Photo Credit: Louisa Boeszoermeny
Experimental multimedia artist, musician, and producer L Twills is set to drop the third single off her upcoming double album in ‘Illusion I: [Divisions]’ on December 8th 2023. Having released ‘Illusion II’ back in October, ‘Illusion I’ will act as somewhat of a prequel to what has already been heard. New album [After Her Destruction] is due for release 16th February 2024.
L Twills’ sophomore release [After her Destruction] – a sci-fi opera in 22 tracks and 10 video chapters – converges video-art, music, performance and storytelling into a multi-faceted Gesamtkunstwerk. [After Her Destruction] tells the story of Girl, who, using a computer program named The Art of Mind, moves through the matrix of her own perception to confront questions of identity, class and queerness. Blending multimedia-art with pop-underground, L Twills’ exploration of voice and sound, combines influences from breakbeat, soundtrack and avant-pop with sonic pioneering. Citing Ryuichi Sakamoto, Portishead, Meredith Monk, Laurie Anderson, Roberta Flack’s album ‘First Take’, and the singing of Diamanda Galas as her main influences for [After Her Destruction], L Twills wants listeners to make up their own mind when deciphering just what she sounds like.
Through the joint consciousness of Girl and The Art of Mind (dubbed the Apparatus), Girl meets a variety of characters who confront her with these existential questions. ‘Illusion I: [Divisions]’ is dedicated to MOW (Manic Old Woman), Girl’s mother, and divulges the struggles, hopes and fears involved in motherhood. Girl questions the work ideology of capitalist societies in relation to her mother’s depression, poverty and labour of being a single mother. Rooted in Germany’s complex history with facism, ‘Illusion I: [Divisions]’ analyses the resurfacing of asocials (DE. asoziale) in the contemporary time of [After Her Destruction], and details how Girl comes to understand the fallout of normative functioning and the obedience of the working human being (to quote Pink Floyd: “just another brick in the wall ”).
Speaking of asocials, L Twills said: “It was used to discriminate all people that weren’t Jewish, but would not fit the system’s doctrine in other ways, like for example sex workers, homosexuals, people that weren’t white, communists, anarchists and neuro-diverse people.” Musically, she added: “I tried to create an atmosphere of vulnerability and strength. This tension is built between the fast kick drum, beating constantly, pushing the song forward and the piano and synth elements, which follow a slower pace, opening a space for mourning and reflection.”
Born in Alice Springs, Australia and raised in Hamburg, the queer musician, née Lila-Zoé Krauẞ, studied Fine Arts in Hamburg and Los Angeles before further Sound Studies in Berlin. Currently residing in Vienna, her work is an amalgamation of influences the world over, the end product being the music of L Twills. She first dipped her toes in the underground electronic music scene in her early 20s while living with 12 people in an office building. L Twills said, “In that environment, it was possible to explore different ways to perform music, from classical stage concerts to site-specific performances.” Fast forward to 2020, L Twills released her debut album [Freedom/Fiction], which garnered positive radio play from Byte FM, Dublab, BBC and RBB, and performances at festivals the world over, such as Reeperbahn Festival, NAVEL Los Angeles, Fusion Festival, Documenta Fifteen, and Montez-Press New York.
L Twills’ new single ‘Illusion I: [Divisions]’ will be released 8th December 2023, ahead of her full-length album set for 16th February 2024.
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