Lust can be thrilling. It can enliven the senses, send the pulse racing, make the heart flutter with pleasure and desire. But lust is often transient. It burns brightly and then fades. Without substance or depth to stoke the flames there remains little to feed upon except shallow attachment. Eventually that primal heat, the one that once left you yearning for more, is replaced by cold indifference. Passion turns to emptiness.

This isn’t meant as some sort of morale allegory. It’s only natural to want purpose, to seek out deeper meaning where perhaps there is none. This is especially true of relationships. But it’s also true that fires burn out and there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with lingering in the darkness left behind.

It’s these kind of conflating thoughts, these dualities, that Karaoke examine on their forthcoming album, A Safe Place for Negative Space. The 8-song effort—the group’s first since 2020’s Blood, Piss, Religion, Pain—follows a sort of ying-yang motif by laying bare uncomfortable truths about our more destructive tendencies. Or as vocalist Grace Bellury puts it, “exploring negative emotions and practicing non-judgment towards them, letting them exist and pass through.”

On new single “Red Silk Dress,” Karaoke turn their gaze towards lust and how shallow attachments can become as alluring as more substantial ones. Over a lurching dance groove and percolating keys, Bellury confesses, “Oh yes, it’s the emptiness / I’ve always loved your emptiness.” Her delivery is languorous yet assured, like a lover whispering an intimate secret. Musically, it’s one of the band’s most animated songs, merging elements of the airy dream-pop they’re known for and the glassy kineticism of their more recent work. Bellury’s gossamer vocals still lead the way, but the track’s bouncy topography give them entrancing new surfaces to float and drift through.

Directed by Nicole Hernandez, the video looks at the icy detachment that can result once lust has run its course. In it, Bellury and Tyler Jundt play two lovers going through the motions of a romantic relationship. All the hallmarks are there—bouquets of roses, bright red lipstick, long caresses and kisses. But all emotion has vanished. The only expression they bear is one stoic disinterest. Even the title’s red silk dress is replaced by a bloodless white version. And yet as the song marches on Bellury sings of the smiling void and filling each other with “shells inside of shells” until they burst from the “emptiness of each other.” It’s an uneasy ending but Karaoke make it sound oh so inviting.

Karaoke will celebrate the release of A Safe Place for Negative Space on Sat., Sept. 22 at the EARL alongside Allen Love (Full Band) and Lowtown. Doors open at 8 p.m. Admission is $12 in advance or $15 DOS. 21+ to enter.

More Info
Bandcamp: karaokeatl.bandcamp.com
Instagram: @karaokeisaband