Artist Notes:
"I started with the basic rhythm of the bass drum from "If I Let You Stay" as a jumping off point and had just read about Onna Bugeisha which were female fighters in Japanese culture who often took the place of their male counterparts such as "Empress Jingū, who in 200 A.D. led an invasion of Korea after her husband Emperor Chūai, the fourteenth emperor of Japan, perished in battle.” In 1881 Empress Jingū became the first woman on Japanese currency. My track "Bugeisha" was inspired by the tale of an onna bugeisha called Nayako Takeko. I was so struck by her story and the portrait I found of her that I full screened the portrait and started freestyling over a beat and thinking would it feel like to be her on horseback at the top of a hill looking down over her enemy with all her bad bitch gang behind her ready to put a hurtin on em. It felt incredibly raw and powerful. I thought about her strength, ferocity and how she was ready willing and able to do anything including asking her sister to cut her head off so it wouldn't be used as a trophy by her enemies when she was wounded in battle. The legend says her sister cut her head off and it was buried under a tree in a nearby temple, you can still visit it today. While she was leading a charge against Imperial Japanese Army troops she was shot in the chest. Knowing her remaining time on earth to be short, Takeko asked her sister, Yūko, to cut her head off and have it buried rather than permit the enemy to seize it as a trophy. It was taken to Hōkai Temple and buried underneath a pine tree.

The intro of the track is inspired by a cinematic opener of a movie, the title credit of a film before it begins. Then you hear Takeko riding up a hill on her horseback and climbing off to look down at her competition before going in to battle. I decided to keep the vocals sparse during the vocals and try to evoke this kind of hypnotic, trance like moment with her where she is at the top of the hill gathering herself and imagining herself succeeding in battle, she is looking down and feeling herself, her tassles are blowing in the wind, she is rooted like a tree and she has no fear, she feels a rush of adrenaline, a thrill at the sight of her enemy and a rush of power in her armor and trust in herself and the honor of her family, her sister rides with her, they are unstoppable, not even death can stop them from being as fierce and powerful as they are. I feel like this story redifines the hashtag of "rest in power". "

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Bio:

Music maker Xenia Rubinos uses her powerful voice to create beats and melodies from scratch. Her sound grows from a wide palette of influences ranging from Caribbean rhythms and beat music to minimalism and indie rock all delivered with a soulful punk aura. Xenia’s ecstatic songs feature layered beats, crunchy keyboards, and driving syncopated rhythms.