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Music

LUKA

The first time I heard LUKA perform was at the Drake Hotel for their weekly Elvis Monday showcase. Perched on a chair with his hair in his face, Luke Kuplowsky instantaneously silenced the chatty crowd with his first haunting acoustic ballad. Evoking a young Leonard Cohen with shades of Nick Drake, Kuplowsky made a strong first impression, despite seeming shy and introverted.

Since then, the Toronto singer/songwriter went into the studio and recorded his debut album, Calling all Cats Black, which will be the first release on FAT FAT, a new non-profit independent label founded by renowned mastering engineer Noah Mintz and Stephen Prickett (who produced the record). The label will put a special emphasis on audio quality by releasing music as high-quality digital and high-end vinyl.

The full album comes out November 12, with a party at the Drake, but the first single, Ghost, and its video premiere exclusively on NOW today. LUKA performs at the Holy Oak September 24 for the video release party with Cameron Whitesell (of Teen Tits Wild Wives), Lilman and Julie Arsenault.

Other than this solo one, are you involved in any other musical projects?

I’ve also been playing and writing songs in the band Broken Bricks for the last six years.

Why did you decide to do these songs solo rather than form a band?

The impetus for this project arrived from a personal place, and as a means to make sense of certain experiences. I would be hesitant to describe it as a confessional mode, as song-writing, for me, tends to smudge the clarity of remembrance. It’s more like a double vision, where reality and fiction are intertwined. Nevertheless, I want my performances to be a conversation with the audience, and I think a band usually puts up certain barriers that prevent that kind of interaction.

The name LUKA is meant to embody both myself and my collaborators. It is my name, Luke, in its most intimate and affectionate rendering, and also the title of the project, encompassing all who cross paths with me musically.

Before I heard the album, I found some more electronic-based music of yours online. Were those just early experiments, or is that a direction you intend to pursue further?

Yes, my first internet release under LUKA was a crude sample-electronic album. I like to keep myself constantly off-guard when writing music, so I tend to experiment with instrumentation or styles I am unfamiliar with. LUKA will most likely encompass a diversity of styles in years to come, but the main focus for me right now is to be as simple as possible. Direct and simple music is for me the most gratifying to play, and allows me to feel connected to my audience. That being said, some vocoder drones or Beyoncé pop may surface in the future…

I’ve only seen you perform solo, sometimes with a female vocalist helping out. Have you been thinking about expanding your live show to better reproduce some of the aspects of the album?

When playing live, I usually have one or two female vocalists for accompaniment. There’s a certain magic to the intimacy that produces, but I’m not adverse to expanding the lineup in the future if the opportunity affords it or if the arrangements necessitate it.

What was the initial concept behind the video?

The original video was filmed by Michele Ayoub a couple years ago and was shelved after she couldn’t find the proper musical accompaniment. Our paths crossed serendipitously and Ghost seemed to perfectly fit. Ayoub’s video was concerned with visualizing the process of mitosis through human bodies and the process of division in mitosis seemed to be an apt metaphor for the disintegrating relationship the song describes.

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