Calm KAOSS!, the new EP from Armenian-American producer, songwriter and vocalist KÁRYYN, is out today on Mute. Listen to the EP HERE. Born in the prolific period following her last European tour, Calm KAOSS!, so named after her beloved Kaoss pad, was co-produced with British record producer James Ford (Blur, Haim, Gorillaz, Depeche Mode, Florence & The Machine). The project sees KÁRYYN commune with her past, present and future selves, traveling through time to reveal transformative premonitions from the future in a scientific and spiritual language. On today’s focus track, “Calm KAOSS!”, KÁRYYN offers a message of fortitude in chaotic times. “My process is that I go in, I get out of my own way and I let the message come through. Usually, my songs are more relevant to my life years into the future.” she explains. In the song, KÁRYYN calls to her future self for guidance and hears in response: “Let the running water be still. Let the still water reflect, Let the reflection reveal, Come into the light, Stay calm, calm. Stay calm.” What follows is an explosion of machine-gun-like snares, slashing swords and a swirl of call-and-response choral voices (a nod to Middle Eastern chorus), building before the track spins off its axis, overcome by modular, digitized beats. She comments: “At the time of recording, when I got home, I listened back to the session repeatedly. I felt held in the warmth of this violently-explosive and chaotic production, but I didn't understand this energy I was expressing. I was in a totally different space at the time. And of course, now as this song is being released into the world, it is exactly what I’ve been going through and the message I need to hear right now to keep me centered and facing forward amidst the chaos of my world and the world at large.” Moments of revelation like this fill the EP. Elsewhere, she sings a heroine’s journey on “the REAL”, a tale of her own five year search for wholeness. Returning transformed, she steadies herself in strength and newfound power. One of the first productions from her collaboration with James Ford, the song strips away at posturing and ego, reminding us that we are all reflecting one another. The words conjure the spirit of the Sumerian poem The Descent of Inanna, a tale of a goddess who enters the realm of death in search of wisdom, and themes from the Vedic text The Upanishads, which declares: “[o]neself is a world for all beings.” “Where QUANTA was rooted in nostalgia, it was clear to me that this production needed to reflect the triumph and expansion I was feeling,” KÁRYYN notes. “I was really empowered exploring what that could sound like. Being centered no matter the chaos that surrounds me, clear headed and certain in my musical expression even when it seems shambolic from the outside…” Alongside “the REAL” and “Calm KAOSS!”’ is her recently-released interpretation of Armenian folk song Odaroutioun titled “ODAR”. It’s a song she seeks to reclaim from its roots and hold a mirror up to ask: what do we mean by otherness? The EP sounds like KÁRYYN pulling her ideas into the human body, away from the nostalgic ethereal, through soaring melodies, transcendent soundscapes, Middle Eastern choral tradition and crafted modular synthesis. Completing the EP are remixes from Australian techno producer and DJ HAAi and an interpretation of “ODAR” from Airspace. The EP serves as a bridge, carrying KÁRYYN from the formative inspirations of her first releases to a moment of self-assurance and revelation, as she continues to channel messages from the future.
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