Say Lou Lou’s Elektra and Miranda Kilbey light a fire and watch it burn on “Dust,” a hot and sweaty alt-pop seduction full of passion, hunger, and unfulfilled desire.
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Stream: “Dust” – Say Lou Lou
An object that has gathered dust is the same as it’s always been, but you see it in a new light when you find it and dust it off. The beauty is that the object is the same, but your perspective has changed.
Say Lou Lou teased the release of their new single with a simple little phrase: we’re bringing sexy back.
And to their credit, they delivered. Whatever heat sisters Elektra and Miranda Kilbey were missing in their everyday lives is alive and well in their music as they unapologetically explore their innermost, unfulfilled desires. The duo light a fire and watch it burn on “Dust,” a hot and sweaty alt-pop seduction full of passion, raw hunger, and unbridled yearning.
This is, without a doubt, an intimate and irrepressible fever dream; as a lust-less love goes up in flames, the Kilbey sisters give themselves permission to seek what they have been lacking for so long.
And like the very best seductions, they’ve sunk their teeth in deep with this song. They know what they want, and they’re hellbent to get it.
Watching naked bodies,
Computer screens
Cause you make me lonely
Even when you’re here with me
And in the sterile light it’s getting late
Something ugly’s taking shape
There’s a pattern we can’t seem to break
Broken vessels on your face
I think you’re not what I want
Or craving
I think you’re not what I want
At all
You don’t hear any words I’m saying
Is it all gonna fall
And turn into dust?
Released April 12, 2024 via Cosmos Music, “Dust” is as intense as it is intoxicating. The opener and title track off Say Lou Lou’s brand new EP Dust, Pt. 1 sets the tone for a record that aches in all the right (and a few of the wrong) ways; never have the Kilbey sisters sounded quite as unleashed as they do on these songs, free to share their full selves without hesitation or a second thought.
“Dust is a two-part album,” the duo tell Atwood Magazine. “You can think of it as Pt. 1 being the vulnerable and naïve twenty-something girl who still believes in love and wears her heart on her sleeve, and Pt. 2 being the realistic and experienced woman who knows what she can expect from relationships and takes her past dramas with a grain of salt.”
There is certainly a deep sense of both vulnerability and self-empowerment coursing through “Dust” as the duo go about unshackling themselves from a bad situation, in the hopes of greener pastures and more… fulfillment ahead. Their lyrics are refreshingly direct, their attitude as forceful as the beat is strong:
There’s a stranger coming at me
when you walk through the door
I don’t recognise the things
I used to love anymore
I would listen to your music,
I got lost in the sound
I was looking for a man,
and I don’t like what I found
“‘Dust’ is about separation and the treacherous detangling that takes place afterwards,” Say Lou Lou share. “Where does the love go when the relationship ends? What happened to those two people and that unique dynamic? When something goes from close, connected, safe, transparent to awkward, uncomfortable, distant. There’s distance and silence to project your assumptions, feelings, suspicions onto, but also a new freedom, a weight off your shoulders.”
“The word ‘Dust’ encapsulates this; dust represents the layers of time, particles of something that once was. An object that has gathered dust is the same as it’s always been, but you see it in a new light when you find it and dust it off. The beauty is that the object is the same, but your perspective has changed.”
That weight comes to an emotional, impassioned climax in the song’s cathartic and catchy chorus:
I think you’re not what I want
Or craving
I think you’re not what I want
At all
You don’t hear any words I’m saying
Is it all gonna fall
And turn into dust?
“We took a more literal approach to the lyrics on this record, actively deciding to keep it simple, on the verge of banal,” the Kilbey sisters explain. “You could argue that our awareness of the banal edge to the lyrics makes it ironic, but the content is more sincere and adolescent than anything. We took ranting diary excerpts and turned them straight into lyrics; maybe irony and sincerity can be intertwined, almost as if the sincerity is the predecessor to the irony, like how when you look back at old diaries and letters you feel a distance, as if your old self was a completely different person.”
“For this record’s production we wanted to go back to our childhood and look for inspiration in what we were obsessed with then (and in a way always will be!) – Madonna’s ‘Ray of Light’ and ‘Music,’ All Saints, Texas, Sugababes, TLC – but also The Verve – Beck, and of course, AIR. We’re really embracing acoustic guitars for the first time, despite it being the instrument we most associate with our family and upbringing. We hadn’t properly found a way to relate to it in the world of Say Lou Lou before, but Dust is a full acoustic guitar bonanza!”
There’s a stranger coming at me
when you walk through the door
I don’t recognize the things
I used to love anymore
I’m mistaking all your silence, used to think you were deep
Now I know it’s empty promises and the secrets you keep
We were f*ing in the shower, now we fight in the car
You don’t seem to wanna touch me, I don’t know who you are
There’s no denying the raging fire that burns within Say Lou Lou’s “Dust.”
The alt-pop pair have never sounded more sure of themselves than they do here, as they quite literally dust themselves off and set their sights on better, brighter, and bolder horizons. It begs the question: What are we clinging to, if there’s already nothing left? Just as a fully quenched fire cannot be relit, Say Lou Lou bid adieu to their past, knowing full well that they can (and will) start anew – build a new flame that will keep them as warm as they want to be.
This sentiment is echoed and amplified in the song’s tantalizing music video, directed by Angelina Mamoun-Bergenwall. Steamy, suggestive, and full of skin-on-skin contact (featuring both Kilbey sisters together with model Jacob Evaristi Sarovic), the visual leaves little to the imagination as Say Lou Lou hit the metaphorical nail on its metaphorical head. The video feels a little like the behind-the-scenes of a photo shoot where the directive was simply, go wild and get handsy.
Or even more simply than that, bring sexy back.
A cool and confident anthem of taking the reins in your life and doing what needs to be done in order to move forward, “Dust” is an undeniable, irresistible, and utterly intoxicating song. It’s safe to say that Say Lou Lou have seduced us, and we cannot wait for whatever awaits on Dust, Pt. 2!
I think you’re not what I want
Or craving
I think you’re not what I want
At all
You don’t hear any words I’m saying
Is it all gonna fall
And turn into dust?
Ashes to ashes
Dust to dust
Ashes to ashes
Dust to dust
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:: stream/purchase Dust, Pt. 1 here ::
:: connect with Say Lou Lou here ::
Stream: “Dust” – Say Lou Lou
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© Angelina Mamoun-Bergenwall
© Angelina Mamoun-Bergenwall
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