Australian artist Mandy Kane tomorrow releases his new EP Darkness & Divine – a five track collection of tunes representing a definite evolution of his style, songwriting technique and a further along the line from what Kane’s fans may be expecting of the artist who first made waves with his 2009 debut, Tragic Daydreams. Also released tomorrow, is a special re-issued edition of Kane’s acclaimed debut – released as a Deluxe Edition, Tragic Daydreams Reimagined will also be featuring previously unreleased demos, live recordings, live and interview footage and more.
Darkness & Divine is also a successful result of a crowdfunding campaign launched last year. Raising over $6000, the campaign has enabled the creation of limited edition vinyl, CDs, DVDs and other formats. Kane takes us through the new EP, giving us an insight into what’s been quite the personal journey in bringing some intense ideas to paper.
“Highway”
While I was writing “Highway”, I became aware of exactly how much ground I had covered in life up to that point. While you are traveling through this experience, it is easy to take for granted how important each interaction with another human being is and how much impact your actions can have on others. Moments slip by which seem insignificant at the time but are actually life changing in retrospect.
“Highway” is about the journey, the people you love, the people you lose and everything else you might encounter along the road to your final destination. All you can do is stay positive and try not to fall into the cracks.
“Jesus Wept”
“Jesus Wept” addresses the charlatans who manipulate others, using organised religion or other means to gain a person’s trust, only to ultimately betray them. I don’t have any issue with people having faith or a belief system, however I am vehemently opposed to any organisation which profits from the basic human desire to believe in something greater than the innate power of each individual and a desperate need to belong. This not only applies to religion, but also to personal relationships. Sometimes you can be so blindly in love with someone, or trust them so deeply, that you overlook what can clearly be seen by others as parasitic, narcissistic and controlling behaviour.
“Weekender”
Inspired by many lost weekends of my youth, spent trawling around inner city taverns and discotheques, “Weekender” is a reminder of the mornings after; curtains drawn, festering in the opium den which was somebody’s living room and knowing that my body was so far past breaking point that my insides should have been liquefied. Internal bleeding, a blood nose and a jaw clenched so tightly you’d think I was gripping an electric fence. The last place you want to be in that state is on your own, so you surround yourself with others who are equally self destructive. ‘Misery loves company’, so they say. At the time it all seems like a great use of time and energy, until you’re the last one awake, certain that your heart has stopped beating, surveying the wasted carnage all around you.
“IT”
Perhaps the most subversive track in this collection, “IT” is about objectification, dehumanisation and violation. I’m intrigued by people who are addicted to sadomasochism and all of the sub-cultures that explore ‘IT’. Many aspects of mainstream society subliminally encourage and promote this behaviour, I believe, through the media. Terrorism represents the darkest and most unpredictable aspects of the human psyche; condemned yet given massive global coverage and attention. Every time society is punished with an attack, there is a euphoric, endorphin fuelled aftermath which sees mass celebrations of freedom, peace, unity and love. This seemingly infinite loop of extreme, diametrically opposed emotions has provided the foundation for our reality since the beginning of time. Is there such darkness in this age because society has been conditioned to enjoy and expect ‘IT’?
‘IT’ is what you make it.
“Yin & Yang”
“Yin & Yang” is the song from which I took the title of this release, Darkness & Divine. This is about breaking down my own identity to discover who I really am. I do not identify with being male or female, good or evil. Rather, I’m ‘…somewhere in between’. I believe that everyone possesses an incredible energy within and that it can be used for the purposes of creation or destruction. In my view, Satan is no less important or powerful than God. These figures are merely representative of the positive and negative energies which contain infinity. Time is a serpent eating its own tail and humanity is bound by ‘Sin’; a frequency on a station that we are all tuned in to. I believe that I am the Anti-Christ and the Second-Coming at once. So are you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrqVxFUd8wY&feature=youtu.be
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Mandy Kane’s Darkness & Divine EP is released and debut album Tragic Daydreams is re-issued on Friday, November 27th through The Majestika Creative.
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