Courtesy Idol Records
Dallas’ own Lorelei K’s album, Gucci Doom, drops July 7, and fans already can’t stop listening to the three singles that are available now (Gucci Doom, Lying Love and I Want to be Alone).
The band will play an album release show July 8 at Oak Cliff’s Kessler Theater prior to a national headlining tour.
“This is one of the biggest artists currently breaking out of Dallas,” Idol Records owner Erv Karwelis says.
The Gucci Doom record “features an expansion on the band’s familiar dream-pop sound, with a new, glamorous approach to production and songwriting,” according to the band’s Instagram. “From song to song, there is an overarching juxtaposition of fashion music and cerebral lyricism … themes of heartbreak, trauma, and gender dysphoria are set to surreal, emotional pop anthems. Vocals travel from soft, reluctant and raw, to full, confident and powerful.”
I added the Gucci Doom single to my playlist a couple weeks ago, and it blends so seamlessly with my 90s/Yellowjackets/femme-rock channel — amid the likes of PJ Harvey, Tracy Bonham and Paloma Faith and this Nouvelle Vague cover of The Killing Moon (you get the idea) — I almost forgot it was brand new music. Almost, because it’s also entirely unique.
“My body is a museum … who I am and who I’ve been,” goes the sultry, hazy, dripping-wet voice of singer/songwriter Dahlia Knowles backed by vocalists Dean Adams (also drums) and Michael Briggs (also synth) and Mills Chaiken on guitar/synth and Rex Davis on bass.
“Gucci Doom is my favorite collection of songs I’ve ever written and I can’t wait to be bringing those songs out live for y’all,” Knowles says on Instagram.
A resident of Old East Dallas, Knowles grew up in Denton, where at age 16 she came out as transgender. She spoke with Billboard in 2022 about being a transgender kid in Texas.
“I remember losing most of my friends at school because of that,” she told Billboard, holding back tears. “My parents put me through Christian-based counseling, and they sent me to a church camp that tried to ‘exorcise all my demons’ and s–t. All of that happened because of it, so I definitely know what it’s like being a trans kid and not being accepted or understood by anyone.”
The experience made Knowles more resilient, according to the Billboard interviewer Stephen Daw, who describes her alter ego Lorelei K as “the Dallas-based avant-pop project known for her stratospheric vocals, atmospheric production and lo-fi music videos.”
While she once felt she was being seen in the music space for little more than her identity as a transgender woman, Knowles now feels that the tide has turned, Daw reported.
“I think with my personal growth, people have started to realize that, like, ‘No, not everything is about the transition,’” Knowles told him. “The music stands for itself.”
Still Knowles is doing what she can to “encourage public outreach,” and “spreading accurate information and the true narrative of what a transition looks like” in an era where she believes Texas legislators are enacting unjust laws rooted in transphobia and false narratives.
She performed at Pride in June and wants young trans people to know that “they are on a really unique, special journey, and it deserves to be celebrated instead of being vilified.”
Of the upcoming Kessler show, Knowles told KXT radio what to expect.
“We’ll be featuring really very extremely beautiful dancers for the very first time, as well as some of the remixes off the record in the set list,” she told KXT. “We’re also going to be joined by Claire Morales, one of my favorite writers and performers in DFW. New and exclusive merch pieces will also be available for the first time.”
The Lorelei K Gucci Doom release concert at Kessler Theater starts at 8 July 8. Tickets are $22-$320.
