Over the last 10 years, I’ve been undergoing a - for me at least - massive transformation and I’ve been thinking a lot about what identity means – the identity that I present to the public, the identity that I present to my friends and family and the identity that I present to myself. With that comes a need to face yourself if you are going to find freedom. 

Our brains like to compartmentalise things and I think this is why we often get defined by society by our work or what we do. I mean, who hasn’t felt their blood run cold at the question “So, what do you do?”… “well, I’m an accountant and I’m also a grindcore enthusiast”. Whaaaaat?? The reaction of horror! And we start to believe how we get defined, it gets normalised.

And it’s the same for music genres – it’s easier to compartmentalise - they’re hip hop, they’re prog, they’re folk, but it’s so reductive.

So the whole definition of oneself becomes an inhibiting self fulfilling prophecy

I know for me it took courage to be comfortable with self-evolution, to transform myself according to what my body and mind is telling me and to ignore the voices of society to whom I had presented versions of myself. And only when we all have that fluidity, that freedom in ourselves, can we get to a world where the destructive forces subside and we make progress. 

The music of Dalila Kayros is like an evolutionary odyssey…from the beginning to the end of a song, of an album and, when I think about it, an entire catalogue. 

For me, Khthonie - the latest album - achieves a remarkable portrayal of perhaps what it’s like to be in a world that is transforming and equally what it’s like for oneself to be transforming  – moments of turbulence and tenderness, it feels like I’m on a precipice staring down into a black hole, there’s the mysticism, the beauty, the fantasy, the malevolence, the fear and the euphoria. I want to pick one track - Corpus Sonorum – which closes the album and, for me, sonically depicts the knife edge on which we live, how quickly and easily we can descend into hell. Or are already on our descent into hell. From a spiritual perspective, it feels like the soundtrack of Kali Yuga and a manifestation moral decline and self-destruction. Maybe you’ll feel differently, but it really is a remarkable piece of work - as is the whole album.

This entire conversation with Dalila and her long term collaborator, Danilo Casti, is an education on improvisation, experimentation and dealing with being outsiders. 

https://www.iwannajumplikedeedee.com


I Wanna Jump Like Dee Dee is the music podcast that does music interviews differently.

Giles Sibbald talks to musicians, DJ’s and producers about how they use an experimental mindset in every part of their lives.

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