Thursday, September 20, 2012

LA's DIVA to release new LP 10/9; New video/single shared on Dublab & Fader!



"Her music is sulfurous and colored; it comes out directly from the cracks of the American hippie culture to spread a smell of sulfur everywhere she goes. Something from Burning Man Festival, or as if the M83, who chose her as the star of their video for Don’t Save Us from the Flames, made themselves a milkshake while on acids... This girl, daughter, by the way, of Kevin Haskins, drummer of Bauhaus, also played in bands like blackblack and Pocahaunted, and went on tour as her latest project with people like Ariel Pink and Os Mutantes. Curious?" - Vogue Italia

“A Diva DompĂ© performance is an immutable force of love, like the reverse of a horror show but with the same outcome: Once you see her, you cannot unsee what you’ve witnessed, and you’re overwhelmed by this compulsive need to go deeper. The stage is full of things that emit light, Diva (and that is her real name) being the main one. The more you watch, the more you’re nearly terrorized with the crush you’re getting on her, she is so adorable and strange and yet so calm and deliberate in this somewhat chaotic rainbow TV zoo of leather bodysuit, glitter, leotards, veils, horns, rose petals, a chain, choreographed dance moves, headset….  – VICE

Critical Heights is proud to present the new album from LA’s Divathe musical project of Diva DompĂ©. Moon Moods contains ten tracks filled with wonder and electro pop enchantment.

Having honed her pop dynamic to a gloriously melodic precision, Diva plucks inspiration from a myriad of different styles and genres of music. With post-punk churned up with doo-wop, R&B, hip hop, exotica, italo disco, psych and new age, the results are dizzyingly captivating. Having played in bands since she was 13, with the likes of blackblack and Pocahaunted, she has been working as a solo artist since 2010. Her live shows are a spectacular blend of music and performance art, with fabulous costume changes and mesmerising visuals.

The bulk of recording for Moon Moods was done by Diva herself, seeing her upping the stakes and graduating from her trusty 8-track on which she wrote the songs, to re-imagine them in the digital realm. Although preferring to work with a multi-track recorder, she wanted to clear the songs of the muddiness that comes from tracking solely to tape, making Moon Moods much clearer and cleaner sounding than her previous work.

Upcoming shows
09.24 • The Echo w/ Lavender Diamond (Los Angeles, CA)
10.19 • Public Fiction w/ Chris Cohen (Los Angeles, CA)
10.26 • Echoplex - "Moon Block Party" w/ Peaking Lights and others (Los Angeles, CA)

This album also sees Diva collaborating more, especially in the recording process, getting assistance from the likes of her father, Bauhaus drummer Kevin Haskins, who worked with her on the production of the record.
Vocals were one of the biggest challenges, pushing away from the safety net of effect-heavy takes to achieve a powerful clarity. For a few of the songs she enlisted the help of veteran producer and mixer Nick Page as well as the legendary John Fry (4AD, Mute, Nine Inch Nails).

Guest musicians on the record include sax players Liz Armstrong and Zumi Rosow on “Smooth Ride.” Kevin Haskins plays auto harp on “Tear Drops in the Purple Dimension” and there’s also a secret special guest who played stand-up bass on “Inverted Image.”


View the new video for "Inverted Image" at The Fader or Dublab

Moon Moods is thematically as varied as its musical inspirations, combining songs about heartache with tunes containing references to mysticism, magic and the occult. A few of the tracks follow Diva’s spiritual journey: coming to terms with uniting her life on earth with the otherworldly and supernatural, but with Smooth Ride she realises that we are all on our way to harmonizing the seemingly disparate into one paradise.

Having started her career so young, Diva has truly become ensconced in LA’s varied music scene. She started out playing bass guitar in various bands, although she played drums in her high school band You Are Young Rao. When she was 17, she started blackblack with her sister Lola and current Phantom Planet guitarist Alex Greenwald. With Diva’s songs sounding like the Shaggs and Marine Girls, their teenage psych pop punk was about dream worlds, angst and love. Diva then went on to play bass for Pocahaunted for a year or two during their psych funk phase.

She left Pocahanted to focus on her solo music, which she had been making throughout her life. She has also collaborated with the likes of LA Ladies Choir (a fluctuating groups of women who sing together) and BABES (a group of ladies who get together to create improvised experimental music to channel goddess energy). She was also involved with the recent Sun Araw and M. Geddes Gengras Meet The Congos project.

“a looping, psychedelic, big warm cauldron of molten nectar noise? Diva’s trippy grooves evoke a lighter, less masculine Sun Araw.” Drowned in Sound 8/10

“Musically and thematically, the record is a sensual, otherworldly trip that goes perfectly with her live set, balancing morphing visuals and frequent costume changes. Moon Moods is the sound of Diva finally making a path for herself, and a killer one at that.” – Ad Hoc



Artist: Diva
Album: Moon Moods
Label: Critical Heights


Track Listing:
01. Wanna Get To Know You
02. Cyborg Sweetie
03. Uncoiled
05. Smooth Ride
06. Teardrops In Th e Pur ple Dimension
07. Feline Divine
08. Moon Moods
09. Lonely Drive
10. Avocado Afternoon

No comments: