This weekend will see the debut live performance in Dallas and the release of a three-track improvised-experimental EP collaboration between Denton-based Dahlia Knowles and Paul Slavens as Lorelei K x Kill the World.
The Lorelei K x Kill the World EP marks the first recorded collaboration between Knowles, an up-and-coming indie pop artist who was nominated in the Observer's 2018 music awards for Best New Artist as Lorelei K, and Slavens, who is a veteran of the North Texas music scene as a singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist who fronted popular local rock band Ten Hands.
Slavens has also played and toured with the Baptist Generals and The Travoltas, and he was nominated for a Dallas Observer Music Award in 2018 for Best Experimental/Noise Act. While Slavens has been nominated numerous times over the decades in several categories and most recently won a 2011 DOMA for Best Jazz Act and another in 2013 for Best Keyboardist/Pianist, at this year’s ceremony Slavens said he was pleased to see his experimental music garnering some recognition.
“I think our stage chemistry was just really inspiring, and we both wanted to do more with it.” – Dahlia Knowles
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The three-track Lorelei K x Kill the World EP clocks in at more than 20 minutes and has vocals and guitars by Knowles with beat production, piano and synth performance by Slavens.
The roots of the Lorelei K x Kill the World collaboration stem from August’s Improv Lottery at Dan’s Silverleaf, which was organized by Sarah Ruth Alexander. Participants' names were drawn from a hat at the event, and the 25 musicians were randomly placed into five groups before performing improvisational sets.
“We were assigned to the same band, and that performance was absolute magic,” Knowles says of the origins of their collaboration. “I think our stage chemistry was just really inspiring, and we both wanted to do more with it.”
Slavens picked up on the stage chemistry too.
“I have been formulating the idea for my new project Kill The World for a number of years and have been looking for someone like Dahlia to collaborate with, so when we found ourselves on stage together and it worked so well it felt like I had found who I was looking for, and then when the recording went so nicely it just solidified it,” Slavens says.
Michael Briggs recorded, mixed and mastered the improvised session for the EP at Civil Audio in Denton.
“It was a great experience to watch these two talented artists of different generations improvise together and exist in the same musical headspace in order to create such interesting and beautiful sounds,” Briggs says about the recording experiences. “I look forward to seeing what more they do in the future.”
The EP will be released this weekend just in time for their debut performance at Top Ten Records in Dallas on a bill alongside Dykes and Young with Ali Honchell, and Monte Espina. Music starts 8 p.m.
