LIV EAST: WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF FUNKSOULSEX
WORDS MAISIE JANE DANIELS
I met Liv East in the back room of Soho’s Moon Rays on Denmark Street, just next door to Rough Trade, where she’d later be performing an intimate acoustic set from her debut album, FUNKSOULSEX. Upon meeting, Liv offered me crisps and we immediately got nattering, the dream! Some interviews feel like interviews, others feel like you’ve accidentally found someone you could happily sit and talk to for hours. Liv was very much the latter.
We chatted about FUNKSOULSEX and the story behind its rather brilliant name, the album’s relationship with sensuality, love, intimacy and the divine feminine, and why creating it became such a healing process for her. We also talked about building her own genre, taking the music from the studio into the live world, and, of course, that gorgeous dusty-lilac vinyl.
After the stripped-back Rough Trade performance, Liv is getting ready to take FUNKSOULSEX to London’s iconic Jazz Café on October 8th, this time with a five-piece full band and everything played completely live. She admits she’s already thinking about the nerves but perhaps that’s exactly what makes a moment like this so exciting. As Liv puts it, bigger rooms and bigger moments require bigger versions of yourself.
We think she’s onto something. So, ahead of what promises to be a very special night, we sat down with Liv to talk FUNKSOULSEX, finding her sound, trusting the process and bringing this deeply personal project to life. Get tickets to see Liv East at the Jazz Café: https://thejazzcafe.com/event/liv-east-full-live-band/?accept=true
Maisie Daniels: Your debut album, FUNKSOULSEX (I love the title) has been out for nearly a week now. What has the response been like so far?
Liv East: It’s been lovely. The nicest thing is that everyone seems to be picking different songs, which I take as a good thing. There isn’t one lead track and then a load of filler tracks. Each song caters to a different mood, person or taste, and it’s just been so nice seeing people connect with different songs.
Maisie: Has anything surprised you about the response?
Liv: I didn’t play the album to that many people beforehand because I really wanted people to experience it with the visuals, the mastered versions and the vinyl. I didn’t want to rob anyone of that moment, because I’d put so much work into creating it and it felt quite precious.
I played it to a few people, though, and one of my really good friends, who is also a singer, chose Imprints as her favourite. She said, “This is my favourite song you’ve ever made. It made me cry.”
When I was putting together the tracklist, it wasn’t that I thought it was the weakest song, but it was the one I questioned. I wondered, “Does it fit?” So to then have her response — that it made her cry and that it was her favourite song of mine ever — was really special. It just goes to show that you don’t see things the same way other people do. We all have our own perspectives.
Maisie: You’ve described the album as the culmination of years of creating and slowly getting closer to yourself, both sonically and artistically. How long has it been in the making, and do you remember when everything started to click into place?
Liv: I made the album with two amazing, talented humans called Jimmy and Joe, whose duo artist name is AMi City. I was introduced to them in 2022 for a song on my first EP, You Got Me. They worked on that too, and they’re based in Brighton. I remember going down there and meeting them, and we just had the best session. The synergy was electric and it was such a joy. I love Brighton, and I remember thinking that day that I wanted to — or knew I would — make an album. I actually wrote the name that day.
So it wasn’t dependent on the people, but I think I just felt what was to come. I trusted them, and they had a certain amount of wisdom and experience in the industry that I really respected. I felt they were capable of actually producing an album, rather than just working on individual tracks.
Maisie: The album explores so many different sides of love, lust, desire and intimacy. Did writing about those experiences change the way you think about love or relationships?
Liv: Yes. It was very healing, actually. That’s what music is for me. It’s the process. It’s like alchemy. You take the harder emotions, or the things that you wouldn’t necessarily say to other people, and put them into music almost like a diary. Then, through that process, you can grow from it.
You see that it’s just a chapter and an iteration of yourself.
Maisie: FUNKSOULSEX — I love that you’ve essentially created your own genre! If someone asked you to describe the sound of FUNKSOULSEX, but you weren’t allowed to use those three words, what would you say? Liv: Rhythmic. Intimate. Deep. Sensual. Beautiful.
Maisie: I love that. Looking back at the person who first started making this album, how do you think you’ve changed — both as an artist and as a person?
Liv: I think I’ve really matured because I manage myself. I’m my own agent and I’m working with a distributor, so it’s very independent. I do have a great team in that respect, but it’s not a classic, stereotypical label situation.
A lot has fallen on me, and you really have to back yourself and step up in ways that I’ve never had to before. Some of it has been really challenging, particularly the patience that you have to have.
So I would say, on that side particularly, I’ve really grown. You can’t sit with your head in the sand. You can’t be avoidant. You have to tackle everything head-on because you put so much into the art that it deserves the same level of commitment in all the other ways.
Maisie: How have you learned to do that?
Liv: It’s doing the difficult thing, right? It’s having nowhere to hide. You have to. If you don’t do it, it’s your career and this is your baby, essentially. If you don’t do it, no one else will.
Obviously, that’s scary and it can be challenging, but equally, once you actually do it and step up, you feel a real sense of pride in yourself. I feel proud of myself because it has been hard.
