Lana Del Rabies 'Strega Beata' CD (GGGR-128)

Set for release March 17th, 2023, on 2XLP/CD/Digital through Gilgongo Records, ‘STREGA BEATA’ is the 3rd fulllength album from Sam An’s dark electronic, genre-bridging solo project under the semi-notorious moniker Lana Del Rabies. After a brief hiatus, this record is her first full-length release since the gothic, industrial noise of 2018's Shadow World. ‘STREGA BEATA’, which loosely translates to "Blessed Witch," is an apocalyptic myth told through dense, textural compositions pulling from the vast corners of dark genre music. The title's meaning is appropriate for the existential, cathartic, and otherworldly themes explored. The record is told through the evolving perspective of a cryptic and obscure "Mother" creator figure, specifically echoing the mother and crone goddess archetypes. This figure is vocalized through LDR's eerie harmonies, spoken words, pleading howls, and frenetic screams aimed towards another archetype, the chosen one. These vocalizations sometimes hover above trip-hop low tempos and unnerving atmospheres ("Mourning," "Hallowed is the Earth"), sink through vintage horror movie darkwave synths ("Master," "Apocalypse Fatigue"), weave through art metal distortions and relentless drone bass tones (Mother), or blast through unconventional industrial rhythms ("Prayers of Consequence," "A Plague"). Lana Del Rabies is the solo dark electronic, genre-bridging solo project of Phoenix based musician, producer and multimedia artist Sam An. With origins as an experimental project that re-contextualized the more ominous aspects of modern pop music made by women (like that of Lana Del Rey), Lana Del Rabies’ music incorporates industrial, gothic noise and metal, with experimental, darkwave and ambient elements. Her work thematically embodies discordant spaces between the occult and the political, personal trauma and collective grief, and brutality and benediction.