Fig: Live from Home

Photo by @capturedbyhex

Fig, a queer indie artist out of Ohio, has shown to their fans that “live” music is alive and well. A pre-recorded set of four songs off of their upcoming record Soft Animal has just hit Youtube, and it does not disappoint. With the grey skies of Cleveland peering through the window, Fig emmerses their audience in nothing but a tender embrace of piano, guitar, and vocal performance. This Tiny Desk-esq clip highlights not only the artistry but the personality Fig has to offer to the ever diversifying indie community. Everything from their playful demeanor to their powerful vocal ability and eclectic scene of posters behind the keys fits the bill. Fig has shown you a mere glimpse of their album to be released later this year with performances of Act IV, Scene IV, Baby, Sea Legs and Soft Animal. 

Hear what Fig has to say about each song from their performance:

“The first tune is “Act IV, Scene IV”which is a gay Shakespearean fan fiction about an alternate universe in which Ophelia from Hamlet harbors a secret love for Juliet from Romeo and Juliet. I love telling stories through song that may not otherwise have been told. 

 The second tune is “Baby” which I released on Valentine’s Day. It’s a queer love song about the first imaginings of being with someone when you first are interested in someone again after feeling disconnected for so long. It’s cheeky in this video because the song is about my friend Coly who recorded my livestream for me and who knows now, three years after the song was written, that it is about her when we first met. Queer friendships be like...

 The third song I selected is “Sea Legs” which is about unspoken, unrequited love. It’s yearning and ethereal and I hope that it puts the listener into a similar dream-like place of longing that I occupied while writing it. It will be the next single released from the album. 

 I close the set with “Soft Animal,” the title track of the album. It is an homage to Mary Oliver in her poem “Wild Geese” in which she writes, ‘You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.’ It is about leaning into self love and self compassion and reconnecting with your body after finally confronting trauma. 

 These four songs together I feel really represent the different emotional spaces that I explore in the album, all surrounding re-evaluating yourself and your heart and body after experiencing manipulation and trauma.”

Find Fig at @fignewtunes on social media, and be on the lookout for more from this extraordinary artist as they progress this year!