Formed back in 2018, Cor De Lux grew out of of the music scene of North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The band can trace their origins to a chance conversation about a deep love of music between its two founding members Tim Lusk (guitar) and Dawn Moraga (guitar and vocal) had while Moraga waited for a phone repair in Lusk’s shop. That conversation wound up being the catalyst for the band’s formation: John Bliven (bass) and Dana Quinn (drums) joined the band, completing its first lineup. Last year saw Quinn departing and being replaced by Thomas McNeely (drums).
The quartet’s music — a mixture of post-punk, goth-tinged pop and shoegaze — has earned then tongue-in-cheek nickname “shoe-gazi” by their friends.
The band’s newest album MEDIA is slated for a February 10, 2023 release. “The album draws on emotions from being on lockdown, media and uncertainty of what will happen next,” the North Carolina-based outfit explain. “The underrated silver linings we all have in common but have to fight to see. What we experience still needs to be questioned while remembering that conflicting beliefs can end with healthy discourse if we see other as equals. If we are scared to talk to each other, we have already lost.
Understandably, the band leaned on one another during the worst of the pandemic — as a sort of therapy. And that foundation helped build the structure of the album’s songs. This was paired with the powerfully undeniable urge to learn more than what they were being told both mentally and musically. “There was so much checking in on people around us and when we got together to play it was our way of forging ahead and getting the emotions put down as art. The angst post punk driven builds in most of these songs came naturally as the entire album was recorded from jams with little direction as we wanted the songs to build emotionally. We lost our original drummer shortly after recording the last song. A personal decision by him to leave he felt like the story was written and these songs are a part of him as much as they are of us. Thank you.”
The band adds “We all agree that there’s an excitement to see what comes next and want to continue to skirt around genres and create only what comes naturally.”
MEDIA‘s latest single, the breakneck “Syncopated” is featuring glistening and angular guitar attack, carefully syncopated and propulsive groove, Moraga’s icy delivery and Gang of Four-like hooks placed within an expansive, alternating quiet, loud, quiet song structure with an explosive coda. The song is rooted in a palpable unease and uncertainty that properly captures the past couple of years.
The accompanying video features footage from a surreal cartoon by Inkwell Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures, which features KoKo the Clown and dog and was directed by Dave Fleischer. KoKo the Clown and the dog wind up at Earth’s control rooms; While KoKo plays with the switch that controls day and night, his misbehaving dog feels compelled to pull the switch that would end the world. A series of surreal yet cataclysmic events occur from that point on. Although the cartoon was originally released back in 1928, it captures how close human are to ruining everything for future generations.
