The band Say She She uses the term “discodelic soul” to describe the mix of disco, psychedelic rock, soul, funk and more that can be found within their music.
Best friends and harmony masters Piya Malik, Sabrina Mileo Cunningham and Nya Gazelle Brown are the leaders and vocalists—backed up by the funk band Orgone, making for an impressive seven-member ensemble. The band has captured ears and hearts with two impressive albums filled with earworms, and the group has toured almost nonstop, bringing the dance floor to places like Glastonbury, the Hollywood Bowl—and, on Sunday, Feb. 11, Pappy and Harriet’s.
During a recent phone interview with Cunningham and Brown, the musicians discussed the importance of being great friends before starting their musical career.
“I feel like that’s the glue that holds it all together, really,” Cunningham said. “It’s so important, because we spend so much time together, and we’re creating together. It’s the imperative baseline that we all truly care about each other and are good friends. I think that is how the magic developed, from the friendship and sharing all the intimate details of our lives. That’s really how some of these writing sessions start—by unlocking or unloading about something, whether that’s relationship trouble, or joy, or something that’s going on in the world.
“On the Orgone side, they have all known each other for so many years, and they have this unspoken familial sort of care for each other as well. You can really feel that in the room … and we’ve felt that for them, too.”
Brown agreed. “We are there to have a good time, and to reach audiences and to make them have a good time … and make them dance and to make them feel good and make them feel empowered—and the only way I think that we can do that is if we are feeling that ourselves.”
Say She She’s debut LP, Prism, wasn’t made in the most ideal of conditions. Restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic caused the band to create in a distanced manner—yet they still brought the groove, delivering favorites like the mysterious spy-movie groove of “Fortune Teller” and the trance-dance of the title track. Sophomore album Silver was created with everyone in the same room; having the rhythm section present helped the band deliver progressive funk on “Reeling,” and create quirky fun on the catchy “C’est Si Bon.”
“Prism was primarily written around the piano, just in an apartment, and then thereafter produced remotely,” Cunningham said. “The actual creation of the songs was made in a more acoustic way, versus Silver, as we did that with our band. Having a rhythm section when you’re writing a song allowed us to really explore; it allowed us to express ourselves in the most honest way, because you’re inspired differently. If you don’t have a beat or a drum or a killer bassline underneath, it changes the feeling; it changes the mood, and you end up writing more of a soothing sort of music. We really wanted to push it a little bit and get a little bit grittier. … I think we were able to do that with the band writing with us.”
The energy on Silver may be, in part, a result of the recording process.
“The way that we do it at (Orgone guitarist) Sergio Rios’ studio, Killion Sound in North Hollywood, is we’ll sit down and basically start and finish in one day,” Cunningham said. “Sergio crafted this incredible studio out of a two-bedroom apartment—and there are neighbors, so we have a strict end time, which is 8 p.m. We work within these constraints, and we have to really focus our energy and our creativity into this period, and it just worked for us. It really felt right, and with seven brains working on the task, it goes a lot faster than if it was just one person behind the piano.”
Added Brown: “That process made us really be fully present and trust the moment when we created this particular song. Because we have these deadlines and goals, like a song a day or whatever, it forced us to accept what we came up with, and not keep going back and editing and changing. … It let that be a record of this moment that we have together in this room, the seven of us.”
Trusting the moment helped birth one of Say She She’s most popular songs, and what might be their catchiest earworm, “Forget Me Not.”
“‘Forget Me Not,’ we did the first day we met those guys,” Cunningham said. “We went to the studio; we hung out in the kitchen for an hour and a half, and then went in and wrote that song. I think it was like two hours or something, pretty quick. It was the first time ever meeting them, and we just realized that there’s definitely something there, so we clung to that and haven’t looked back.”
Brown and Cunningham said they’ve had a lot of fun performing the songs live.
“I will say that my favorite to perform is ‘Bleeding Heart,’ just because of the drama,” Brown said. “Onstage, performing that song, you can just give any drama that you’ve ever wanted. It’s the perfect time to be the most dramatic you can ever be in your life. I just give all the drama, whether that’s in a facial expression, or whether that’s a dance move.”
Cunningham cited “Astral Plane” has one of her live favorites.
“I love the breakdown, then the build-up section of it where Nya holds that long note, and then when it breaks, everybody cheers,” Cunningham said. “It’s a really fun moment; it’s one of my favorites, and we get to dance our little butts off on that one, too, and all throughout the set.”
While the feel of Say She She’s music may shift from song to song, it’s always undeniably groovy.
“The vocal tone that either one of us is choosing as we’re coming up with ideas is the very thing that may set the song off, or inspire the song completely,” Brown said. “It really does depend on the energy and the synergy in the room with what the musicians are playing. Sergio may inspire a certain mood and sound with his guitar-playing, or Dan Hastie may inspire something with his keys, and then Dale Jennings, same thing, as his bassline may require a certain kind of tone. It’s very much the collaboration and energy in the room that we’re going by and depending on to inspire the song.”
Say She She will perform at 9 p.m., Sunday, Feb. 11, at Pappy and Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace, 53688 Pioneertown Road, in Pioneertown. Tickets start at $25. For more information, call 760-228-2222, or visit pappyandharriets.com.
