Sympathy by ILUKA
Reclaiming power and marching back onto the airwaves, ILUKA offers her new single ‘Sympathy’ off forthcoming EP Ritual. The single is an uplifting war cry using the rhythmic grooves of Motown to echo the voice of the people and highlight the need for radical change.
“Sympathy is a song that’s been sitting in my drawer for a couple of years now. When it was written I had this real sense of impotence and apathy within my generation.That willing or not, so many of us were becoming slaves. Slaves to technology, to consumerism, to authority, to an ideology, to expectation, to our own bodies, and to our own minds. Rather fittingly I didn’t really know what to do with the song at the time. But I feel like with all that is happening in the world right now people are being shaken awake, whether we like it or not. Silence is being broken, indifference is turning to dissidence, people are speaking up and being heard, and the time felt right to bring this song to life, to add my voice to the cause. To celebrate defiance, to champion self-expression, to promote self-belief, and to reclaim our power. As the song choruses… we want it back" says ILUKA.
The new EP Ritual is a collection of songs that bares homage to her great loves and burning visions of an old soul desperately present: conjuring the shoo-wops of Motown, the swirling synths of the space age, the rambling tales of the folk bard, and the urgency of revolution; both then & there, here & now.
Ritual marks the next evolution in the retro pop sound for which ILUKA has become known. Combining elements of musical nostalgia with a contemporary edge. Recorded with her long-term touring band who have become more intrinsic both onstage and in the studio, it’s a powerful, upbeat collection destined to empower and elevate, to transcend and liberate.
Having spent much of 2017 playing shows with the likes of Alex Lahey, Dan Sultan, Mama Kin, Trevor Hall, and supporting Killing Heidi on a national tour. ILUKA also found the time to use her voice in some of 2017’s important social moments including her involvement as guest performer for the Music Loves – Women In Music conference as part of Vivid Sydney and as an ambassador for Women’s March Sydney, proving the fire of her being is well and truly alight. This is the sound of ILUKA’ s retro pop soul in flames, as her heart beats out her ardently soulful mouth and transcends with an awakening insurgency.
ILUKA launches ‘Sympathy’ at the Coven Christmas Party on Thursday 21 December at The Lansdowne Hotel, Sydney.
