Morgan Leavy is a senior year social work major at Eastern University. Leavy has been involved in theater and music for years, and this September, she released her first-ever EP titled “burnt orange”. Leavy released the album under the moniker “flowergirl.”
“I have this picture of me and my dad from my aunt’s wedding and I was the flowergirl. I’m sitting on his lap and I was so excited,” Leavy said.
“I don’t know why, but every time I look at it just like floods back memories of a truly simpler time. When I was coming up with names I looked at that and was like ‘oh, I got it.’ It also kinda worked because I’m a nature lover so most people will think that’s what it means, like kinda hippie, boho-ish or whatever, but really it has a familial meaning for me,” Leavy said.
In “burnt orange,” Leavy recounts what she describes as a life-changing relationship over the course of 22 minutes. Through both short and full-length songs, as well as spoken-word pieces, Leavy tells the story of past love. From the early butterfly feelings to fading passion and to eventually finding her own footing, Leavy weaves a tale that all can relate to.
“I think after the breakup really affected me, and I got the idea that I wanted to create a story out of music about this relationship and about how it affected me,” said Leavy. “If I could help anyone else go through it differently with my music, that would matter to me. Because you know, most people have some kind of music that has affected them in a positive way, or helped them survive a hard time, and you never really think that your words are gonna do that, but it’d be really cool if I could try. And in my lowest time, I would’ve loved something like that to bring me out of it.” Leavy’s heartbreak motivated her to learn more about music and hone her craft. After the relationship ended, she decided to make the most of her time alone and practice guitar every day. This practice lead her to songwriting, where she could express her feelings more deeply. As she wrote more and more, Leavy found herself crafting a body of art. She set a goal to record and produce the album with the help of her friend over the summer of 2019 and release it in September.
“It was such a fun process. Honestly, I could do it a billion more times. Because like, any free time I was like, “oh! I can go to Derek’s house” or “I can do that song again.” It was just so fun and such a project that I was motivated to do. Sometimes in school, it’s hard when things aren’t creative – for me at least. It was just really fun, I felt like I was in my element.”
All summer, Leavy and Reeser worked on recording and rerecording and producing her EP until it was finished. On Sept. 3, the album was out.
“The day of the release was like, so overwhelming,” said Leavy. “I realized that day that all of my thoughts and feelings could be interpreted however they could be. Like, I’m an open book, so I don’t find it hard to talk about my personal life, even to strangers. But in the form of a piece of art, not only are you baring your soul you’re also baring your creative soul, and you’re putting yourself out there with your sound. So not only is it your thoughts and feelings and emotions that have built up over a year or two, and it is a piece of you. It really is a piece of you, and I wasn’t expecting to feel that way.”
Though her first EP only dropped recently, Leavy is already working on more music. She says that learning and growing and changing are all integral themes of her art.
“Always finding myself. That is huge. Always finding a new sound, always finding what makes me feel like me in that moment, always learning about myself. So that hopefully comes through in my sound and in the messages of my songs, that we’re just like, ever-growing and figuring it out.”
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