Le Destroy Releases 'Autonomy' From 'Trashumanism' Ft. Drums By Josh Freese
The album, out Friday, is accompanied by a graphic novel that includes each track as its own chapter.
By: Josh Sharpe May. 29, 2024
Austin-Based artist, Le Destroy releases the single and animated video for “Autonomy” ahead of her highly anticipated album, Trashumanism out Friday.
In discussing the single Le Destroy said, "’Autonomy’ opposes violations of human rights and those with the power to oppress and exploit others for their own gains. It has many layers to it but ultimately it’s about maintaining autonomy over one's life, including their freedoms and the right to decide what they want to do with their body and their personal data. From DNA, to stem cells, to choices regarding fertility, to something as simple as personal data, autonomy addresses moral and ethical questions within the quickly and ever evolving medical and tech communities."
The album runs the gamut from aggressively haunting industrial to passionate punk anthems to dance-inducing electronic rock co-produced by former Nine Inch Nails collaborator Danny Lohner, mastered by Howie Weinberg (Nirvana, Garbage, Yeah Yeah Yeahs), and features Josh Freese on drums.
Under her nom de plume, Kristina Olson, Le Destroy hammers in her thoughts on consumerism, feminism, body autonomy, sexuality and technology’s overthrow, bound together in a futuristic sheen that even Stanley Kubrick could appreciate.
“‘Trashumanism’ is about our regression and the negative impact ‘progress’ has had on our society, planet, and all its inhabitants.,” says Le Destroy. “You’d think with all this technology and awareness we’d be growing and evolving and be able to have complex solutions to these complex problems, but it seems like we just can’t find common ground in our way forward.”
“I want to be disruptive and make people think,” adds Le Destroy, who was previously courted by Interscope and Warner Bros., and whose perspectives are highly informed by a post collegiate degree in earth science from the University of California San Diego. “The scientist and artist in me want people to be curious and want them to be excited about discovering new things and challenging themselves to think outside the box.”
Trashumanism Tracklist:
1. Me vs. You
2. Madness
3. Pacify
4. Trashumanism
5. Kiss Kiss Bang
6. The Future Is Now
7. Breed
8. Memento Mori
9. Autonomy
10. Parasite
The accompanying graphic novel includes each track as its own chapter and is available to pre-order. Le Destroy revealed the book cover, title page and artwork for chapter seven which is tied into her single, “Breed.” The story features a woman who’s offered herself as a living shrine at Leche De Vida, an industrial temple in Capital City, the fictional city where the novel is based.
The woman we see in chapter 7 is one of the tertiary characters in the novel that helps carry the reader through Capital City. The storyline for the chapter in general touches on ideas that are also present in the “Breed” music video such as the spectacle, and the dehumanizing elements of pregnancy. The chapter also touches on the exploitation of women's bodies by different groups, organizations, and parties for their own gains. This is the only chapter the "living shrine" appears in.
The 10-tracks on Trashumanism turn into visual chapters in the graphic novel, anchored in Capital City - where a new metropolis is emerging and so is a groundswell rebellion rising up against it. Democracy has quickly become an ancient concept and the new world order is one ruled by mega corporations like GENACOR. Its divisions include ECTOGEN and HELIX, both dabbling in varying degrees of genetic engineering and biopharmaceuticals. GENACOR’s CEO is ruthless, her propensity for the misuse of power unmatched, and she will stop at nothing to remain in power.
Capital City includes a group of female-led protagonists who emerge to fight the system. Among them are: the Artist (the heart, brains and architect of the opposition whose parents were once scientists at ECTOGEN); Rebel (the wildly resilient civil soldier who’d risk her life for the cause); and Robot (originally made as a companion model, she’s alone in the ‘human experience’ and in search of connection).
Le Destroy creates a range of aggressively haunting industrial music, passionate punk anthems and dancey electronic rock. Although Le Destroy is relatively new, Olson’s history in music is not. She cut her teeth moving to Los Angeles fresh out of high school and honed her chops banging on her acoustic in true grunge fashion. She played for anyone who would listen and eventually managed to play her way into The Enterprise, a now defunct recording studio in Burbank, CA. There she found herself alongside the likes of P!NK, Linda Perry, and Dave Pensado. Both P!NK and Pensado were early supporters of Olson’s.
Olson continued developing her skills working on film music with industry powerhouses like Forest Whitaker, writing songs for Lakeshore Records movie soundtracks, and singing the theme song to an animated Barbie film by Mattel. Olson’s songwriting skills eventually earned her an invitation to speak on a Grammy Panel at USC and perform at the Producers and Engineers Party for the Recording Academy.
More recently, Olson’s work was commissioned by the makers of the Cyberpunk 2077 video game for their Radio Volume soundtracks and in-game music alongside Run The Jewels, HEALTH and SOPHIE – “Sleek and futuristic, dirty and aggressive,” said Charlie Clouser (NIN, Saw, American Horror Story). “Le Destroy really captures the feel of a scary future where anything might happen, and gets me pumped to do bad things in the world of Cyberpunk 2077.”
Photo Credit: Ima Leupp
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