The Ann Arbor-based artist talks about her new rock and alt-folk collection for Local Spins, which also debuted tracks by Bob James, Ashley Kay, The War and Treaty, Ohly and more.
Elisabeth Pixley-Fink: An album with themes of ‘vulnerability and imperfection.’ (Photo/Cody Sells)
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Picture a heart shedding its skin.
“That can mean so many different things,” says Ann Arbor singer-songwriter Elisabeth Pixley-Fink, referring to the title of her new studio album, “Heartskin.”
“It can mean looking back over things you’ve done, the good and the bad. It can mean this protective layer that you have over your heart that maybe keeps people out or lets people in.”
Honed from several years of songwriting during a time of personal transformation and co-produced by Detroit’s John Hanson, Pixley-Fink’s latest project unfurls 12 “powerful and translatable” songs featuring a who’s who cast of Michigan players.
The New Album: ‘Heartskin’
“The production of the album really centered on serving the songs, and I chose to record onto tape because I wanted to explore the creative limitations of tape and really just authentically capture what was there,” she says.
“It’s really a raw and authentic piece, and that felt important to me with the themes of vulnerability and imperfection.”
A Kalamazoo native who grew up singing in a musical family and who’s long been a fixture amid Michigan’s music scene and the Earthwork Music collective, Pixley-Fink’s repertoire covers a wide swath — from the harmony-hued minimalist folk of the Hearth & Hymn duo with fellow musician Samantha Cooper to the all-out rock of her band featuring Cooper, Adam Danis, Graham Parsons and her brother, Joel Pixley-Fink.
“I love leading a rock band,” she concedes. “I love going feral. I am super-inspired by Riot Grrrl, Kathleen Hanna and punk musicians. I think that channels a certain energy.”
Much of that rock ’n’ roll energy is demonstrated on the track, “Fearless and the Pure,” for which Pixley-Fink released a new music video today.
VIDEO: Elisabeth Pixley-Fink, “Fearless and the Pure”
For “Heartskin” – engineered by Hanson at The Deli and by Ian Gorman at Kalamazoo’s La Luna Recording & Sound – Pixley-Fink also took cues from Neil Young’s classic 1972 album, “Harvest.”
“One of his tenets was to have people play more simply or to even have people play their non-dominant instrument to that we’re really just feeling,” she says. “So we did all the arrangement and a lot of the practicing just in the studio to keep it fresh.”
To accompany her in the studio, Pixley-Fink called on her brother, Cooper, drummers Michael Shimmin and Dan Rickabus, guitarists Theo Katzman and Mike Savina, cellist Jordan Hamilton, pedal steel player Ben Lau and guitarist Alex Rosenblatt (who performed in Pixley-Fink’s Family Almanac band when she lived in Portland).
The tracks lean into everything from indie-rock to alternative folk, from orchestrated affairs to a county ballad. They’re the culmination of a lifelong passion for music and writing.
On Stage: Pixley-Fink loves the ‘feral’ approach of a rock band. (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
“There was always a song,” Pixley-Fink said of her childhood, filled with music by Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, The Chicks, Radiohead, The Beatles, Bikini Kill, Ani DiFranco and more. “There was a song for everything. I sang with my family all the time … so I was doing a lot of group singing and I was always really interested in writing.
“I always was a kid that would sit next to the CD player and write down all the lyrics. I always kept a journal. So discovering that I could do a craft that mixed my love of music with words as a songwriter was really revelatory for me.”
In support of the new album, Pixley-Fink has a series of band and solo shows lined up, including playing Relax at Rosa at Rosa Parks Circle in Grand Rapids on May 15, North Star Lounge in Ann Arbor on May 31, The Ark in Ann Arbor on June 27 (opening for Joe Reilly), Fern Fest at Smiling Acres in Trufant on July 18, and Farm Block Fest in the Upper Peninsula on Aug. 1.
“I love performing live,” she says. “I love that … the one show only happens once. You’re never all going to be there again.”
She also loves Michigan’s ever-encouraging music community.
“I’m not sure I would be a songwriter (now) if I hadn’t heard Josh Davis and May Erlewine and so many other writers. I just got connected to so many sweet musicians and I feel like it’s a really supportive community,” she says, hailing the scene’s “enthusiasm, sincerity, generosity, kindness, talent, creativity.”
In addition to spotlighting Pixley-Fink’s new tracks “Those Were the Days” and “How to Stop Loving You,” the March 14 edition of Local Spins on WYCE (airing at 11 a.m. Fridays and 5 p.m. Sundays at WYCE 88.1 FM and online at wyce.org, and at 7 p.m. Sundays on Interlochen Public Radio) also featured music by Michigan artists Ashley Kay, The Breaker Brothers, Saltbreaker, Ohly, Levitator, The War and Treaty (with Billy Strings), Hank Mowery, Nathan K, Bob James (with Dave Koz) and Stone Clover. Listen to the podcast here.
PODCAST: Local Spins on WYCE (3/14/25)
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