Luka Kuplowsky: Sudden Reach From The Inner World
Languid vocals are featured on this high-class slice of dream-pop.
By Kerry Doole
Luka Kuplowsky - Sudden Reach From The Inner World (Mama Bird Recording Co.): This is the second single of 2023 from imaginative Toronto singer/songwriter Kuplowsky.
A label press release explains that "the song was written out of the remnants from an abandoned studio session. Kuplowsky isolated a two second sample of Thom Gill’s guitar, crafting an entirely new song out of the fragment and embellishing a sparkling sonic world that builds off the ambient electronic sound of his 2022 “meditation collection” Capturing The Evening Song".
Kuplowsky calls it "a beautiful accident. The lyrical imperative of trusting the immediacy of new love seems fitting for a song whose creation was so sudden and surprising.”
Sudden Reach From The Inner World features haunting synths and guitar, and languid vocals from Kuplowsky and harmony/backing singer Felicity Williams. Dreamy pop of a very high order, with Nick Drake one reference point.
Assisting Kuplowsky (he also plays synths here) on the cut are such notables from the Toronto new music scene as Thom Gill, Jason Bhattachyara, Josh Cole, and Williams.
Then working under the Luka moniker, Kuplowsky released a debut album, Calling All Cats Black, in 2013. He notched positive reviews for 2016's Summon Up A Monkey King, Stardust in 2020, and last year's Capturing The Evening Song in 2022.
The prolific artist has a new project Ingredient, a collaborative avant-pop duo with Ian Daniel Kehoe, and Kuplowsky remains an active member of jazz and songwriting communities, regularly organizing and performing with the eclectic tribute group The Holy Oak Family Singers, as well as reinterpreting Zen Buddhist and Tang Dynasty poets with the improvisatory collective The Ryōkan Band. That latter ensemble is set to release a double LP produced by Sandro Perri later this year.
Links
Publicity: Ken Beattie, Killbeat
