was like A1, that sounds about right. Nope! I got this massive tube in the post, I've made a terrible error. I unrolled this sheet the size of a bloody Great Dane, fucking hell, oh God. So basically I need somebody to take them off my hands. So if anyone wants one, just let me know, because otherwise my flat-mates are just gonna put it in our living room.' One of these posters is pictured above, A1 is indeed very large. Sasha later announced in the days following that one of the posters did indeed end up in her living room, her flatmates having adorned it there.

Something I love about smaller artists is how the things the bigger artists take for granted are still a super-exciting thing for someone filling a smaller venue. 'So I've never been able to have an encore, ever. Because I've never had a backstage to go on to...off to. So, here's what we're gonna do guys. I'm gonna pretend that this is my last song, and then afterwards you're gonna be like "what no!" And I'll be like, “ok fine. One more song that's fine.” And then I can get my one-second-everyday, which is...you film a little video of a second every day of your year, then it compiles it into this one big movie at the end of the year for you to watch over and quite frankly most of my year has been pretty dull, so this is gonna be the highlight. So when you're cheering, I'm gonna get my phone and start filming and hopefully it's not gonna crash like it usually does. It's gonna be super cool, just trust me on this guys. So this is my last song.' Everybody shouts 'No!' 'Hang on now, this is gonna be afterwards, after I've played the song, then you all cheer really loudly and I take a video. And I'll be like "Oh fine I'll do another song." Guys you'll get it it's fine. Oh god. Just play the song Dan.'

This was prior to playing Fall On My Feet, with some lovely violin playing from Renaud. In the midst of the electronic instruments, it was a breath of fresh air to hear something more real. I imagine Tragic Sasha would play a wonderful show with a string quartet at some point. The applause afterwards was huge for such a tiny room. Sasha then explained the merchandise she was selling for whatever people were willing to play. These were a couple of cards featuring photography from the Waterworks photo-shoot with spotify codes on the back for Not Your Problem and Waterworks, the first and last songs of this gig.

'Ouch!' was the next single that came at the end of November 2018 and would be the last of the Tragic-less Sasha releases. Following in the footsteps of Waterworks, Ouch was another upbeat one, this time undoubtedly about a relationship. The video adds to the interpretation, as the first verse says 'my head is sugar-coating every single word you say, I know you're playing me but I can't seem to shake the game,' the words 'gullible' and 'hooked' flash up on the screen. This continues throughout the video in a colour palette similar to Waterworks, Ouch was shot by Scott Colcombe and directed by Kristie Fitsall. The Ouch music video was predated by a live video of the track by Sasha and Scott in a dreamlike 1980's prom sequence, also directed by Kristie Fitsall, again with an array of colour.

It was the 15th of February when Sasha announced she was changing her name to Tragic Sasha. It makes total sense. I remember trying to google her name prior to the change and all that kept coming up was the music of a male DJ. Even on iTunes the photo for Sasha's music is of some random dude with a moustache. We can all agree that's probably an administration error.

'Cake' was the first real Tragic Sasha release, arriving at the end of May in 2019. This whole package is essentially what happens when men keep playing women. The opening lyric explains this well, 'He's unapologetic, he said forget about it. "Maybe we should just be friends." He's with a new girl every single weekend, I don't know how he's not crashed yet.' After the first verse, the track gets itself into a kind of swing, and the euphemism of Cake is really revealed. When I referred to the whole package, I meant both the song and the video. The 1950's pastel colours, the 'BBC1' title card and the rounded screen edges make this television programme initially a pleasing watch, until it descends into chaos. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you might even feel a little hungry by the end of it. Tragic Sasha should copyright some of those stares into the camera, an entire feature film could be made out of this.

Following Cake was the release of 'Pushover' in July, a much more sedate affair than the previous single. The first verse features a bed of noise and light digital percussion, but once the first chorus comes in, that familiar sound Tragic Sasha has crafted since Waterworks comes in. A bouncy beat, an army of keyboards and several Tragic Sashas singing at once. Nobody likes to admit that they're a pushover, but that's exactly what the chorus does here. A live video performed by Tragic Sasha and Scott Colcombe was uploaded towards the end of the summer in the most stripped down the pair have been. Only accompanied by acoustic guitar, their harmonies sound beautiful awash with reverb, proving the song is great even without all the bells and whistles.

