When I meet multi-hyphenate creative LÂLKA in Fortitude Valley’s Bakery Lane, the first thing I notice is her outfit. More specifically, I notice the handmade jacket with huge safety pins on either side of the collar and a linen panel neatly hand-stitched to the back — the panel features an illustration of LÂLKA in the midst of a DJ set, her name in bold black letters underneath. It’s one of six, all carefully handmade by the artist herself (as of writing, there are three available at her online store).
If you know anything about LÂLKA, none of this information will be surprising. Based in Meanjin (also known as so-called Brisbane), she has built her career on a foundation of consistently and expertly doing everything herself — all of her music is self-produced, accompanied by visuals she designed and executed, and she’s a master of content creation.
The night before our meet, she performed at La La Land as part of BIGSOUND 2022, the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest music industry event which LÂLKA describes as “a well-oiled machine” (she also performed at the previous iteration of the festival in 2019). Despite the small space, her showcase set was a sensory spectacle of glitching dance-pop tracks blended seamlessly from one to the next, the transitions blurred further by the visual feast of cyberpunk aesthetics and frenetically spliced anime clips playing on the screen behind her in perfect timing with the music.
It’s extremely easy to forget that LÂLKA is on-stage alone, due in large part to the constant switching of instrument — over the course of each song, she transitions between vocal performance and playing the various musical tools on stage (keyboard, violin, electric drum pad) without ever missing a high-gloss beat. Despite all of the goings-on, she tells me that the real crux of her performances and sonic stylings is energy. “There’s so much energy in my work that [you] can feel it”.
Most of the music audience members were treated to during the showcase came from her extensive back catalogue, last expanded on by her most recent EP, Euphoria. The drums stutter across the highlight track “Gradient”, and sparkling synth lines shift tone from one section to the next while bouncing around bright vocals that speak to experiences of being othered. A collaboration with Evangeline, “Hold Me”, creates intrigue around lyrics that would feel like platitudes coming from anyone else, through clubby instrumentation that continues unfolding in endlessly surprising ways until the song ends.
This juxtaposition of blissful electronic textures and (sometimes painful) sincerity is a cornerstone of LÂLKA’s hyper-individualistic sound, one that she prefers to describe as “left-field” rather than the oft-prescribed term “experimental”. It remains present in her new music as well, soon to be released as part of a mixtape in the second quarter of 2023. It’s a continuation of the sonic textures explored on Euphoria, with heavier influence from techno sub-genre J-core.
The choice to describe the project as a mixtape rather than an album was a calculated play to avoid the constraints of cohesiveness. Unexpectedly, she pinpoints Taylor Swift’s folklore as an exemplary of what an album can be, and while it’s not what she’s going for this time around she’s still set on delivering an experience defined by intention — much like her BIGSOUND showcase, each song will evolve into the next to emulate a DJ set (another one of LÂLKA’s many skills).
A mixtape isn’t the only thing in the pipeline. As part of the mixtape rollout, LÂLKA is planning to make the jump into Non Fungible Tokens, better known as NFTs (a polarising sector of an already divisive push towards Web3). The endeavour comes from her desire to continue exploring ways to engage fans, and give back to them in ways beyond the music itself. Aware of the extreme backlash faced by other artists experimenting with this new technology (from both fans and peers alike), LÂLKA published a video series and thoroughly-researched article on the topic to try and change perspectives. As with everything she does, being deliberate about it is the key.
If you love LÂLKA, you might also like these performers, who also showcased at BIGSOUND 2022:
Holliday Howe
With razor sharp lyrics, infinitely danceable sounds and a recent slew of collaborations with emerging international artists like Himera, Princess Ketamine and AlexZone, Holliday Howe is sure to be on everyone’s radar soon, and needs to be on yours.
Club Angel
Club Angel is a connoisseur of dance music whose high-energy tracks hold vintage authenticity and modern sheen in perfect equilibrium. His debut EP 6AM is out September 16.
ASHWARYA
The perfect pop-star, ASHWARYA’s future-facing music always feels in conversation with pop music history as well as it’s present. Her latest single is “CAN’T RELATE”
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This feature has been published as part of The Music Writer’s Lab initiative, developed between MusicNT and Australia Council of The Arts. For more information, visit www.themusicwriterslab.com.
