Alexa Lima plays whatever comes to mind

As the keyboard/synthesizer player, noisemaker, and co-founder of the group Waking Astronomer, Alexa Lima sculpts sounds steeped in psychedelic hip-hop, jazz, and the avant-garde. Lima is an accomplished pianist who holds a degree in film scoring from Berklee College of Music. While Waking Astronomer spent much of the last year reconfiguring its personnel and settling into a new sound, Lima finished her first album of solo piano compositions. Due out June 23 online, with a physical release following soon after, Lima’s self-titled debut is a cohesive body of work made up of eight songs. In songs such as “Displacement,” “Seven,” and “What Comes to Mind,” tension builds around repeating musical phrases that morph ever so slightly with each pass. While preparing for the album’s release, Lima took a few minutes to talk about jazz, improvisation, and whether a song worth remembering is a song worth keeping.

Tell me about your new album.

It’s my first full-length. In the past I’ve only released three songs at a time, but I wrote a lot over the last few years. For my first release, Vicious Cycle, I did a pop-up book. The CD was encased in a little sleeve, and when you open it, each little flap has a pop-up created by Saira Raza. We only did 20 and they were made to order. For this one I’ll have something handmade. I have also created a piece of visual art for each song. I’ve been doing a lot of watercolor painting recently, so I created one painting for each song.

What’s the status of Waking Astronomer?

We’re a three-piece now: Me, Deku Brett Leggitt, and Afua Richardson. She’s a comic book artist by day, and a vocalist by night. Since last year Jeremi Johnson and Saira Raza left the group — creative differences, personal differences, things happen. So we’re revamping our sound and working on an EP. We’re developing the electronic vibe and putting a couple of acoustic elements here and there, but it’s mostly electronic. I’m diving into the noise and electronic side of synths, as opposed to playing more with acoustic sounds.

What does noise mean to you?

I think of taking a clean signal and rendering it totally unrecognizable. I’m just now getting into this whole world of noise, so I don’t have much of a background with it. It’s exciting. It’s also sort of what I like about Philip Glass’s compositional style. He’ll sit on one motif for a while, and you’ll hear so many different things. I have songs where I’ve played with the emphasis on the downbeat, or what is perceived as the downbeat. When I was recording some of the new songs my engineer asked, “Are you plucking strings while you’re playing? I hear other tones within the melodies?” But no, I’m just emphasizing it differently.

Was there an artist that really opened up your mind when you discovered jazz?

Miles Davis. Kind of Blue. Before I started playing jazz my dad used to play that album around the house. He’s the one that really got me into jazz in the first place. Thelonius Monk, too. I love his style of playing. He played straight fingered, no curved fingers or anything, he’d just hit the piano — very expressive, rhythmic, percussive. You can hear the tension in his music.

How much of a role does improvisation play with your album?

A lot, actually. Coming from a classically trained background, improv was like what? You want me to play something that isn’t on the page? It was like discovering a whole new world. Whenever I write a new song most of my best ideas come from improvisation. Once I come across something that sounds good, I’ll see where it goes. I’ll record it once I develop that little motif and play it until it’s stuck in my head. The recording process is super last minute.

How do you notate your ideas?

Mostly by memory. If I can remember it, it will become a song. I’ve written down only a handful of my songs ever. When I’m writing, piano is my go-to. Most of the time I’m actually at the piano, physically writing, it’s not like I’m writing on a piece of paper. I’m sitting at the piano writing. And I know I’m influenced by things from the outside world, but I never say, here’s a coffee cup or here’s this building. I’m going to write about it. My music comes from a place within me as opposed to coming from the outside, and it’s less of a statement than it is a reflection.