Ears Wide Open: Vicky Farewell

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Vicky Farewell (Photo by Lauren Kim)

Orange County-bred Vicky Farewell is a songwriter, producer and classically trained pianist who’s been honing her skills in the shadow bigger artists — most notably, she has writing, production and performance credits on Anderson .Paak’s “Ventura” and “Malibu” albums.

Now the artist, born Vicky Nguyen, is stepping out with her own brand of silky funk and soul. Today, she announced that her debut album, “Sweet Company,” would be out April 8 via Mac DeMarco’s Mac’s Record Label.

Keys twinkling and vocals cooing comfortably, “Are We OK?” is her first solo single, and it works like a muscle relaxant. “‘Are We OK?’ was the first song I ever wrote and produced to completion on my own,” Farewell says. “Honestly, I never considered myself much of a singer until I made this song. It really paved a way for the rest of the record.”

The self-produced, eight-track release quickly won over DeMarco. “I’ve known Vicky for several years now, she’s a good friend and a ripping musician,” he sways. “Vicky shared a couple of the songs with me as she was making them a while ago, and it’s been cool to watch the rest of her process in putting it all together. I love all these tunes, I’m happy Vicky’s allowed us to help out with them, and I’m really excited for everybody else out there to have a rip on them.”

So … “Are We OK?” Well, better than we were 3 1/2 minutes ago.

||| Stream: “Are We OK?”