Jane Magazine: “Intensely passionate lyrics delivered in low whispers and startling, penetrating screaming.”
The Village Voice: “Shikhee drapes her angst in velvet. She and the genres she draws from do a kind of tango of desire and venom. At times she sounds like Tori Amos at her most feral; at others like Alanis Morrisette feasting on anger. But mostly Shikhee sounds uniquely abandoned.”
Android Lust returns with Devour, Rise, and Take Flight, an aggressive and in-your-face counterpoint to 2003's introspective epic, The Dividing. Born in Bangladesh, Android Lust auteur Shikhee has been exploring the cutting edge of desire, rage, and panic in her songs since her first independent release in 1998. Borrowing elements from diverse musical styles, Android Lust presents a blend of electronic rock that is provocative, engaging, and fiercely emotional. Devour, Rise, and Take Flight is an unforgiving electronic rock assault carried across twelve powerful tracks. Shikhee's commanding voice takes center stage, set against her most challenging, yet accessible songwriting to date. And in true Android Lust fashion, she saves her best hooks for her most vicious sentiments, all while taking modern electronic music even further to the edge.
Shikhee has been making quite the name for herself in the indie electronic music community. Her music evolves with each release, showing a greater musical range than the plethora of unoriginal and copycat bands in the scene. Shikhee redefines herself with Devour, Rise, and Take Flight, with complex rhythms supporting multi-layered vocal melodies, and textural sounding electronica that somehow conjures minimalism with a surprisingly layered and lush sound. A glutted genre receives much deserved nobility.
East Coast tour in March!
Digi-Pak with 16 page booklet.
Android Lust is the solo project of Shikhee, who is making a particularly creative form of dark/heavy music. Harsh metal, 80s synthpop, techno, rock, experimental music and more are all combined and topped off with Shikhee's edgy vocals. Fierce, angry atmospheres collide violently with delicate forms of musical expression such as new age electronics (Wicked Days) and gentle guitar music and a keyboard effect that sounds almost classical (The Body). In Leah, medieval folk music is given the electronic treatment and combined with strange random clonkings and clangings. Memory Game is based around chaotic techno, whilst Thomael is a similarly chaotic mix of techno, industrial and experimental music, which is definitely not for the faint hearted. The album ends with Leave It Behind, which is mentioned in the credits but not in the main track list. This is in a very different style to everything else here, being more conventionally song-based and set to melodic guitar and synthesised strings as opposed to the harsh instrumentation that pervades the rest of the album. Bizarre, fearsome and unsettling this album may be, but it is certainly not just noise for noise's sake; it's music with a strong sense of inventiveness.
A review from Dark Realms #22:
Mixing mechanized vocals and electronic pulses with edgy guitar and drum rhythms, Devour, Rise, and Take Flight is the latest surreal work from singer, songwriter Shikhee. The album uses a variety of unique percussive sounds as rhythmic beats. This especially evident on "Dragonfly," which utilizes distorted whispers and breathing to create a truly original pulse. The track "Wicked Days" is mellow and spacy, whereas "Leah" provides a slice of pure dark ambiance. The experimental cut "Thomeal" is an electronic collision of synthetic sounds. "Linguae" is perhaps the closest thing that the album has to a dance track, which "Unrecognize" has a serenely melodic ending. Those with eclectic tastes for something far outside the mainstream realm of popular music will surely want to gibe this avant garde artists a listen. - Devon King
This is the new studio album of Android Lust. The first since
The Dividing from 2003, if we don’t count the remix album
Stripped & Stitched. This is a very intense, passionate and emotional album, in which the listener is dragged into various worlds. They can be heavy and harsh, and then tranquil and mysterious. The lyrics are personal and appealing at times. There are elements of pop, as well as inaccessible industrial. Shikhee plays with this on the record, and it results in a fascinating achievement. This is a very nice album to listen to.
