Domino Kirke is assembling a crew. Just call it her second family.
The English-born, New York-based singer, songwriter, and producer releases new album The Most Familiar Star in April, written and recorded with Glass Ghost’s Eliot Krimsky and Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor, and last week (February 12) set an intriguing tone with new single “It’s Not There,” a slow-burning, atmospheric dancer about questioning the family you chose. The engaging track features collaborator Angel Olsen and is built around a Sharon Van Etten sample.
“This whole album is about coming back to yourself and meeting you where you are,” Kirke says. “Pretty much every song addresses loss of self and later renewal. The core themes are grieving who you used to be pre-family, pre-marriage, and pre-parenthood and then reuniting with parts of yourself that you’d perhaps lost while trying to understand how the landscape of your life looks post-change.”
“It’s Not There” arrives with a striking music video starring real-life dancers, actors, and choreographers Omri Drumlevich and Zina Zinchenko. It was directed by Kirke and Drumlevich, and filmed over a year and a half as Drumlevich and Zinchenko expected, and then welcomed, a new child, with the video detailing “the energy shift” that parents experience with a newborn baby.
“When people listen to this, I really want them to listen to the words carefully,” Kirke adds. “Fans will often tell me, ‘Wow, I didn’t know I needed to hear you say that.’ I hope these songs are a balm for your soul, but also force you to maybe go to therapy.”