Allie X Releases Deluxe Edition of “Girl With No Face”
Los Angeles-based Canadian singer-songwriter Allie X released the deluxe edition of her third studio album “Girl With No Face” on October 31, 2024.
The standard edition was released back in February for the first time in four years.
The deluxe edition comprises 21 songs, including original 11 songs, two new songs (with Portuguese version), 6 remixes and one piano version, featuring guest appearances from Empress Of, Vestron Vulture, Sidewalks, Skeletons,TR/ST, Dionnysuss, and Slowz.
One of two new songs, “Our Lady of Sorrows” was co-written by Swedish singer-songwriter Tove Lo.
Allie X said of the deluxe edition, “The deluxe release of Girl with No Face is a further exploration into darker corners. Songs that didn't feel perfect on the original now feel appropriate that the world is built and I've toured the record, etc. This deluxe version includes dark wave remixes from some of my favourite artists, a v cunty song about a Saint with Tove Lo, and my new fav, the song of the fall, 'Bon Voyage.'”
She shared on social media, “It means a lot to be able to expand the world and life of this album. The remixes are largely by dark wave artists who were the modern inspo for some of the directions I took in my production (the bulk of the inspo came from the new wave movement of the 80's obvs). This deluxe version of GWNF is more collaborative. Aside from the remixes, it includes a feature by one of my fav artists Empress Of, a co-production with the love of my life, a reinterpretation of Off With Her Tits by TR/ST and a co-write with Tove Lo that was begging to come out. Lastly, it was fun after spending so much time programming this record, to get back to the piano and let Galina exist in a more raw state.”
Allie X explained about some tracks for the album.
“Bon Voyage” “'Bon Voyage' is a song that marks a change in the weather and a change in me. I can sense a new season coming and 'Bon Voyage' expresses a willingness to allow its arrival. Sometimes change can't happen until we are ready for it.”
“Galina (Remix)” featuring Empress Of “Empress Of is an artist I've admired for many years and it felt like the right collaboration for this song, which is an exploration of maternal and mystical relationships between women.”
“Weird World (Vestron Vulture Remix)” featuring Vestron Vulture
“Weird World (Sidewalks and Skeletons Remix)” featuring Sidewalks and Skeletons “Weird World was composed in summer 2020. Other than the original demo for Girl With No Face (the song) it was the first song made for this album. I recently went back to look at the project file and noticed it was called 'Save Yourself'. Often, before I song has lyric, the track is named something random just to give it a point of reference. I know I didn't think too hard at the time about calling this project 'save yourself' but in retrospect it was an apt project file name for the journey I was about to embark on.
I'd been messing around and making beats in Canada for a few weeks, but it was this song that convinced me to pursue producing my own album. I'd just rented a Korg Prologue for Long & McQuade Musical Instruments (bless Long and McQuade) and so the original demo was made exclusively using that and some drum machine samples I had downloaded.
Before the words even came out, I knew this would be a)dystopian in theme b)super melodic and fantastical.
I had the verse and pre chorus written by the end of summer 2020. 'Hail Satan, at least he keeps a promise' means something along the lines of: you can always depend on evil. You can always count on something bad happening. “Big brothers always out of office” means something like 'the powers that be are rarely available to you' which was both an analysis of my experience in the music industry as well as a nod to 1984.
I figured out the chorus lyrics in LA in my kitchen. I think I was literally thinking 'what a weird world' and then I thought 'that's it, I live in a weird world is the first line of my chorus'. It worked very well with the word 'dream girl' which was already in my gibberish.
From then till the start of 2023 Weird World was actually the working title for the album. but as more songs were written it started feeling like the wrong album name.
As I finished the album with Justin Meldal-Johnsen we added (among other things) the acoustic guitar outro which brought new meaning and worked very well in the music video.
One of my favorite on the album, it guided me through the process and can most be called the 'flagship song'.”
“Off With Her Tits (TR/ST Remix)” featuring TR/ST “Off With Her Tits, one of my most iconic songs ever started as a title I wrote down in my notes somewhere around 2020. Then one night in the bath (always songs in the bath) a bunch of lyrics came out - stubborn Aphrodite, you got me in the tits and a lot of other verse lyrics. At a certain point in 2021 I tried to set it to a beat I was sent, and it was just ok, not really musically exciting enough for the lyrics. So I scrapped it. Finally in the holiday break of December 2021, I must have been really feeling the Christmas spirit because I made the song on headphones. No keyboard or mic or anything. Just pitched the basic bass note pattern using a sample and sang quietly into my laptop mic. The lyrics felt so dark and funny I was kind of manically laughing to myself as I did it. But because the beat was so basic I didn't really know if it was good or not. Thennnn I got super sick in early 2022 and didn't listen to music again till the summer. When I opened this session I remember thinking “oh this is actually really good” and proceeded to develop it. Found the key, spent a lot of time on the bass and drum programming and then so much god damn time on the vocals. I can't even tell you hahah. Anyway, I think this is one of my favs on the album and it feels really unique to me and my perspective. It kind of feels like a relief to have it out in the world. Cause thematically and tonally it's not really subject matter I could have put into words. I was thinking of doing a reel with the early demo- would you like to hear it ?”
“Staying Power (Remix)” featuring Dionnysuss via Apple Music “I wrote this after having a really rough year, health-wise. 'Staying Power' is an acknowledgment of my superpower as I see it, which is a really high pain tolerance. It's very direct and very sarcastic. This feels like me having a conversation with someone that I'm really close and comfortable with.”
“Truly Dreams (Remix)” featuring Slowz via Apple Music
“This was a co-write with my partner, and it has a funk in there that wouldn't have been there if I had written it myself. So because of the bounciness of the song, I just went to this more optimistic disco kind of place. I always had drag queens in mind when I wrote this. I really relate to drag queens, and this idea that we can put on our look and get out there and live our fantasy. Like 'Staying Power,' it's a perseverance song, but in a more fantastical way.”
“Galina (Piano Version)” “Galina was one of the last songs written for the album. In 2022 I took a 4 month break from doing any music and then when I got back to it in the late summer, the rest of my record kind of wrote itself. Galina was one of those songs. I was coming back from a hike with my dog at the end of the day and in the elevator heard a motif in my head. I went to my studio right away and put down the line I was hearing. This ended up being a string part which you can hear in the background of the voice memo in the next slide. It took me a little bit to find the melody and the voice memo is the moment when I got the basic map of it. It was one of those cases where I needed some words to help me. 'Galina Wake Up!' had been in my notes as a title for a couple years from an experience in my life (if you know you know) and those words helped me find the melody and rhythm. My melodies are usually soaring and span octaves, and it felt exciting to write a chorus that utilized just a few notes in the scale. The basic chorus was written that night then the next day I figured out the verse and pre chorus soon after.
When I programmed the bass line and drums was when I got really excited about it. I had recently acquired my Linn Drum and had rigged my studio so I could send midi to it. Galina was the first song I used it on. I wanted to do a Hounds of Love style tom pattern. The Galina chorus was so filled with toms I remember having trouble trying to carve out space for everything else, but that was eventually solved with Justin Meldal-Johnsen and EQ. I had also just received a Moog Matriarch and also sent midi to that. I spent a good amount of time perfecting that bass line and finding the syncopation (same with Off With Her Tits) I was trying to channel early Madonna synth bass programming.
I wanted to keep the chorus in a lower part of my voice, but the energy just isn't there when I sing low so the key kept going up, even to the point where on my recent tour I've put it up another 2 semitones.”
