EARTHEATER: From the Ashes. An interview with Alexandra Drewchin

Photo by Sam Clarke — Photo by **Sam Clarke**

With four full-length albums in her back catalogue, the artist known as Eartheater has experienced a journey similar to that of the life of a phoenix, reborn from ashes with strength renewed.

The mind behind the Eartheater project is Alexandra Drewchin, an artist based in Queens known for her raw productions, led by an amazing vocal range, touching three octaves.

Her first two albums, released on Chicago-based label Hausu Mountain were an electric dream, cradled by alien synths and folk finger-picking, sweetened with ethereal vocals. In 2018, she released IRISIRI for Berlin-based label PAN, mixing techno references alongside spoken vocals, ground up with electronic sounds from a distant and mystical world.

In 2020, Alexandra reached the height of her own journey of inner discovery, with her album Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon My Skin, an album composed, produced and arranged entirely by herself. Gestated in Zaragoza, Spain during a 10-week artist residency. Eartheater developed most of the album from within an isolated glasshouse, finding a sense of liberation through guitar and fairy electric sounds.

Home-schooled and self-taught, The New York artist is now a strong reference point in the avant-garde scene. Her latest album Phoenix seems to be the culmination of several important points in her life; an instrumental form, born from the ashes, documenting the rebuild from very personal experiences. The album is a strong feminist rhetoric, floating in the harmonies of electronic alchemy.

GATA: How and when was Eartheater born? Where does the name come from?

EARTHEATER: It was 2010 in Brooklyn. It came to mind when reading “100 Years of Solitude”. There is a character who ate dirt and paint chips. I said Eartheater out loud and I just knew it was me. I like that it is the name of a worm but also a galactic entity that can consume whole planets. I like that it can encompass any aesthetic or feeling. I’m very conceptually claustrophobic.

GATA: You grew up in a very conservative environment and you were home-schooled up until your teenage years. How did that “outsider” feeling help develop your creativity?

EARTHEATER: I think my chronic loneliness forced me to have a very overactive imagination.

Photo by Daniel Sannwald — Photo by **Daniel Sannwald**

“I had killed off parts of myself, by burning up into ashes, a few times to save myself from actual suicidal thoughts. There have been versions of myself that I grew out of and I’ve had to slay them. For me, discovering that I’m a Phoenix is what has kept me growing, sexy, and weightless. ”

— eartheater

GATA: We heard you wrote Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon, your latest LP, over a 8 week period during an artist residency in Zaragoza; why did you choose the northeastern Spanish Capital to work on this project?

EARTHEATER: It was my only option besides recording in my bedroom again like all my previous albums. I was very honoured and grateful for the opportunity. It was really about it being a gorgeous studio more than anything. I would go anywhere if I was given 24-hour access to a top of the line studio.

GATA: Is it essential for you to find peace and get away from the city for your creative process or is it possible for you to create art in a more chaotic environment?

EARTHEATER: I don’t have the luxury of choosing what environment I work in yet. I just do what I need to do with what I have which has meant that I did everything at home in Queens. I definitely do lock myself in my room and let the rest of the world melt away when I’m working, though. As long as I can get alone time it doesn’t matter if it’s surrounded in chaos on the other side of the walls.

“Loneliness I think is a huge part of what has shaped me because of my very sheltered and lonely childhood.”

— eartheater

GATA: The “Phoenix” is a representation of yourself as a mythological creature. What does this creature mean to you on a personal level? What did you leave behind and in what sense do you feel reborn again?

EARTHEATER: I had killed off parts of myself, by burning up into ashes, a few times to save myself from actual suicidal thoughts. There have been versions of myself that I grew out of and I’ve had to slay them. For me, discovering that I’m a Phoenix is what has kept me growing, sexy, and weightless. The cool thing too is each time you die as a Phoenix you always come back better. Though, you have to exist for a significant period of time between each reserection. You have to get to an intense level of anguish to ignite.

GATA: You mentioned that “Phoenix” has been growing in your womb for 10 years, you’ve reinvented yourself once again and have managed to get closer to your essence. How does it feel to deliver a work that developed over such a long time period, that represents so much of yourself?

EARTHEATER: It feels really good but is very exposing.

GATA: In this particular album, you created every sound from scratch and conducted a seven-piece string ensemble. How did you prepare yourself to face such an ambitious and delicate album?

EARTHEATER: I slept for a week and then got started.

GATA: As an artist, you explore concepts like femininity and technology, beyond standards and above genre, sex and humanity. Where does this tension between the organic and machine come from?

EARTHEATER: I like thinking about humans as machines — all living things for that matter. I think we’ll make really gorgeous sustainable technology in the future if we think that way.

“I like thinking about humans as machines — all living things for that matter. I think we’ll make really gorgeous sustainable technology in the future if we think that way. ”

— eartheater

GATA: What has been your most significant source of inspiration during your entire career?

EARTHEATER: Attracting a mate… lol jk. I think just becoming better at what I do. The better I get the more I discover myself and like being myself.

GATA: What would you say has been the best way to know yourself and find your essence? Do you think loneliness is the best way to truly listen to your thoughts?

EARTHEATER: Loneliness I think is a huge part of what has shaped me because of my very sheltered and lonely childhood but I think that also just being impulsive and crazy and not thinking too much is just as informative of oneself.

GATA: You have talked in other interviews about those “dark but essential conversations” that everybody has at some point and how you use it as a cathartic weapon and nest for the “Phoenix” inside you. Do you think that pattern is an essential part of your creative process? Would there be a “Phoenix” without the fire?

EARTHEATER: Yes, the inferno is very important.

GATA: You spoke in an interview about the power of “Sigils” and “To-Do LISTS”. What were the last three things that you have successfully crossed off?

EARTHEATER: Getting a personal trainer and gym membership, finding an editing intern and editing my new video soon to come out, and getting a laser facial