“Mia Pixley circles around stories in her songs, implying much, and declaring little, creating a constant sense of enveloping curiosity. As if beneath cello plucks and wails, there’s the truth of the matter.”
— Afropunk
FOR RELEASE JULY 13, 2021
California Bay Area (June 22, 2021) – Mia Pixley announces the release of the single, “Everything is Slow Motion” on July 13. An epic embedded in silent suffering, the single speaks to the ongoing and often quiet racial injustices in the United States. A hint of Billie Holliday’s “Strange Fruit” dances amongst the fine lines of Pixley’s cascading cello and soul-stricken vocals to mimic the slow pace of racial justice in America. It’s off the album, Margaret in the Wild, due out July 23.
“Everything is Slow Motion,” tells two stories: One of Pixley’s personal experiences as a transracial adoptee and the racial overt and covert aggressions brought by her racial differences. Born of Venezuelan and Nigerian descent and raised in a southern white middle-class, American family, Pixley spent most of her life feeling unsettlingly uprooted, racially isolated, and less than. Alongside Pixley’s own accounts, the song expresses the painful past and present-day experiences of American families and communities of color. As we incrementally fight and win justice, the immense suffering and grief born from these efforts for change, glare at us from the wings — daring generations of aching hearts and souls to give attention, care, and kindness to deeply buried and unspeakable traumas. For many, what’s underneath still remains in slow motion.
Pixley’s upcoming album, Margaret in the Wild, establishes a home beyond herself and her cello – a home truly sowed in the earth. A lifelong nature lover, who finally found her place with the help of strikingly emotional ocean swims during the pandemic, “Margaret in the Wild” represents Pixley unapologetically planting herself alongside others and invites listeners to do the same. The nine-track album demonstrates Pixley opening herself to the wilds of connection, to gratitude for what she has been given, as well as, to sorrow for what she has lost, and to nature’s inspirational capacity to finally root her uprooted beginnings.
Margaret in the Wild Track Listing
- Core (Introduction)
- In the Daylight
- Good Taste
- Mama’s Got Snacks
- Voices (A poem by Christopher Shaw)
- Everything is Slow Motion
- African Prayer
- In Between Sound
- Watering
About Mia Pixley
Pixley has performed under the alias Baeilou where she’s received notable recognition from Afropunk, collaborated in award-winning Off-Broadway theater productions (Soho Rep and Ars Nova produced, Futurity), film, and performance art compositions. In 2018, she recorded cello on Fantastic Negrito’s second GRAMMY award-winning album, “Please Don’t be Dead”, which won Best Contemporary Blues. Most recently, she had the honor of playing cello on Barbara Higbie’s beautiful album, “Resonance”. Pixley also tours regularly with Higbie on the annual Windham Hill Winter Solstice Tour.
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Praise For “Everything is Slow Motion”
“This song is an expressive and brilliantly textured journey which will take your breath away. Mia Pixley’s rich vocals and use of strings are both absolutely stunning.” – A Journal of Musical Things
“An understated epic, multi-phased and rivetingly told, “Everything is Slow Motion” is the mystically-unfolding, confident and expertly-edited new single from Oakland’s Mia Pixley.” – Autumn Roses
