In 1947, as people were being stripped of their sense of identity by industrialisation, WH Auden penned his seminal poem "The Age of Anxiety". Seventy years on, that feeling has been updated for the social-media age.
"The name sums up the album's theme," says Hannah Rodgers, better known as Pixx (pictured), about The Age of Anxiety, her debut album. As part of a generation that has never known a world without the internet, Pixx, 21, is wary of its influence. "Sometimes it feels quite cold," she explains. "There's so much expectation to present yourself online as this other self. It generates anxiety."
Signed to indie label 4AD at the age of 19, Pixx blends melancholic folk and pacey electronica on her 12-track album. Inspirations range from singer Anne Briggs to sonic pioneer Aphex Twin.
Pixx has a complex relationship with technology. "I'm into using vocals as samples and making myself sound like a man," she says. "There's so much potential to make new things."
In the video to album opener, "I Bow Down", she appears as androgynous, alternative beings. "It's a very unsexualised version of me," she says. "It really fits with this song. That's where the age of anxiety is."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
