Cinematic crooner Luke Lovekin is back with a new track that romanticises the present day. Generation Z is a moody, dramatic track that borders on gothic as his Jeff Buckley-esque lyricism collides with a stylisation that flows somewhere between The Cure, Joy Division or even Nina Simone’s haunting version of I Put A Spell On You. With the same charismatic front man-nerisms as Alex Turner, Generation Z drips with the same flawless production and ever-developing narrative sound as Tranquillity Base, but elevates it with something new and incomparable, something which makes Luke such an exciting one to watch.
As explained by Luke, ‘Generation Z is apolitically romanticised drama about the influx of new wave attributes in youth culture. It talks typically about the synthetic gloat of wealth; stacks of cash, expensive vodka, cocaine habits not kept too subtle and of course trashy branded clothing’. Set in a bar and taking you through a story, Generation Z is another piece in a back catalogue that weaves a path between Baz Luhrmann dramatics and the romance of French cinema. We caught up with the musician to see what influenced this new track, giving us a look into his playlist, bookshelf and Netflix list.
Watch: Blue Velvet – David Lynch
Ben, played by Dean Stockwell “A candy coloured clown they call the sandman” – The attraction Frank shows for Ben in this scene is the type of effeminate fluidity I tried to bring to this song. My vocals deliver with a very sexualised feminine tone and I loved the way that they comforted the internal anger of the lyrics and message being sent.
The music video that will follow the release of Generation Z takes huge influence from this scene aesthetically, as my character adopts a very conflicting array of masculine and feminine traits from Ben’s character – I believe you have to confuse an audience before you can make them reconsider their values.
Listen: Histoire de Melody Nelson – Serge Gainsbourg
The provocative elements of this man’s work will forever resonate with my writing but this is not just an album, it is an all-inclusive piece of stimulating narrative art. The layers of movement in the journey of Cargo Culte is where I took inspiration for my political drama; particularly in the middle 8 as the bass takes the reins and the synth’s play with your ears.
Read: Preface quote from The Time of Your Life – William Saroyan
“Place in matter and in flesh the least of the values”, materialism is the burden of the mainstream culture and I believe to live forever in this world you have to put a part of you inside some form of art – as much or as little as you like.I preach that we should “Ignore the obvious, for it is unworthy of the clear eye” – like a colony of clones infecting trendy watering holes, they consume everything served with status…I prefer to find my pleasures in the floorboards; wisdom of those that walked gives you a stable vision for the future. Your P’s and Q’s cost nothing but maybe if there was a four digit price tag on them this movement of synthetic wealth would be more inclined to use them, “Be the inferior of no man, or of any men be superior” – “don’t you know it’s not cool to be rude to me”, LL.
Artwork by Emmie Lois
