Murder Inc.

Otherwise, they might take her for a bleedin' minger. — Michael Roberts

Lady Sovereign performs with ¡Mayday! and Young Love on Tuesday, November 28, at Studio A, 60 NE 11th St., Miami. Doors open at 9 p.m. Tickets cost $13. Call 305-358-ROCK, or visit www.studioamiami.com.Skye-Minded

60 Cycle Media

Reach for the Skye.

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More About

• Lady Sovereign
• Morcheeba
• Adam Turla
• Hip-Hop and Rap
• Garage and Grime

Having toured earlier this year for her solo debut, Mind How You Go, former Morcheeba frontwoman Skye returns to the States sporting nothing this time but her acoustic guitar, voice, and, for two songs, her bass-playing husband, Steve Gordon. Relegated to a supportive role in Morcheeba, Skye spoke to Outtakes about the newfound creative freedom that resulted in Mind How You Go's folk-tinged electronic pop.

Outtakes:All of the songs on the new album were produced by Patrick Leonard, but when you started, you worked with Daniel Lanois. What happened to that material?

Skye:We initially did two songs. He had the backing tracks for one of them for seven years. I was like, "Can we just do one more?" He had this tune that he played on guitar which turned into "Jamaica Days." It was later suggested that I record it a cappella [for the album version]. The first two tracks are still in demo form, but hopefully they'll make it onto the next record.

The Godfrey brothers exerted full creative control in Morcheeba. What types of production ideas did you have for your material?

I knew that I wanted there to be strings, more like a quartet sound. I had to speak in colors, like "orange and yellow with a little splotch of black in it." And I wanted it to feel "shiny but with a few scratches." Pat understood what I meant, thank God.

When you joined Morcheeba, you had songs and ideas — how much did you wish you could contribute more?

It was kind of clear from the get-go — Ross [Godfrey] played guitar, Paul [Godfrey] wrote the lyrics, and I joined it together with the melody. I was really quite shy and nervous to suggest anything, and then the occasional times when I did think "Wow, I could write lyrics to this," they'd say "Yeah, that's cool" and nothing would come of it. So I just didn't offer. I continued to play a bit of guitar at home and write little poems and little songs.

How conscious were you of the whole trip-hop movement that Morcheeba is associated with?

I'd had the Portishead CD and Tricky's first album, but we spent a lot of time touring. The trip-hop scene was happening in the U.K., and I felt like we weren't really there. We were part of it, but I didn't really notice it happening. — Saby Reyes-Kulkarni

Skye opens for Ziggy Marley on Friday, November 24, at Revolution, 200 W. Broward Blvd., Fort Lauderdale. The show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $26. Call 954-727-0950, or visit www.jointherevolution.net.