My Artist Influence: Kingo Halla And The Art of Cult Music

I remember when I first heard Lana Del Rey and Father John Misty, and said to myself, ¨This is cult music.¨There are certain artists that feel destined to become the biggest ¨underground,¨totally capturing an intimacy and mental ill so, specifically, that they could pack a stadium and still make you feel like it is just you, them, and your feelings of mutual insanity via bedroom headphones. Kingo Halla is one of them.

Okay, I saw it. I said ¨totally capturing an intimacy and MENTAL ILL.¨ I truly believe you cannot become a cult classic without mastering some from of social isolation and personal depression into your sound that comes off universal to public ears. We want to dance and rock out to sadness as much as joy because both are the biggest feelings to purge. When you hear Empty Hands, Kingo Halla´s debut LP, as if we want to exude our smiles and tears in his lyrics. 

You hear ¨Mirage¨ and you just know Lord Huron and Bon Iver would take him in like a warm baby. When asked about the inspiration behind the LP, ¨Empty Hands is a poetic exploration of love, longing, impermanence, prayer, and faith through melody and otherworldly sonic landscapes. It is the realization that things can’t give us love, but time and energy can.¨ If that does not sounds like depression and delight sonically waltzing together then what does.