Start with a picture, and watch its efforts twitch as it become a film. The celluloid offers a gritty and knowing world, and introduces a female of interest. She is a tall and tawny paradox, the precocious eyes and pout of a girl atop the feline movement of a woman’s form. Ask Alexis Foxe, the ingénue at hand, who she is, and she’ll tell you, “I’m for the escapist in you.” The international cinematic pop conjured by the visual, provocative, and humorous Foxe tickles nostalgia with the feather of futurism much like Goldfrapp, and is sultry and occasionally dangerous in the way of Amy Winehouse. She is first and foremost a songwriter, but plays a cab driver in the off hours; music is her personal and public transportation system.
Cinematic is no kitsch here. Of Cuban and Colombian descent, Foxe was raised in Argentina and Spain before moving to New York City during her middle school years. To put it gently, she spoke horrendous English at the time, and learned to speak and adapt to American English culture by watching films of bygone eras. The craft of language adhered to her heart, as did the music, and the tango of the two became one language that she learned as a new young American. In reverse of most modern musicians, film became her language for music. She sings images.
Singing entered the picture a bit later for Alexis than most. Having played piano since age 7, it was not until a recording session at age 20 where she was the only one on hand to sing the vocals on a track due to a producer the next day that she simply did a job and discovered her voice. In her voice, she found the conduit for her lyrics, which are her unabashed musical love. Of them, she says, “My sense of humor and my dreaminess command the lyrics. Not that I have the most advanced sense of humor, but I am an excellent dreamer. I tend to range from whimsy to drama.” Indeed; her song titles include “Grand Macadamias,” “No Ticky No Shirty,” “Manhattan May Be Grand,” “Braindead,” and “Revel Without a Cause.” Hardly the work of a dull gal.
With a compulsive adherence to excellence in her work, the Quixotic, exotic Foxe has drawn some of the industry’s greatest guides into her path. Her debut album, Lady Be Bad, was touched by the production genius of Richard Niles (Paul McCartney, Ray Charles, Tina Turner), and executive producer Russ Titelman (James Taylor, George Harrison, The Bee Gees, Chaka Khan) gave expert guidance to the sophomore To Have and Want More. The experience and wisdom of these legends were an ideal complement to Alexis’ unimpeachable vision and her primary creative partnership with producer/songwriter Gary Schreiner, and their combined efforts coaxed her sensual, humorous, dreamy style into being.
Her film is unique, this Alexis Foxe. While pursuing the surreal in her personality and life, she is pursuing the same in yours. With tongue in cheek and heart in hand, she is here to touch your life for as long as she lives. Her current plan is to live forever. This cine-music visionary takes the music she makes very seriously while never being so severe about herself, and is very clear on the goal. “My music will bring you closer to our human experience and transport you to your dreams. And in the meantime: boogie.”
