Listen: Queency - Purple Diamonds

Photo credit Jeff Ettridge 

A month ago Boorloo/ Perth-based singer, songwriter, and charismatic performer Queency served a suave and sexy new single Purple Diamonds, the title track from his debut EP which makes its saucy entrance into the world today. 

Dripping with memorable melodies and intimate lyrics, Purple Diamonds EP is a mix of modern r&b and funk-filled soul pop, a unique and smooth sound that Queency has refined throughout the 5 tracks on the release. He shares “This EP is my very first body of work and I’ve poured my soul, sweat and tears in it” continuing “The recurring theme throughout the EP is relationships. Whether in love, lust, friendship, family, or even solitude, navigating relationships with others and the relationship you have with yourself, is not always straightforward. Writing these songs was my way of reaching catharsis in times of anger, sadness, grief, hope and joy. I’m one of these people who live their emotions intensely and sometimes the only way to process them is to turn these emotions into something productive and tangible. That’s what I’ve done with this EP.”

To celebrate the release of Purple Diamonds we asked Queency to take us through his biggest musical influences around the it - so be sure to hit play on the debut EP, and take a read of what he has to say below.  

Prince

Purple Diamonds as a track is literally an Ode to Prince and black 80s pop. I wrote that song imagining Prince was singing it! So that one is really straight forward.

Whitney Houston

She’s my number one of all time. I think she is the best singer who ever lived, and the best singer who lived in my lifetime. There’s a couple of sound easter eggs in the EP referring to her music (look for a cowbell sample). She’s also heavily influenced my singing overall, I refer to her for technique, and having such an incredible gospel role model certainly helped me writing “When Daddy Left”.

Stevie Wonder

My earliest memory of singing is me sitting in the car with my Dad, trying to sing along to Stevie in my gibberish I thought resembled English. I grew up listening to Stevie, so I guess he’s been a heavy influence on my song-writing overall, and vocally, you can probably hear his direct influence in my high raspy notes. 

James Brown

In ‘Too Late’, I’m definitely channeling my inner James Brown, especially during that bridge! I feel like he’s the pioneer of this entire era of Funk music and classic soul. This genre of music expresses really heavy feelings and emotions, and ‘Too Late’ is about anger, so it made sense to me to be inspired by the Legendary James Brown in that context.

Aretha Franklin

Very much like Stevie Wonder, I grew up with Aretha Franklin. My mum used to listen to her ‘Amazing Grace’ Album on repeat throughout my childhood. I wrote ‘When Daddy Left’ about my parents’ story, which is deeply poignant, and as such I knew that this song needed to be a bluesy ballad ending on a Gospel climax. Gospel music brings about intense emotions too, and this is why Aretha, along with Whitney, influenced this song.

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