With her trio Afternoon Bike Ride, Montreal's Lia Kuri makes genuinely lovely, lilting, lo-fi dream pop; they put out their sophomore record, Glossover, last year. Before that, the frontwoman released music by herself, including a couple of EPs in 2019 — and now, she's announced her debut full-length solo record, led by the new single "Cyclone."
Motherland will be released on October 25 via Friends of Friends, with part of the proceeds being donated to Ducks Unlimited Canada and Amazon Watch — conservation organizations supporting Canadian wildlife and the Amazonian rainforest, respectively.
"I wrote the lyrics from the perspective of Mother Earth, but it's as much an album about the climate crisis as it is about motherhood and the maternalization I've experienced in my life," Kuri explained in a statement. "As an only child, I've had to caretake for my mother through cancer and my father through Alzheimer's. Both of these experiences greatly marked me. I think there's also a sort of self-maternalization that happened since I became accustomed to this role."
Of its spindly electropop lead single, the artist added:
"Cyclone" is a song that I channelled a lot of anger into. Mother Earth is calling out humans' entitlement to her body here. I feel like the female form has been ogled over, visually exploited, physically exploited, it's an angry ode to this incessant taking from a woman's body, or rather, incessant giving that's expected from women.
When you're the source of someone's life, it's a lot of giving and sometimes you have to give up on giving in order to protect yourself. When the person you love is the cause of your destruction or the taker of your peace, you can either let them consume you or break free. I've changed the way I approach relationships in my life over the last couple of years as I've realized what my needs are and how to protect my peace. If Mother Earth could speak, I imagine she would relate.
Listen to "Cyclone" below, where you'll also find the full album tracklist details.
Motherland:
1. Single Digit Story
2. Loon Moon
3. Poltergeist
4. Highland
5. Weak
6. Energy
7. Cyclone
8. Chagrin
9. Thistledown
10. Motherland