Tragic Sasha's last single, 'Tornado' dropped at the end of October. This one is curious because it doesn't follow the pattern set out by everything since Waterworks, it's a return to the softer style reminiscent of Sasha's early work. The dreamlike sound is in contrast to the lyrical content, alluding to a more self-destructive side as evidenced by the title of the piece. The video is set at a party where Tragic Sasha is an outsider to people having more fun than her, with people taking photos, couples kissing and nobody paying her any attention. I love the addition of the trumpet in the instrumental break. It's here in the video where Tragic Sasha eats a fabulous looking apple and everything beyond this point isn't as it seems. The end credit sequence of Sasha just reaching into the air is my favourite moment.

Of course we all know 2020 has been an interesting one to say the least. Suddenly every artist who previously had their day-to-day lives filled with all sorts have nothing to do. One of the things I've enjoyed seeing from Tragic Sasha is her video collection on instagram. Some of these include demos of unreleased songs, one dating back to 2018 called 'Punchbag', as well as a couple of new pieces written by Sasha during lockdown. There have been covers too with videos showing how she uses samples and production to her advantage, creating the glitchy sound-bites her fans have come to love. The sampling even extends to Dadwatch, a tiktok series by Tragic Sasha essentially terrorising her Dad and using the samples to create music around it.

The real meat of 2020 though is here. Tragic Sasha's first single of 2020, 'Shh' is written by Sasha and Scott, with production by Scott and additional production shared between Kaity Rae and Chris Hewitt. The song is about a juicy secret kept by Sasha and the effect it has, essentially eating you up inside. The lyrics waste no time telling though, 'yesterday, I watched you giving in somebody's lips again, but I can't keep mine shut about this, caught up in your business, paying for what you did.' This song potentially features the highest notes amongst Tragic Sasha's releases so far, it appears she reaches them with ease too. There is vocoder applied to the vocals, there are the usual software synths and electronic drums. It's refreshing to hear Tragic Sasha whispering, which is further experimented with in pitch-shifted vocals. The backing vocals could be Scott towards the end of the song, imagine getting an audience to sing along to that? I think I speak for everybody when I say I miss seeing artists performing live. Accompanying Shh will be a lyric video directed by Dottie Kay, coming soon to Tragic Sasha’s youtube channel.

Image Credit: George Walker

I spoke to Sasha about all things Tragic. This includes her influences, the gig at The Waiting Room, her collaborations in music and film, and the psychological effect Dadwatch has had on her male parent. If you were hoping for more insight into the mysteries of 'Shh', you may well be disappointed. Some things are best kept a secret.

1. Listening to your music over the years, I'd have no idea who your influences were. Who first inspired you to want to make music?

Yes, I think part of my charm / one of my biggest flaws as an artist is that the music I listen to is so diverse, I fall in love with so many different styles. It's definitely meant my release process has sometimes been a bit clunky; I love the soaring cinematic acoustic ballads of artists such as Phoebe Bridgers, Lisa Hannigan and The Staves, but I also have a DEEP love for clever electro pop music like Lennon Stella, Caroline Polachek and Maude Latour. So I have this constant pull and push between writing more acoustic songs and writing more electronic stuff. 

I listen to such a variety of stuff, it's difficult to pinpoint an exact influence who first inspired me to write, but I did grow up listening obsessively to Radio 1 so it was a cocktail of Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Katy Perry- anyone big in the early 2000s. 

2. 'Shh' is your new single, are the events that take place in the song based on anything in real life?

It wouldn't be a secret if I told you about it....

3. Scott Colcombe has worked on a number of your tracks, how did you first meet him?

So I've worked with Scott for about 4 years now, he's the best and cleverest person I know. We met at university- we went to a place called ICMP and lived together for a year in halls. 

