London-based artist (and member of Deep Throat Choir) Auclair has announced that she’ll release a new EP called Giramata on April 15 through Amorphous Sounds. The EP’s title comes from her Rwandan name, and the first single to be shared from it, “D.I.A.A.R.L.” also pulls from the same source:
“I wrote and recorded D.I.A.A.R.L. (Dreaming Is An Act of Radical Love) during a difficult time, in which I got a lot of energy and hope from the expansive vibrant ideas of people like Sun Ra, bell hooks and lots of sci-fi writers. The ways they continually reimagine the world and new ones inspired me to draw on my heritage and an old technology in traditional Rwandan drumming patterns and combine it with a newer one in the waves of the Moog Mother-32 synthesiser. I think it’s an attempt to serenade our imaginative muscles and it’s potential as an everyday liberatory practice.”
“D.I.A.A.R.L.” continues to show Auclair’s abilities with harnessing synth sounds, and her voice coasts atop the layers of heady electronics, chant-like in its insistence that “dreaming is an act of radical love”. She inserts her own modified take on those Rwandan drumming patterns beneath, making the whole composition more imposing and powerful. In combination, the impression is of Auclair drawing inspiration from her Rwandan ancestors in real time, empowering her to be more confident and bold.
Watch the video for “D.I.A.A.R.L.” below or listen on streaming platforms.
Auclair’s Giramata EP comes out through Amorphous Sounds on April 15. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
