A fine meeting of two music minds today as Shiv’s recent track ‘Heavy Water’ gets a beautiful remix from Irish producer SHEE.
SHEE takes Shiv’s original song about feeling estranged from her Zimbabwean heritage was released this summer, and Shiv has since supported Lana Del Rey and played All Together Now.
For the new version of the track, the Kerry producer Shee brings some delicate but clubby textures and beats to the fore.
Shee has also been busy on the Irish festival circuit and is playing the rave in the woods at EP. His most recent track was released on Eats Everything’s label and we featured it here.
‘Heavy Water’ describes the disconnect I have from my Zimbabwean heritage. It’s a part of myself that on a surface level, I express pride for, but on a deeper level I don’t feel able to be fully part of. I haven’t been back there in over 10 years, and the longer it gets, the harder it is to bring myself to go. I feel like the cultural gap has become too large and I wouldn’t be accepted by my family and the people in Zimbabwe. Although I can speak Shona, I have lost my fluency in the language and cultural norms, which feel vastly different to those I’ve grown up with in Ireland. I speak only sporadically to my Zimbabwean family, of whom I have plenty, and feel as though it’s unfair that I was lucky to have a significantly better life than many of my cousins could ever have access to, partly due to the privilege that having one white parent has afforded me. Time and experience has diluted my heritage, blurring my self-identity and leaving me drowning in questions of who I am, who I’m meant to be, and why I should have the opportunities that I have over anyone else on the Zimbabwean side of my family’
