Lulu by Siren

For their fourth release on Compost, SIREN, (Darshan Jesrani and Dennis Kane) offer up Lulu. A haunting and driven song with an emotionally lacquered vocal from Devi Mamboka. The song also features elegant guitar work from Danny Chavis of The Veldt (His twin brother Daniel sang vocals on SIREN’S first release) bass from SIREN engineer supreme Mark Dann, and percussion from Liquid Liquid front man Salvatore Principato.
The Italian disco- and cosmic pioneers Daniele Baldelli and Marco Dionigi joined forces for an extraordinary timeless smoothly grooving re-interpretation of Lulu.

“Pre nom Lulu” - German dramatist Frank Wedekind published the two “Lulu” plays “Pandora’s Box” and “Earth Spirit” in 1895. They are unique and genre shattering as they present a female protagonist with a strong voice, and one possessive of a highly sexualized and independent mind. Following up “Paradise” where their vocalist (Felice Rossner) declares: ”Sell the house, sell the car, take my phone, I’m not coming back....” SIREN again delivers another female voice, one that is confronting existential doubt head on; “Darling let’s jump...” Devi Mambouka give voice to Lulu in the song and inhabits the heroine’s indifference to bourgeois convention with graceful and sensual defiance. She begins by telling her lover to “shut his mouth and listen to me” then describes a trip they will make “losing one’s eyes, losing one’s bearings, getting free and saying yes”. The lyric heralds transformation and builds on the ideas of SIREN’s previous songs, Gauntlet, A/Way, and Paradise.

In the barren context of contemporary dance music, which seems indifferent to the ideas of art and philosophy, SIREN is going fully against the grain, drawing inspiration from lyricists like David Bowie, Joni Mitchell, and writers like John Ashbery and William Burroughs. Siren loves bands like Suicide and Bauhaus, groups that make powerful sensual songs while still bringing complex thinking to the table. SIREN feels, like Funkadelic, that you can free your mind and your ass will follow. The songs sleek production and affecting rhythms evoke a journey taken, nocturnal and urgent.

The cover art for Lulu is by NYC artist and owner of the fabled bar/gallery Lit Erik Foss. SIREN and Foss had a dear mutual friend, NYC graffiti legend SPAM (who was the bartender for every one of SIREN’s Strobe Lodge parties) and SPAM had a girlfriend named Devi Mambouka – that’s how we do. Chatting with Erik about the song Kane asked him if he had anything that might be right for the idea, and after an afternoon of looking at work – they choose the image, “a touch of class”, the back cover features an artwork from Kane – a portrait of imagist poet Hilda Doolittle.