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W: Charlie Jolley I: Sophie Webster
Káryyn is a Syrian-American singer who doesn’t simply write songs but creates hypnotic collages of sound. Her new album ‘Physics Universal Love Language’ (PULL) is far removed from the pop-hook world we are acquainted with, and masterfully pulls light from dark emotional spaces. I spoke to her about the challenges of being experimental in such a hard-to-make-it industry.
The album ‘PULL’ took Káryyn over fifteen years to complete, which can be seen in the diegesis-building detail of each track, from the loudening synths and maniacal breathing of ‘COLLAPSE PHASE’ to the ghostly wind that plays over ‘FWD’. I asked whether this delayed process was because Káryyn was a musical perfectionist. She firmly refuted this and declared that “Perfection is the enemy to art”. She instead said the process was more personal, like the gradual development of a child: “When something has the impact to change the world, sometimes it comes in an instant, and sometimes it needs the sun, and water, and nutrients, and care. That's what these songs needed, because ultimately, these are my children. This is a constellation that I'm birthing.”
Both Káryyn’s music and personal style are unashamedly unique. I asked her whether she’s ever had to suppress this part of herself, and she said “My teens were a really difficult time for me and I think all I've done in my music is try to get back to that inner child, back to that teenage girl who really needed me now.” This period spent as a self-professed loner has fuelled Káryyn’s music in a way that feels viscerally intimate. Káryyn even refers to the album with the pronoun “she” as if it is a physical part of herself. When discussing her struggle through adolescence, she explained how it has positively manifested itself into her music, as she repeated the mantra “The wound is the way.” She added “By going into the thing that scared me, by being there despite how difficult that was, I got through that thing. I want people to really feel that everything is possible, especially those who have been knocked down.”
‘PULL’, as an album, completely rejects the catchy verse-chorus formula that dominates the music industry. In Lynchian style, Káryyn’s songs are more concerned with curating an atmosphere than following convention. She intricately layers sound to add a three dimensional element, making each track a self-contained world to be explored. While this kind of experimentation deviates from the rigid formula-for-success that makes up the pop charts, she commented that “I make music that I want to hear…As an artist, I don't let the external circumstances or systems that are in place dictate what I need to do”. Thematically, the album pays subtle homages to the world of physics. Káryyn said that if she hadn’t become a singer she would have become an astronaut, as she’s always been enamoured by science and technology. Her curiosity doesn’t just stop at the science of our planet, but the science of love and relationships too. She said that “When we feel something in a relationship with someone or even with our own self, it can feel as big as space, as the universe.”
Káryyn and I then talked about the role of a creative in the world. While some are solely driven by the rare luxuries of money and fame, she exudes an earnest kind of passion. Her career could be confined to an audience of three in the backroom of a low-end pub, and she would still feel grateful for the opportunity to share her story. She justified this by saying “Having the courage to be this joyful amidst the violent pace of the world is an act of resistance…To be the engine that helps bring more light into the world, I hope that’s my legacy as a musician”.
After my final question, Káryyn told me she was excited to see how I was going to shape her words and extract meaning from them when writing up the interview. If I was to extract a simple message from Káryyn’s words it would be this: regardless of audience size or chart placement, creativity is a form of bravery, and that is always something to be applauded. Listen to her darkly beautiful album for a journey of unfiltered self-expression that celebrates music in its purest form.