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Introducing… Hesta Prynn

• 14th Sep 2010

Hesta Prynn might just knock you out.

Take one listen to her brand of electro-hip-hop-art-rock, and you'll most likely be on your ass begging for more—in the best way possible. In the same manner that Andy Warhol and The RZA artistically tore up the Big Apple, she's a maverick in the classic “New York” sense of the word. “Woah Woah” and “Recall” ride a thin line between indie elegance and gutter hip hop attitude. The former Northern State MC remains an underground artist with a chic sense of style and a visionary take on all things outside the norm. Flipping her sonic switchblade through cuts like “Seven Sisters,” she shifts from ethereal crooning to raucous ranting on the drop of a dime.

She's constructed an aural enigma that could only come from an old school Nintendo-playing, horror movie fanatic who's got a keen fashion sense. With a full-length debut on the way, Hesta Prynn is about to be everywhere. Plus, she has a mean left hook live…

Hesta Prynn's quixotic charm pipes through each and every note—from rap-laden verses to keyboard-propelled hooks. About her sonic mixology, she explains, “I'm a child of the '90s. I take all of these different sounds, influences and genres and come up with something cohesive and tangible. We kept calling it 'post-everything.' It's post-hipster, post-genre and post-pop. Everything I do has a hip hop undercurrent. However, the songs have classic structures because I think of them as pop songs, and they all blend electronic and organic live sounds. It's weird, but it's accessible.”

“Seven Sisters” sees Hesta Prynn walking that tightrope between odd and radio-ready. Locked and loaded with a dreamy hook, she declares creative independence over a raw beat and flourishes of guitar and glockenspiel. Even Santigold and M.I.A. don't venture this far out…

After releasing three albums with acclaimed all-girl hip hop triumvirate Northern State, Hesta Prynn knew it was time to go “post-everything” by herself in late 2008. Collaborating with musical partner-in-crime producer Chuck Brody (Wu-Tang Clan), “Seven Sisters” was born.

“I didn't want to follow rules anymore,” she exclaims. “Chuck and I wrote 'Seven Sisters,' and it's the song that spearheaded this whole project. It was exciting to do something so strange. I was a kid when Northern State started, and now I've figured out who I am. I'd been plotting my path as a solo artist since the beginning, and I learned from everyone Northern State worked with from The Roots to Ad-Rock of The Beastie Boys. 'Seven Sisters' is my coming out song.”

That track opened the creative flood gates for Hesta Prynn in 2009, as she began amassing an arsenal of songs with Chuck including the ultra catchy “Can We Go Wrong” and the sharply clever “Le Coq Aux Folles.” The one thread is New York City. “I've always lived in Manhattan,” she says. “The city is where you go when you have huge dreams and you want to put on a crazy show. I think about what Wu-Tang and Warhol did, and that inspires me. When people dream about moving to New York, they're dreaming about moving to Manhattan.”

However, Hesta Prynn's sound has already extended far beyond those well-trodden NYC streets at shows internationally with everyone from Jay-Z to Andrew W.K. That sound Hesta has conjured defies any and all conventions.

She and Brody find the perfect middle ground between natural instrumentation and electronic textures. A surf-style guitar can bend right into a soaring synth melody quickly in one song while Hesta rips through a sharp, sardonic and sultry rhyme. That style has spoke to various crucial musicians who have been immediately struck by Hesta Prynn.

Slipknot artistic visionary and percussionist M. Shawn “Clown” Crahan says, “When I was introduced to Hesta Prynn for the first time, I knew the minute the music started playing I was in for something special and different, but I was not prepared for the way Julies' voice sounded inside her track! Suddenly my imagination was taking me on a journey, a very colorful, sensual story that I did not want to return from. I don't think I have yet?”

Sara Quinn of Tegan and Sara adds, “Hesta Prynn's album makes me wish I was a dance choreographer or in a dance posse. It's not just enough to just dance alone to these songs, I actually feel as though I need an entire group of people behind me as a visual representation of how amazing I feel when I'm listening (and dancing) to this music.”

Off stage, Hesta Prynn also brandishes a sexy geek chic that few can match. “I'm not into chat rooms, but I am into emulators,” she laughs. “Would Blondie be downloading a Nintendo emulator? Maybe not, but she probably wouldn't give a shit if you said she did. That's how I feel.”

That attitude is what makes Hesta Prynn so unique and why you will be speechless after one spin or show. At the end of the day, it's about fun for Hesta Prynn; however you want to have it. “I want people to have a good time listening to this music. I'm making art as opposed to thinking about the whole package. This music reflects who I am and what I'm offering to the world. My philosophy could be, follow your own destiny or some shit like that and everything will be cool.”

No truer words have been spoken…and that's exactly what Hesta Prynn is doing now.