Maisie: Yes! Sometimes you need to put yourself in the deep end a bit, in order to grow. You celebrated the album release surrounded by what you’ve described as the “divine feminine energies” you’ve been lucky enough to build this world with. Tell me about that night, and what does female friendship mean to you?
Liv: The divine feminine energy that I speak about is really the foundation of the album anyway. It’s an album for women, first and foremost. It’s obviously a female perspective, but I think it explores that unique experience that we, as women in the 21st century and in the secular society that we live in, have around intimacy and sex.
What is our relationship to it? What does society tell us? How do we feel? How do we approach it?
I kept thinking, what are our beliefs about sex? What guidance do we actually have? All I could think about was, in this capitalist world that we live in, sex sells. The title was also about reclaiming those words and making something sacred.
So, in creating this world visually and artistically, beyond the music, it was really important to me to work with women. I’m so lucky that I found my little coven and movement crew, and just these beautiful creative directors. The patience and love that they’ve poured into it has changed everything. I feel so grateful for that energy because it wouldn’t be what it is without them.
Maisie: How important was it for you to work with female creatives and build that female team? Was that an active decision?
Liv: Very active. I just wanted to feel comfortable. I wanted to feel comfortable exploring the visual world, and I feel safer doing that with women.
It’s not that I’ve never worked with men — obviously the producers on the record are men, and my graphic designer, Soul, who I’ve worked with for years and who created my logo and all the graphics, is based up in Leeds and is incredible.
So it’s not an exclusive “no men” thing. But from an energetic perspective, it was really important to me to have women working on the world-building. The patience, love and commitment that I’ve felt women have poured into the project — like it’s their own — I think is a uniquely feminine trait.
Maisie: Have you felt empowered through creating FUNSOULSEX, or has it felt more healing?
Liv: It’s been healing. I think we all have our own relationship to sex, whether it’s been informed by religion, culture, trauma, whatever it is. It’s taboo, but we’re all here because of it.
What is our relationship to it?
I just wanted to reclaim it and have a sacred relationship to it. It can be expressed in different ways, and I think the album is also a mirror to whoever is experiencing it.
I said something the other day that I’d like to record because I thought I might do it tonight. I’d like to hear how people say the album title (FUNSOULSEX). You said it very naturally. It just flowed. But some people hesitate when they say it, or they’re like, “So… it’s…”
Even my own mum has never said it!
It’s just interesting. There are layers to it.
Maisie: Let’s talk about going live. You’ve been creating this in the studio, and now you’re putting it out into the world. You’re performing at Rough Trade in just a few hours. How are you feeling about that?
Liv: Great! It’s cute. It’s stripped back. It’s quite a small room, which will be lovely. I really love singing in a stripped-back way, just with my guitarist.
Maisie: And then you’ve got the Jazz Café — the big event! How do you think the show will differ from tonight’s performance?
Liv: That’ll be a full-band situation, so there’ll be five of us. Everything is live as well — no backing tracks. They’re incredible musicians.
I’m just excited to hear them and hear the music come to life in that way. I prefer to do it all live with no backing because the music always takes on a life of its own. You have space and room for the guitarist to do a solo, or the keys or bass, and you can be agile and in the moment.
When you sing to a track or use backing, it can feel a bit stale to me.
I’m excited to hear it all come to life and continue to come to life in different ways. You never know what people might connect to live. Someone might suddenly feel really connected to a certain track or love it in a different way, and you think, “Oh, okay.” It makes you see it differently. It gives the project new life for me as well.
Maisie: You mentioned being a little nervous about the Jazz Café show. Is there anything you do to help settle those nerves? Any pre-show rituals?
Liv: You know what? I don’t have any rituals. I just go almost non-verbal for half an hour before. I get in my head like, “What if I forget the lyrics?” and I just have to quieten it.
I’m quite good with it. It’s never debilitating, but I was just saying, I usually don’t get too nervous. I’m already thinking about the nerves of this show, and it’s still two or three weeks out.
But it’s a big one, and that’s good because it shows that bigger rooms and bigger moments require bigger versions of yourself.
Maisie: It’s going to be gorgeous! You’re going to be selling limited-edition vinyl and… it’s lilac! Why did you choose to go physical with the music?
Liv: I feel like it deserved it, sonically. Record collectors often have great speakers and a different kind of love and connection to music, and I think sonically the album is so rich that it deserves that.
Also, with the digital age, everything can feel very… I don’t know how to explain it. Not real. It’s all just in the ether.
So I think something physical, like a vinyl or a show, really connects people to you and connects me to them. Even seeing who’s bought it and who’s playing it — it’s a deeper level of connection to the music, and then to me and the listener.
Maisie: And it looks beautiful.
Liv: Yeah, it does!
Maisie: Why did you choose lilac?
Liv: For me, the album was always purple in my mind. The colour was purple, so we just found the colour closest to that, and it was this gorgeous, dusty lilac. It looks so good. I didn’t even have a record player, but when I’ve been doing my promo videos, I realised I don’t need one because she looks so good! I’m so proud.
Okay, this is F Word Magazine, what is your favourite "F" word?
Liv: FUNKSOULSEX!
