LOVE SONG FOR A DEMON
Lady Joker’s debut EP embodies the profound duality of existence, where opposites endlessly mate. With three tracks—Love Song for a Demon, Womb of Decay, and A Lost Piano—the EP explores how death is not an end, but the source of renewal, urging us to embrace our inner darkness instead of resisting it.
Produced and composed by Liv Sublime, with powerful vocals by Laura Sestri and evocative poetry by India Zahra, the EP invites listeners into a surreal voyage. They are supported by Alper Kekeç on percussion and vocals, Grozdanoski on the clarinet and Terence Samson on percussion. Two tracks also feature a remix, with contributions from Arjuna Schiks and Lady Joker hirself, adding new dimensions to the EP’s exploration of life’s perpetual cycles.
In the title track, Love Song for a Demon, Lady Joker challenges the idea of battling our inner demons, suggesting instead that embracing them brings strength. It highlights the black holes that weigh us down, and how accepting these dark forces can transform us. Womb of Decay draws on the concept that life is fed by death, where decay fuels growth rather than extinguishing it; for it is from rotten leaves that fresh flowers bloom. Finally, A Lost Piano evokes images of endless desert dunes, a metaphor for isolation and introspection, where the absence of sound heightens the significance of every note, and where emptiness gives way to profound truths. The lost feeling is amplified by the use of the piano’s black keys, whose sombre tones evoke a sense of searching in an emotional landscape.
Through this EP, Lady Joker presents a raw, surreal meditation on the complexities of our fickle existence—lest we forget that the white sheet needs a stain, if we wish for the play to entertain.
RELEASED December 4, 2024
// RECORD LABEL: KROOKS RECORDS // DISTRIBUTOR: THE ORCHARD // ORIGINAL COMPOSER: LIV SUBLIME // ARTWORK: TOMIRIS NABIYEVA // MASTERING: DAVE GREENBERG // © all rights reserved
Made with the support of SENA and AFK
TRAILER VIDEO
INSPIRATION
THE SEED
Seeds are the essential ingredient to life. From them sprout plants, animals, ideas. Metaphorical seeds grow in our minds into mythologies and doctrines, which some argue to be that which distinguishes humanity from other life forms. We all know that “you reap what you sow”; the initial intention behind every action casts the colours that will shade the entire outcome.
Yet life is sustained by death. Plants thrive on the nutrient-rich compost of their dead forebears; we must kill plants and animals to keep ourselves alive. Decay is, therefore, not the antagonist, but the catalyser of flourish. For it is from rotten leaves that fresh flowers bloom.
And thus we land in the ever-present duality that has plagued poets and pragmatists alike. This grand play we call life, cannot be limited to pleasure and beauty – which ballet does not contain strife? In which comedy is there no tragedy?
This EP is the first we release; it is our seed. The track Womb of Decay was the first that Liv, Laura and India made together, shortly after they had met. It was the seed of many years of creative synergy that shaped Lady Joker into what it is today.
BLACK HOLES
The black holes in the known universe have long been an object of fascination and speculation. Black holes are so dense that not even light can escape their gravitational force. What is their meaning, their purpose? Is there information contained within them, or passed through them? Will we ever know whether the information that enters, exits in a new arrangement of matter, within a different time?
The stomach is known to hold our emotions, and our intuition – a “gut feeling”. In Love Song for a Demon, we project a black hole onto Laura’s stomach. This represents that we have agency over the energies we allow in our lives, our bodies, and which we can send into a black hole, never to return. It is also a metaphor for how depression weighs us down, sucking out the light.
Furthermore, “words are physical”. The syllables we speak have an impact beyond the mere meanings we attribute to them. We send the frequency of their sounds into the world and into each other. This is represented by a line on the stomach, which moves in response to words.
SURREALISM
Avatar by Dorothea Tanning (1947, Oil on canvas, 14 x 11 in.)
One of Lady Joker’s primary pillars of inspiration is Surrealism, as defined by
Breton (1969 [1924]): a movement that seeks to release the creative potential of the unconscious mind. Breton describes it as ‘pure psychic automatism,’ in an endeavour to express thoughts uncensored by reason, aesthetic considerations, or moral judgment. This movement encourages the exploration of dream-like scenarios and the bizarre, often blending reality and fantasy in unexpected juxtapositions to challenge the conventional perception of reality.
Lady Joker follows Surrealist visual practice by bringing abstract concepts into physical form.
THE LITTLE PRINCE
Our track A Lost Piano draws inspiration from The Little Prince, channelling the story’s poetic metaphors and the haunting beauty of its desert setting. Just as the prince encounters the vast, empty sands where he learns profound truths, the piano represents something lost yet full of meaning. The barren desert becomes a metaphor for isolation and introspection, where the absence of sound heightens the significance of every note.
In The Little Prince, simple encounters reveal deeper truths about love, loss, and connection. Likewise, the music of A Lost Piano mirrors this simplicity, with delicate, sparse melodies that echo the story’s themes of innocence and wonder. The lost feeling is amplified by the use of the piano’s black keys, whose sombre tones evoke a sense of searching in an emotional landscape.