Alana Yorke Shares 'Tidal Wave' / 'Preludium' Double-Single

Last month, Alana Yorke announced details on her forthcoming debut LP, Destroyer (due May 17 on Paper Bag Records). 

As a follow-up to the record's first single "Marion" (which was accompanied by a music video that saw Alana in a striking Atlantic ocean-facing vista channeling modern expressionist dance), today, Yorke returns with two more tracks from the record, "Tidal Wave" and "Preludium."

"Tidal Wave" is additionally released alongside an accompanying visual. Speaking on the track itself, Yorke writes:

"Something that may come as a surprise, is that 'Tidal Wave' was written as a bit of a joke song after watching Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp which featured the Pat Benatar-style song, Heart - Attack Love by Craig Wedren.  The energy of that music was so contagious, I tried writing something in that vein as a bit of an experiment for a laugh.  There's definitely a relationship story couched in this song which was inspired by a real-life feeling, but my songs often start as a kernel of real, intense emotion, then the stories take on their own lives. 'Tidal Wave' is about unrequited love; a crush; attraction… something that you know will lead to heartbreak before it even starts, and a power struggle in that play.  The quick string glissando/riser that starts the song off was created by Ian in collaboration with our friend Clark Richards (a physical oceanographer) who actually designed an app to model glissandos based on pitch range and rate of change; this was inspired by ocean wave modeling."

In November 2022, Alana Yorke woke up one morning and realized she was unable to move her left arm. A few days (and numerous hospital tests) later, she discovered she'd had a hemorrhagic stroke that affected the right hemisphere of her brain (associated with creative expression) in the parietal lobe (responsible for receiving and filtering sensory input). What could have been an unmitigated disaster changed Yorke's life.

The previous decade had been filled with profound challenges — during a sample-gathering scuba expedition as part of her academic work, she ran out of air and subsequently developed debilitating PTSD. The stroke, however, was a serendipitous force: the psychological heaviness suddenly lifted, and Yorke found herself freed from past emotional baggage and propelled by euphoric creativity.

While the album that would became Destroyer had always been part of a process of plumbing the depths, Yorke was consumed by a desire to share what she had experienced on the other side of the veil. "The goal was to bring these images and stories back to our world," she explains.

Destroyer is an art-pop stunner that represents both a creative triumph and a personal transformation. From its genesis, the album was anchored in the idea of a solitary descent to face the self and come back wholly changed.

The universe of Destroyer, created in collaboration with husband and co-producer Ian Bent, is an otherworld where snapshots of Yorke's psychic landscape are fanned out against a layered musical backdrop coloured by a 21-piece string orchestra, the ultraviolet cool of '80's synth-pop, the austere grace and rhythmic cadences of minimalist contemporary composers and the whole-hearted reverberation of anthems that call forth echoes from the unconscious, somewhere between the tidal forces of Kate Bush and Philip Glass.

Toward the end of the gargantuan multi-year effort of making the album, Yorke's survival of a stroke led to unparalleled experiences of existence, and an extraordinary journey of recovery. Now as she rises above the surface, Destroyer has become an offering from the depths, intended to transform emotions from her singular experience into a gift of universal resonance.

More details on Destroyer, upcoming performances, and further release details will follow soon.

Photo by Cherakee Andresen

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