Berlin, by-way-of Norway, multi-instrumentalist and producer Farao (née Kari Jahnsen) announced that her new album, Pure-O, will be released October 19 via Western Vinyl. The album’s first single ‘Lula Loves You’ follows the May release of critically acclaimed song ‘The Ghost Ship’ and arrives with a kaleidoscopic, analog-shot video directed/edited by Farao herself. About the song, Farao says, “Loosely based on the movie Wild At Heart by David Lynch, ‘Lula Loves You’ is about resilience in the face of adversity – fighting for something in less than ideal conditions."
Pure-O, Farao’s second album, is a prog-pop exposition on the curious dichotomy between beauty and destructiveness in sex and relationships, observing “How so often the thing that sparks our passions is the constant need to hide from one to find the other.” The musician notes, “I've felt like that. Like an addict seeking a fix.”
“My choices for instrumentation and arrangement on the record were inspired by my falling in love with old Soviet disco (Eduard Artemyev, Zigmars Liepiņš, Aleksei Kozlov) and subsequent collecting of boutique, Soviet-era analog synthesizers. A reawakening of my love for sensual ‘90s R&B (TLC, Janet Jackson), the spiritual harp playing of Alice Coltrane, and the minimal compositions of Terry Riley have all inspired the album,” Jahnsen explains, adding, “A danceable contrast between the industrial framework of the beats and synths, and the organic vitality and flow of the vocals and zither are what provide the sonic bed.”
She says of the time she spent recording, “I was in the process of learning how to conduct myself while not getting sucked in to the whirlpool that is Berlin party culture,” and of her childhood, “It wasn’t a place I felt stimulated creatively, and felt quite lonely there growing up, which made me turn to music as a language for a set of emotions I didn’t know how to release otherwise.”
See Farao live:
Oct 17th - Sebright Arms, LONDON
Pure-O tracklist:
1. Marry Me
2. Lula Loves You
3. Get Along
4. Luster Of The Eyes
5. Cluster of Delights
6. Gabriel
7. Melodiya
8. The Ghost Ship
9. Triumph Over Me
10. Truthsayer
