Dear Pariah – Koko (Trapped Animal)
Ahead of an EP set for release in October Dear Pariah has released single Koko, full of keening vocals and soothing melody underpinning the pain and healing shared
Artist: Dear Pariah
Track: Koko
Label: Trapped Animal
Released: 17 September 2024
Find it: Bandcamp | Spotify
Trauma is an ocean. Some days you float on it, pushed and pulled between the memory and the will to let it go. Some days you are dragged down in its current, and you never know if you’ll have the strength and the tenacity to kick back to the surface or if you’ll surrender to it, drown a little. Other times still it washes you up on the shore so you can turn your back and move away from it, but you also know it can pull you further out and leave you with nothing but it around you.
On single Koko, the first to be released from a forthcoming EP, Dear Pariah deals with the aftermath of trauma. Posting about the track on Facebook they said, “This song is about trying to heal from sexual assault before the trauma sinks into your cells and makes you sick.”
i can’t until I see you burn in hell / tear me up til I’m just a shell / of who I was, I don’t care now / ill make you burn somehow
With keening vocals, laden with the pain of the experience and the hope of healing, set to soothing piano and muted rhythm it’s a highly evocative track. Lyrically the song moves beyond the initial assault to trying to resist being consumed by it completely, while also continuing to have your agency taken as the memory replays. The need to repay the hurt is delivered factually, the anger cooled to make this a practical step in the healing process.
Melodically there is beauty, as that piano ebbs and flows with a gentle refrain. The beat dropping in and out to centre the vocal, the person. The space created may be the isolation such an experience can lead to, or a withdrawal chosen to try and protect and process.
The track returns to the start once more. Breath catches in your chest, your arms wrap around yourself a little tighter. Koko will be your comfort however ready you feel to let it go.
~
Koko by Dear Pariah is out digitally on Trapped Animal now. An EP is set to follow in October.
Find Dead Pariah: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
Upcoming live dates:
- 1 November – St Pancras Old Church, London (EP release show)
Image: João Caridade
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Sarah Lay
A long-standing music journalist she's also co-founder of independent record label Reckless Yes, an author of novels, and when not messing around with words and music, a digital strategist.
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