Review: PHEA Turns Pain Into Power on Flowers on Caskets
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
BERLIN/LA-BASED SINGER, SONGWRITER, ARTIST AND PRODUCER PHEA has released her most personal work to date with her new EP Flowers on Caskets. Blending fragile, intimate vocals with cinematic, hard-hitting production, the project explores vulnerability, survival, and the strength it takes to find hope in the darkest corners of life.
A survivor of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and years of navigating chronic illness, PHEA has transformed her experiences into raw, cathartic art. Tracks like “Ride or Die”, which features a real voice memo recorded during a hospital stay — cut straight to the heart of what it means to live, love, and fight for connection.
Sonically sitting in the world of Oklou, London Grammar, and Caroline Polacheck, her sound is as expansive as it is intimate, weaving together acoustic warmth and electronic sharpness into something hauntingly unique. With Flowers on Caskets, PHEA doesn’t seek sympathy — she creates understanding, and in doing so, offers listeners both a mirror and a source of strength.
LUNA: Flowers on Caskets feels both intimate and expansive, a reflection of your personal journey while also resonating universally. What was the starting point for this EP?
PHEA: The song Flowers on Caskets was the spark for this EP. I wrote it during one of the hardest moments in my life, when I was living with chronic pain and surrounded by a lot of illness and loss. At the time, I didn’t feel able to speak about it, so the song became the place where I could release it all. From there, other songs I had already written—like The Girl with the Secret Garden—began to connect, and the bigger picture started to emerge.
What I love most is how naturally it all came together. The music, the visuals, even the people I worked with—close friends who supported me through that time—helped turn something heavy into something meaningful. This EP isn’t about branding or perfection; it’s simply my truth. And while it comes from a painful place, creating it reminded me that beauty can grow out of darkness, and that honesty can be its own kind of healing. For me, that’s what this EP is: both a release and a source of hope.
LUNA: You’ve spoken about surviving Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy at a very young age. How has that experience shaped not just your music, but also the way you approach life and creativity?
PHEA: Experiencing cardiac arrest and living with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy from such a young age has shaped me in ways I’m still discovering. Of course, managing a chronic illness comes with physical challenges and moments where it weighs on me mentally. But I refuse to not see it as a blessing as well. From early on, my mind was searching for release, and music became that outlet. Because of that, I’ve never really experienced writer’s block—there’s always something to express, and I feel incredibly grateful for that gift.
It also gave me a deep sense of safety within myself. I learned early on who I am, and that confidence has become a privilege I wouldn’t trade. In many ways, my condition has given me as much—if not more—than it has taken. It’s given me perspective, resilience, and the ability to turn difficulty into creativity. It took me a long time to see it from this perspective. Because living with this condition is not at all easy, though it has taught me to be thankful, even for the hard parts, because they shaped the artist and person I’ve become.
LUNA: The EP blends fragile, intimate vocals with powerful, cinematic production. What drew you to this sonic palette, and how do you see it reflecting the stories you’re telling?
PHEA: I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember, and this is simply the way my voice comes out—soft and fragile, even when I’m singing about things that are dark or harsh. That contrast feels very true to me. It’s important that the production reflects the emotions behind those stories, so I lean into sounds that are dramatic, sometimes even abrasive, because that’s how life has often felt to me—scary, overwhelming, but also real.
I love weaving in harsh basses and sharp percussion because they capture that rawness, but setting them against a more delicate vocal lets both sides breathe. For me, it’s about honesty: not hiding from difficult experiences, but turning them into something that resonates.
LUNA: “Ride or Die” features that raw spoken-word voice memo from your time in the hospital. What made you decide to include such a vulnerable, unfiltered moment on the record?
PHEA: It was actually a friend’s idea. I had sent her that voice memo from the hospital while I was undergoing surgery after my defibrillator malfunctioned. She told me that, despite the weight and tragedy of what I’ve been through, what struck her most was how inspiring it was that I’d found someone who truly understands me — that even in the midst of all this, I wasn’t carrying it alone.
For years, I felt like my condition was often minimised by partners and friends because I look young and healthy, which left me feeling like a burden and, at times, led me to neglect my heart condition, with potentially life-threatening consequences. But now I have a partner and friends who genuinely see and support me. That memo captured the quiet shift from isolation to being understood, and it was one of the first moments I myself truly understood what ‘Ride or Die’ quite literally means.
LUNA: Many of the visuals carry a dreamlike yet haunting quality. How important is visual storytelling to the way you share your music?
PHEA: For this EP, I wanted to capture the tension between beauty and darkness—dreamlike images set against haunting realities—because that’s how life feels. The last years have been full of breathtaking moments alongside very scary ones, and I want the visuals to reflect that truth. It’s not just my story; many people have experienced the same, and expressing that contrast is, for me, one of the most important ways to share my music. I feel like trauma becomes overwhelming when you try to hide it so I started doing the opposite.
LUNA: You’ve said your goal isn’t to garner sympathy, but to create understanding around living with chronic illness and mental health struggles. How do you hope listeners engage with your story through this EP
PHEA: I wrote this EP for people who might be going through something similar. Living with a chronic illness, whether mental or physical, can feel incredibly isolating because society often frames it as a weakness — something within your control — when so much of it simply isn’t. I don’t want pity; I want understanding.
I do think sympathy and compassion are essential — they speak to the strength of someone’s character — but what makes the biggest difference is truly trying to understand the reality of someone’s situation.
Even small parts of my daily routine — like eating before taking my medication, sticking to a schedule, or monitoring my water intake — are crucial to staying healthy. For someone without my condition, these might seem minor, but for me drinking too much water or missing a dose can lead to significant fluid retention, which can cause my lungs to literally fill with water, making it hard for me to breathe and strain my heart. Having people who understand and respect those boundaries makes life immeasurably easier. My hope is that listeners approach this EP with empathy and awareness, to see the realities of living with a chronic condition rather than viewing it as something to feel sorry for. Someone feeling sorry for us doesn’t make life easier. But someone who understands, is empathetic and offers help does make the biggest difference.
LUNA: Berlin and LA are both rich creative hubs in very different ways. How do those cities influence your sound, energy, or perspective as an artist?
PHEA: While my style as a producer and writer, as well as the way I approach sessions, often suits LA quite naturally, I’ve come to love being in Berlin. It feels grounding and carries a certain melancholic and edgy energy that really inspires me. I’ve also met some amazing people in LA and had crazy experiences that continue to push me to grow—not only as a person, but also in my career. What I love most is how polar opposite the two cities are. That contrast really resonates with me, because in my production I love blending extremes—harsh electronic sounds with acoustic elements and very intimate vocals. Moving between LA and Berlin feels like an extension of that balance.
LUNA: If someone is stepping into your music for the first time, which song from the EP would you want them to hear first and why?
PHEA: That’s a hard question, but I think I’d start with Ride or Die. That song really captures what I’ve been talking about throughout the EP. I wrote it after waking from a dream about the world ending, where everyone I loved had to get to safety. In the dream, the only way to survive was to reach the top of a mountain, and I knew I wouldn’t make it in time—and someone else wouldn’t either if they tried to help me because of my heart condition. So I told them to leave me behind, and in that dream, that someone chose to stay.
I don’t think I’ve ever experienced that kind of love from anyone besides my parents. For a long time, I thought I would always be on my own because of my heart condition, and I had even come to accept that. Since meeting someone I feel like would stay with me if the world was ending in real life, I’ve been able to process my heart condition in a new way. Ride or Die is about realizing that just because my body came with limitations, it doesn’t mean I’m unworthy of love—I deserve it, and I’m capable of experiencing it and giving it back.
