Lola – Protection/Armour: 13th Floor New Songs Of The Day

Lola unveils the second part of her new double single, ‘Protection/Armour’. Inspired by the world of runway music, ‘Armour’ is the second half of emerging vocalist and producer Lola’s ‘Protection’ / ‘Armour’ duology.

Here’s the blurb with more:

Continuing to explore the post-apocalyptic textures and dark pop possibilities of ‘Protection’, Lola becomes the ghost in the machine, a digitally distorted apparition surrounded by sandstorm synthesisers, angelic melodies, bass stabs and a hefty half-time rhythm.  

Raised in New Zealand and north east England, Lola’s formative years were shaped by the duality of her surroundings. This duality continues to fuel her creativity, fostering an exploration of the interplay between contrasting ideas. In the same tradition as Björk, Kelela, and Sevdaliza, the artist and producer creates dark experimental pop music draped in stunning visuals that take heavy inspiration from the avant-garde, queer club culture, runway music and transhumanist themes. “Music can be quite hallucinatory for me,” she explains. “Whenever I’m creating, I think about the cinematic nature of worldbuilding”.

Where ‘Protection’ considered the idea of love as the warm sunlight of safety, ‘Armour’ represents the opposite side of the coin. “It’s about the internal boundaries we put up to prevent us from experiencing someone or something fully,” Lola says. “When flowers see the sun, they open up their petals, but when the night falls, they close around themselves – people emotionally do this too.”

 Inspired by time spent listening to the soundtracks of science fiction films like Dune and Ex Machina and exploring the worlds of high fashion runway music, Lola and Leonardo crafted ‘Protection’ and ‘Armour’ with a specific aim in mind. “I had the idea to pair an avant-garde, boundary-pushing feeling with dark pop sensibilities,” Lola explains. 

In the accompanying two-part music video, created by director, photographer and editor Hunter Blair, Lola drifts through the desolate but beautiful volcanic landscape of New Zealand’s iconic Rangipo Desert. Wearing a flowing, ancient futurist garment created by conceptual fashion designer Jenny Ruan, she realises her aesthetic visions. In the process, Lola locates herself in a space outside of conventional time or place while announcing her arrival as a major new experimental pop talent.

FOLLOW LOLA ON SOCIALS

SPOTIFY || INSTAGRAM