I worked with him as a producer for my early releases and the first song we worked on was called Fall On My Feet. I was living with him at the time and had just come back from a terrible first production session on the track with someone else. I had saved up and paid a stupid amount of money on a producer who did a very poor job on the track and I begged Scott to come and save the day. Thankfully he did, and I realised how much I loved working with him. Then we started writing together a few years ago and it's a dream.

4. Kaity Rae and Chris Hewitt are listed as having applied additional production to 'Shh', what does this mean vs. the work you and Scott put in?

So, I had a load of songs written and produced at the start of this year with demo vocals and I really wanted an extra production ear to hear the songs without the context & history myself and Scott have with the songs. I enlisted the help of Kaity (who I also met at university), the most incredible writer and producer.  We had the bare bones of production for Shh but it sounded a little too tame. Kaity brought in more pop elements and we recorded the final vocals together. 

Chris is my mixing engineer but with this track, he also brought a bit of extra production magic. Definitely my new stuff is a lot more collaborative than before- it's more of a team effort, which has been so exciting.

5. The music video for 'Shh' was directed by Dottie Kay, how did you become involved with her on this project?

I LOVE Dottie. I was looking to start working with more up & coming video directors and my manager set me up with her. We met at the beginning of this year before all the corona madness and I instantly felt such a creative connection. She knew exactly the type of vibe I wanted in my visual identity- quirky, colourful, vintage. Influences such as Nadia Lee Cohen,  Wes Anderson, Dimitri Basil etc.

She made the lyric video for Shh with her sister and her boyfriend on an old camcorder from the 90's whilst in lockdown. We're currently working on the next video at the moment and I'm so excited about it.

6. Going back to last summer, the 'Cake' video is kind of psychotic, was it a fun one to make?

It's interesting because I look back on the Cake shoot now as a fun day, but in reality it was quite stressful because I was completely in charge of it. I roped in my friends for help, but a lot of logistical challenges came up- I was doing the set design for it (with no previous experience) and we basically had to build two separate kitchen sets. I was sourcing the wallpaper, the props, the clothes, sewing the curtains together. We had to figure out a way of putting everything up on the walls without making marks and ended up using a complicated pulley system with lots of string!!! Honestly, it was the epitome of DIY. 

The acting part was pretty fun when I got into it, I do agree with you it is quite psychotic- maybe it was just a side effect of my stress!!!! Very glad to hang up my videographer boots for a bit and leave Dottie in charge.

7. The video for your last single, 'Tornado', is a trip. Have you experienced that situation in the real world?

Ha! 

....no comment.

8. So far your output has been in the form of great singles, have you considered releasing an EP?

Yes. I would love to release an EP. It's just about timing at the moment. Now that I've got a manager (did I mention I have a manager now?????? Ha) we are being very strategic about how we are putting the tracks out and making sure we are building momentum with each song. So yes, it is in the pipeline, but we are playing it by ear. 

9. I attended your 2018 gig at The Waiting Room when you were still known as Sasha, what happened to the last massive A1 poster you had to take home?

Hahahaha. I believe it's with my good friend Violeta. She couldn't make the gig and she really wanted a poster. It was in her kitchen for a long time. 

10. You played a couple of songs at that gig called 'Pity Party' and 'Difficult', what was the fate of those tracks?

Awwww, RIP. I don't know. I quite like to Frankenstein the music that never gets released and pull bits out of them, putting them into new songs. I really love both of those titles and there were parts of Difficult I really vibe with, so I'll probably try and rewrite them both one day. I think with songs, you sit on them for so long you fall out of love with them. You get so excited by new songs, you forget about the old ones.

11. Lockdown hasn't been easy on people, least of all your Dad. Why must you torment him so?

He loves the attention. Truly. 

12. 'Shh' is your first release in 2020, can Tragic Sasha fans expect more music in the next few months?

YESSSSSSS they can indeed. Lots to come.

Image Credit: George Walker

Check out Tragic Sasha's website at tragicsasha.co.uk

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