| Before you can make out all of the lyrics or dissect it’s stylistic pedigree, before you understand the literary references, before you even finish the first track of Summon Up a Monkey King, you have already experienced it’s single most seductive element – an enchanting and rich tenor with that rare ability to register love and hurt in a tangible and tactile manner. The voice of Luke Kuplowsky, aka LUKA, is one of quiet intensity, capable of producing an ASMR-like response: an embodied and euphoric rush through the subtle wavering and control of his words. At times, recalling the conversational deadpan of Lou Reed and at others the airy lightness of Arthur Russell, LUKA’s voice is a nuanced and extraordinary instrument that is comforting as it is arresting. His songs are gentle meditations on love guided by flamenco-tinged nylon string guitar, and supported by electric flourishes (Stephen Prickett), meditative drumming (Evan Cartwright) and two vocalists (Ada Dahi and Julie Arsenault), whose harmonies strike a Cohen-esque doo-wop.
LUKA’s songs are works of contradiction. Starry-eyed idealism is undercut by sardonic devotionals; sincerity is both embraced and mocked. The songs understand love from both sides, acknowledging the immediacy of love’s seriousness and reflectively looking back at its absurdity. LUKA is constantly lifting the chin of his doe-eyed former self and saying, “You were young, and so am I.”
His first LP with Yellow K Records, Summon Up a Monkey King, finds its inspiration in Sun Wukong, the hero of the Chinese classical novel, “Journey to the West.” Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, is a curious troublemaker torn between desire and purity—and for LUKA, a magnet for his many reflections on love. Written between the dissolution of one relationship and the start of another, these songs are colored with intense feelings of both melancholy and excitement.
Summon Up a Monkey King is set for worldwide release on June 24, 2016 on Vinyl, CD, Cassette, and Digital via Yellow K Records.
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