Alt-pop sensation L Devine is about to release the first of an exciting new mixtape one-two, ‘Near Life Experience: Part 1’.
Words: Abigail Firth.
Rumour has it L Devine couldn’t use her birth name – Olivia Devine – as her pop star moniker because it also belonged to a porn star. Well, now the tables have turned, as Liv plays a phone sex line operator in the promo video for new single ‘Girls Like Sex’. “It’s kind of like ‘Naked Alone’ finally got some,” she says of the single. It’s been over two years since she last released a full project, and ‘Girls Like Sex’ is a fun and cheeky reintroduction to L Devine.
Released just in time for Pride month, the track is a groovy, synthy 80s number that polishes off Part 1 of her upcoming mixtape ‘Near Life Experience’ and winds up being one of its highlights. “That song always reminded me of songs by queer artists or queer icons because I feel like they’ve always been artists that are never afraid to talk about taboo stuff and make it liberating and fun.”
She’s been working on the project for a long time now, with the bulk of it written during a writing trip to LA last February, right before the first lockdown, and the process of actually finishing those songs up was obviously very different in 2020. Producing songs over Zoom and during one-off trips to London, then continuing writing back in her hometown of Newcastle (where she permanently moved back to last year because the North is better, according to Liv), the mixtape is an accumulation of tracks from the past couple of years.
Most artists have spent the last year figuring out who they are, stuck home alone, and L Devine is no exception. Looking introspectively and drawing more inspiration from herself, ‘Near Life Experience’ is a reflection of how we’ve all been feeling.
The mixtape opens with thumping electronic banger ‘Priorities’, a track about being frustrated with her other half for not paying her enough attention. Written a while ago, the song’s meaning changed over lockdown as she realised she needed to shift that energy back to herself.
Have you ever had a near-death experience?
Actually yeah. When I was five or something, on Christmas Eve, I was so naughty. I woke up at like one in the morning, and I went downstairs and opened everyone’s presents. I ruined Christmas, basically. I was so excited, but it was really bad. So then the following day, when it came to Christmas dinner, I was absolutely shattered, and I fell asleep, so I had it later on by myself. I choked on a pig-in-blanket, and I was trying to tell my sister I was choking, and she was just laughing at me. She didn’t know what was happening, she didn’t know I was choking, but I was going blue, and my mum was beside herself. So I was about to die. And then she did the Heimlich manoeuvre, and then the sausage came out. Yeah, that was my near-death experience.
Other big bops on Part 1 include ‘Off The Grid’, a bouncy electro banger about chasing someone who clearly doesn’t want to be caught, and ‘Wish That You Saw Me’, which is sonically ‘Nervous’’s older sister (if you’ve been following L Devine long enough). There’s also old singles ‘Don’t Say It’ and wankthem ‘Naked Alone’, and one thing’s for sure, there’s plenty of yearning on this record.
On a more tender and vulnerable note, there’s the ballad ‘Be In Her Bedroom’, about pining for an old friend and wanting to know them differently. A firm fan favourite, it’s been around for a while, and we’ll finally hear the studio version on this mixtape.
With every release, L Devine has strengthened her own sound and has slowly but surely been climbing up the UK’s pop ladder. Usually plumping for a futuristic 80s electronic/dance instrumental, elevated by consistently fantastic open-book songwriting, ‘Near Life Experience’ is a taster of the L Devine album we’ve been missing.
Maybe you’ve noticed there’s a couple of singles missing – 2020’s ‘Boring People’ and 2019’s ‘Peachy Keen’ – but there’s more to come yet! Part 2 is on the horizon to complete the story, and she’s promising it’ll be soon. “Hopefully, when both parts are out, you’ll see the thought process behind the tracklist,” she says. “Maybe I’ve just bullshitted it completely, but I feel like there’s the story in there.”
She’s hoping for the whole project to be out by the time her twice-rescheduled tour comes around in September (yes!! We’re talking about live music again!!), which can’t come quick enough. “It was meant to have happened two years ago,” she explains. “I rescheduled it once because my music wasn’t out yet, and then had to reschedule it again when Corona happened. People have had these tickets for a long ass time. It’s good I’ve been allowed the time to get this mixtape finished; when everyone comes and sees the show now, there’ll be so many more new songs.”
‘Near Life Experience’? More like near LIVE experience, let’s get this show on the road! It’s been bloody ages, and a good boogie at a pop concert is well overdue.
Taken from the July 2021 edition of Dork, out now. L Devine’s mixtape ‘Near Life Experience: Part 1’ is out in July.
