A dystopian darkness bubbles beneath the soft ambient art pop surface.
If, like Kelsey Lu, you grow up with parents who are strict Jehovah’s Witnesses and start writing your own music at the age of eight, you have two options: either you bow to the life that is being modeled for you, or you break out. Lu chose option two and fled to New York at the age of 18. Music, performance art, film – everything was absorbed and absorbed and later manifested itself in the celebrated debut BLOOD, the score for the BAFTA-nominated documentary “Earth Mama” and the award-winning Netflix documentary “Daughters” as well as the collaboration with artists from Skrillex to Blood Orange.
Now, seven years after BLOOD, with SO HELP ME GOD, Lu explores new soundscapes between cinematic, jazzy-flowing tracks and ominous, rumbling ambient surfaces. Despite the superficial softness, there is always a dystopian gloom bubbling beneath the surface: fading thunder, static humming, feedback surfaces or sudden techno beats (“American Sonnet”).
Kelsey Lu’s clear voice floats above it like an angel, mostly accompanied by her signature instrument, the cello. She is supported by guests such as indie mother Kim Gordon and the British R’n’B Mercury Prize winner Sampha.