Introducing Racquet with “Artifacts”. Founded by the talented Sapphire Jewell (guitar, vocals). The solo project was started when Sapphire met London Bridge studio owner and producer, Eric Lilavois, at a 2016 GRAMMY Producer’s and Engineer’s gala celebrating the career of Rick Rubin. Lilavois offered her a summer internship at London Bridge Studios in Seattle. London Bridge has done work for Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Fleet Foxes, and Death Cab for Cutie. Eric Lilavois has also produced records with notable indie artists like Saint Motel, Atlas Genius, and Surfer Blood. While interning, Lilavois encouraged Sapphire to write and record demos in her spare time.
When Sapphire presented the demos, Eric offered to record a debut 6 track EP which ended up being titled “Artifacts.” Sapphire flew to her hometown of Washington to film a music video for Racquets single “Surface” an ideal place for the first music video. Sapphire Jewell talks about the inspiration behind the single “Artifacts”,
“Artifacts is about getting back into a relationship and the feelings that come with it. Last summer, in 2016, my boyfriend and I separated for a few months. The first few weeks we were back together were easily the most bittersweet days of my life. As a defense mechanism I tend to block unwanted thoughts out of my mind, so when we were apart, I tried to forget many of the precious memories that defined our relationship. I was afraid they would stunt my ability to move on so I pushed them away thinking we’d never get back together.”
“When we reunited, it felt like we were excavating pieces of our old relationship. The memories of our past love were buried artifacts that we were uncovering and marveling at. We were navigating unfamiliar and unforgiving territory but we were doing it together. It was a confusing and rough period of time but I’ve never been so emotional about anything in my life and I thought that was beautiful. I wanted to write an optimistic song about our compassion. Every time I play this song it reminds me of how grateful I am to still have this person in my life.”
The track makes us get up slowly and if we close our eyes, we can feel the emotion that is put into this song, it comes to life. The guitar reminds us to keep moving, as we hear the vocals soar in our ears. A mixture of beautiful and independent sounds.
