Father Koi Steps Into A New Era of Music in “everything is a dream, but it is your dream”
Electropop, alternative band Father Koi welcomes a new era of music with their second album release everything is a dream, but it is your dream. Frontwoman Kara Lu writes diary-like confessionals which have listeners hanging onto every last bittersweet word. Father Koi explores nostalgia and relationships that are highlighted by pop synthesizers, punchy 808s and lush harmonies.
Embracing feelings of uncertainty and not knowing what the future holds, Father Koi expands her creative practice and fearlessly reflects on the intimate experiences that have helped her grow in beauty, love and hope.
“I like to say that my songs are like journal entries,” Father Koi says. “This is like the second chapter of my life. I feel like a large part of why I write music is to make people feel something and if I can feel a certain way, and I can relate that to other people, that is what I'd love to get out of my music, just to give people something.”
[UNPUBLISHED]: Thank you for sitting down talking to Unpublished Magazine. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. For any readers who aren’t familiar, what inspires your artistic persona and creative style?
[FATHER KOI]: I've always been inspired by nostalgia. I think it's a very running theme throughout my music, ever since the very first single I put out “Halloween Dancer” that sounds very inspired by The Beatles and by the 1960s soundscaping. While my sound has changed a lot to the electropop that is on my latest album, a lot of the lyrics remain the same. They're pretty honest. They're very descriptive of a lot of experiences that I've had and I believe that other people can relate to as well.
[UNPUBLISHED]: I read that you grew up doing a lot of classical performing. Are you still inspired by classical music and is that still seen in Father Koi’s music in any way?
[FATHER KOI]: I started playing piano when I was six and I majored in music, so I've been playing piano for a good 17 years now, which is crazy, but I think that I was very serious about it up until in the middle of my college years where I wanted to try something else. That’s when I released my first single and I fell in love with writing and I had this really cool classical background. I wanted to combine all my loves in the first single. I think classical music definitely has an impact on my music today and it's pretty surprising because electro pop and classical music don't really sound the same. But for example, music theory – I love music theory – this is probably more apparent in my first album [Late Afternoon National Anthem], but I used a lot of music theory techniques in that album in subtle ways. I liked the way that certain chords moved together to create a certain feeling.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Say if someone hasn't heard of Father Koi, which song would you show them to introduce your discography and why does that track stand out to you the most?
[FATHER KOI]: “Dreamgirl” is my most listened to song, but I really feel like that was the catalyst that kicked off this new album in particular, and I feel like the lyrics and sound represent who I am as an artist at this moment.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Your second album everything is a dream, but it is your dream just released and a huge congratulations is in order. What is the inspiration behind the album?
[FATHER KOI]: A lot of that album was written in the time period of mid-college to right now which has honestly been such a pretty pivotal point in my life. I like to say that my songs are like journal entries. This is like the second chapter of my life. I feel like a large part of why I write music is to make people feel something and if I can feel a certain way, and I can relate that to other people, that is what I'd love to get out of my music, just to give people something. I feel like this is also a pivotal point in most people's lives post-pandemic. People are going through a lot of changes. I've noticed that in a lot of people that I've talked to, like everyone goes through such a post-pandemic change.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Have you taken more risks or experimented more either lyrically or sonically with everything is a dream compared to your 2020 album Late Afternoon National Anthem?
[FATHER KOI]: Absolutely. I think one of the biggest changes is a more logistical thing, but I did a lot of collaborations on this album. My first album was completely mixed, mastered and produced by myself, and while I like that – because it gave me control over everything – this was very cool because I got to bounce. For example, my producer Aaron, I got to bounce ideas off of him. We work together in his studio. We made several demos, and then I got to go home and listen to it and go back to the studio. I found that I love collaboration with other people. I think it releases a lot of creativity in the session spaces. In terms of sound, a lot of it's electronic. But there are some new singles on this album that are a return to my indie-rock sound that I think will be refreshing to those people who have been listening to me for a longer time.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Since you produce everything independently, what is some advice you could give to your younger self or wish someone could have given you in terms of navigating the music industry independently?
[FATHER KOI]: I think doing it alone is pretty lonely. Having producers, just having a support system of people who you can collaborate with and who you can also help out with is super helpful, because I feel like a lot of people who are signed, they have a lot of support from the people that they're signed with.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What is your favorite song off everything is a dream and why do you love this song? Is there a specific lyric, message or element that you gravitate towards the most?
[FATHER KOI]: I talked a lot about my single “silk” but I think that it's definitely one of my favorite songs, if not my favorite. It's already released but I wrote the song about some period of winter last year. I was going through a lot and the lyrics just flowed for me for this song. Usually it takes a long time for me to write lyrics, but these just came out and I really liked the line, “Cut your losses / It is alright if you say you'll fall asleep at night / Realize you can’t pick and choose when to cure your weekend blues.” It's realizing that you can't always control everything that's going on in your life and learning to adapt to that and it honestly makes you a stronger person.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What message, emotions or story do you hope listeners can take away from everything is a dream?
[FATHER KOI]: I hope they take whatever they want away from it. Honestly, that's all I can hope for. I don't want to make people feel a certain way, but just making them feel something or getting something out of my music is what I want.
[UNPUBLISHED]: How has the support been from listeners, friends and family?
[FATHER KOI]: It's been really good, like I mentioned before, having a strong support system is something that I've found that I've been really grateful for. I think that support system has definitely grown exponentially since my last album that was made during the pandemic. I think that the change from my first album to this album has been amazing. I'm really grateful for everyone that has supported me throughout that.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What can listeners expect from this new era of music?
[FATHER KOI]: For this album, you can expect the same honest, raw lyrics but with a variety of soundscapes, like I said before, it's electropop but there are also some tracks in here that are more indie-pop or indie-alternative. I have some inspired by shoegaze there, so that's really cool. I like that there's a variety.
[UNPUBLISHED]: How are you feeling in this current era of your career? What does the rest of the year look like for you that you'd like to share with Unpublished Magazine?
[FATHER KOI]: I'm very excited for this upcoming summer after the album release. I'm playing at a few colleges this summer. I hope to be playing at some more shows around the country. I just want to go with the flow, make more music with more musicians, collaborate and write more as well.
