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Desi blends soul and beats on her sumptuous new track, 'Don't Trip'

For this week's premiere, we're excited to share the latest from experimental R&B savant Desi and her upcoming EP "Space in Between," ahead of her livestream performance at the Cactus Club with NilexNile on Aug. 22. Her new track "Don't Trip" is two minutes of blissful, vaporous soul that packs a lot of ideas into a very small package. Even though it's just 120 seconds long, it's the kind of song that so efficiently alters your headspace it can make you lose track of time.

Stream the track and read about it below.

Desi | Photo credit: Olivia Kinneston (Esoteric Lens)

https://radiomilwaukee.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/DONT-TRIP-MASTER.mp3
Desi - "Don't Trip"

Artist's statement

“Don’t Trip” was produced by Latrell Barnett aka Pixxr, who has worked with local favorites like Lorde Fredd33 and DAD. His mentor was Mike Regal another popular producer who makes mostly rap music.

Which is what’s funny about working with Pixxr, because he saw me perform at an open mic where I was playing this like pseudo folk punk music with my electric guitar and a distortion pedal, and after the show he sent me a bunch of different beats he made previously that were meant for rappers. He’s the first person to ever send me beats, I'd only ever made music before with a live neo-soul band. I am grateful to him for encouraging me to discover my voice in this way.

My entire EP “Space In Between” was recorded and mixed by Kevin Bush of Immortal Girlfriend. I’m super sensitive (in general lol) to who I work with and what kind of environment we’re in, and Kevin was especially accommodating. I didn’t record in a booth or with a condenser mic. I had Kevin play the music at me and recorded on a performance mic so I could sit on the floor or pace back and forth or dance while I recorded to really get into my feelings -- which is important to me because I made this project out of needing to help process a lot of challenging experiences so it’s always about the process to me both in how I feel and what I’m discovering when doing it.

P.S. my childhood smelled like "pink hair lotion" and Elizabeth Taylor's "white diamonds" perfume (my grandma's favorite).