July 12, 2024 |
Laura Jane Lowther, popularly known by her musical moniker Kučka, is carving out her own space in an overcrowded industry. With the release of her latest album, Can You Hear Me Dreaming?, which dropped today, the Liverpool-born, Aussie-based artist further affirms her confident sound, which blends pixie-like hyper pop with oscillating backings like jumpy breaks and drawn-out twangs.
Platformed by Glasgow-founded label LuckyMe, the 12-song offering marks a distinct departure from themes previously popular with the rising star, swapping lyrics about love and self-growth for more fantastical sentiments that have a heavy emphasis on storytelling. Drawing inspiration from online forms, voyeurism and random connections with strangers, Kuĉka coined the phrase “emotional voyeurism” to describe the impetus behind each track. Rooted in a “devil-on-your-shoulder” mentality, a punky aesthetic – which sees the musician donning a scaly pair of blood-red and azure wings on the album cover – seasons the offering nicely. The perfect balance of poised surrealism and tangy, metallic intensity, Kuĉka is an artist worth sinking your teeth into. To prove it, we sat down with her to chat about all things Can You Hear Me Dreaming?, how people should discover her music and what’s on her rider.
1. Who is Kučka?
I’m Laura. Kučka is my solo project, although I’m increasingly wanting to collaborate with it. It’s always electronic but more pop than dance.
2. If you could summarise your album Can You Hear Me Dreaming? in three words, what would they be?
Eclectic, electronic, emotional.
3. What is your favourite song on the album?
I really like ‘Gross Body’. I feel like the production is a little out of character to what I usually do but in the best way. Also Dillon’s [Laura’s wife, Dillon Howl, who collaborated with her on two tracks on the album ‘Communal Reverie’ and ‘Gross Body’] lyrics and delivery are so interesting. I’ve listened to it so many times but they always give me something new to think about.
4. If you could travel back to any point in time, which one would you travel to?
It would be so awesome to see the Earth in Mesozoic Era times. I wanna see dinosaurs IRL, I wanna see ancient flora, I would love to see how accurate the depictions are of how they looked. Drop me in.
5. For anyone just discovering your music now, what song would you suggest they start with?
Maybe an older song such as ‘Divinity’. It has a lot of textures and sounds that I’ve used in my albums since then and is one of the best examples of the music I made when I started out.
6. You’ve had some pretty impressive collaborations – if you could collaborate with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be?
Angelo Badalamenti would have been incredible to work with (rip :(). He uses such lush chords and I think we could meet each other in a cool weird world between our styles.
7. You described yourself as having a cartoon brain – what’s your favourite cartoon?
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind if I want something beautiful and Archer if I want to laugh.
8. What city would you like to perform in that you haven’t already?
I’ve never played a show in Manchester but would love to. I grew up in Liverpool and so I’ve spent a fair amount of time there and the music scene is so good.
9. What’s on your rider?
Coffee, sparkling water and hummus. I could survive on those three items for a long time.
10. What can fans expect from you in the future?
I’m so excited to get back into writing. I’m torn between an ambient album or getting deep into the dance world so I might just work on both.
Photography by Dillon Howl.
