Karin Park at White Heat
“It’s hard when you sing about blood and torture and stuff”, Karin Park confessed to the audience of Madame Jojo’s, in the sweetest voice imaginable, “so we really appreciate your support”. Karin Park is a futuristic fashion disco ball, part long-limbed modelesque posing (Tyra would be proud), part electrogothic warrior.
On Tuesday Park headlined London’s White Heat to celebrate the release of her latest EP, Fryngies, which boasts some awesome remixes of the original tune from Moullinex, Funtcase, and Modifier. Fever Ray and Bjork both echo in Park’s vocals, but with a tougher commercial edge those bands tend not to reach. Brother Daniel is brings a rock edge with the drums, while Karin’s dramatic style on the mic is pretty entrancing – stompy elegant angle-making that fits the music perfectly. Keytar in hand or crouching feline behind the large synth box on stage, it’s powerful music that’s got a fragile heart.
The video for Fryngies captures the unsettling nature of Park’s vocal imagery: “They are eating me up with their big jaws / And there’s a million snakes on the cold floor / I can feel their sticky breath in my neck / and from a hole in the ground I hear a big roar”. Karin’s world is not one where you can trust your senses.
With new album, Highwire Poetry, promised soon, Park is building up a buzz around her that might make you think: “Hey, maybe we like listening to songs about blood and torture and stuff”.
Listen to Fryngies EP below: