Welcome to the long (Memorial Day) weekend edition of Record of the Week. This week's album (brought to you by the Randomizer, of course) is iamamiwhoami's 2012 release, Kin. This version is the one on my turntable this morning.
If you're unfamiliar with iamamiwhoami, this album is a trip. It's electronic and it walks a line between experimental and accessible pop, while dipping into ambient at times. I found out about it just before it released, via the series of videos that were dropped every couple weeks leading up to the album. It was totally cryptic, nobody knew the identity of the artist and the person/people that did know weren't saying anything. So, there was a lot of online speculation as to who was behind it. It was Madonna. It was a Björk side project. I think my favourite theory was that it was a new Christina Aguilera project.
All the videos were dropped in the order they appear on the album. The album actually comes with a DVD that includes them all. If you watch the videos, you'll see that it's kind of a concept album (check them out here!). There's a story being told; it's abstract to me and I never investigated further after watching the videos a couple times, but I feel like it's something about art and humanity (and maybe Earth). It's probably open to interpretation and it may mean something different to you. Art is peculiar like that.
So after all the videos are out and the record is available, it turns out the artist is Jonna Lee. She would go on to make a couple more albums under the iamamowhoami umbrella. Then she started a new project under the name ionnalee and is currently releasing music under that name.
Back to Kin, this album is probably my favorite thing she's done. It flows as a complete statement or story, instead of a collection of separate songs. Yeah, there are tracks that stand out (Sever, Play, Kill, Goods), but they kinda blend into one another (in the good way), creating a sense of progression even though the lyrics are cryptic and abstract. Play, in particular, is remarkable to my ears. It's like an alien lullaby. A gorgeous, eerie soundscape.
For me, there's a feeling of humanity and a sense of art throughout the album, despite the fact that it's pretty much an electronic album and there might not be actual instruments playing. I think those are just tools, though, and art is created by humans using whatever tools are at hand.
I've seen iamamiwhoami live, she puts on an engaging show. I've also seen her touring with Röyksopp, handling the vocals and frontperson duties. That was super cool as well. She's very worth it if you have the chance to see her. If not, enjoy the records. Enjoy this record!