The first song ‘Lover Thine’ overwhelms and impresses with massive guitars, forceful drumming and the almost beast-like growling of Shikhee. In ‘Hole Solution’ the approach is a bit more subtle. ‘Dragonfly’ is again more industrial of tone, without losing the catchy elements. ‘Wicked Days’ is more melancholic and has exotic sounds, with striking lyrics. This surely is a highlight on this album. Also ‘The Body’ is a highlight. This song is pretty heavy yet has tranquil moments, which unfortunately make it less usable for DJ’s. ‘Leah’ is a fascinating hearplay like piece of music. The last real highlight we find with ‘Sense Of It All’ with the delicious vocals of Shikhee, synths and sounds. ‘Fell The Empty Mask’ however convince me less. ‘Thomael’ is an industrial inferno with gabberlike beats, scratching sounds and clashing rhythms. ‘Linguae’ is a very rich and versatile soundscape, in which Shikhee seems to have incorporated various impressions of her travels around the globe.
The heavy the cd starts, the quiet it ends with the ambient track ‘Unrecognize’, which has almost whispered vocals and piano playing and then with the slightly psychedelic extra song, which reminds a bit of Radiohead. This is again a beautiful song. Fantastic! And then the album unfortunately really is over. Android Lust makes music that could interest people who like NIN, Bjork, Massive Attack but also people that like glitchy electro, or yet melancholic indierock. Android Lust is a band with a high-set original approach, that can be praised for that and although it might be a bit early in the year but it would not be far from the truth to state that Devour, Rise, and Take Flight is an industrial highlight for 2006. Rating: 9 out of 10 -TekNoir
Songwriter/musician Shikhee returns with her latest album of unstable electrogoth. I'm not a huge fan of this style of music, but I gotta admit, Shikhee does it better than just about anybody. She's equally adept at harsh, pounding tracks like "The Body" and "Lover Thine" as she is more pop-friendly loads like "Wicked Days" and "Hole Solution." There's also a genuine exorcist feel here; this is the sound of someone working out her demons in a way as friendly to the masses as she's capable of doing. Nine Inch Nails hasn't been this interesting since 1993. - Michael Toland
In this forbidden land of blips, metal sounds and splintered beats, we move through the dark-lands, carrion calling, for some new frequencies, something to implode in the distance, and make us stand up and take notice that something unique was set off here. Fate and purpose now have a new name:
Android Lust. The new album,
Devour, Rise and Take Flight simply defies description. The wonderfully warped, mind-bending assault is strangely cohesive in that we are walking though the mind of Shikhee, writer, performer and creator of Android Lust.
Pushing the barrier forward, this new record takes us into new and refreshing territory. "Wicked Days" first caught my ear as a captivating track, with so much feeling and depth upon hearing it once, I immediately wanted to hear it again. "Fell The Empty Mask" was another crystal heart track for me (crystal heart means honest, cold and brutal). "Memory Game" is another fantastic track with a great line in it: "Seems my memory has stalled/words mean nothing at all." I just thought this was bent... and of course "Dragonfly" is bombastically cool, but as a preference I like The "Low" version on the single.
How different this disc was caught me off guard, which any progressive underground disc should... knock you on your ass and you should say wow. This did for me. The album title Devour, Rise and Take Flight reflects the ascension of the artist, Shikhee, fine-tuning her craft into an intelligent audio assault. The boundaries have been broken, now enjoy the storm. -Xxon Mill
Shikee stays true to her roots and even takes a few steps forward with this, her third full length. On Devour, Rise & Take Flight Shikee takes her own, sometimes personal, approach to electronic music. Light synth elements sway the music towards the darkwave sub genre, but the vocals and erratic beat programming keep most of the tracks well within the dark electro field. Some songs, such as Memory Game and Thomael even manage to cross over into the noise category. Hole Solution is a beautiful sounding piece with light, scratchy vocals, chirping synths, and a deep rhythm. On The Body both acoustic and electric guitars are utilized to give it an edgy and raw feel. The vocals go from angst-ridden to wafting as the track moves through several different atmospheres. Leah and the bonus track (Leave It Behind) are much slower, moodier arrangements that flow smoothly from start to finish. To date, this is probably Android Lust's finest achievement. The electronics are well composed and the vocal variation between all of the pieces sets up the mood for each individual piece.
4.5 out of 5 Stars | As with The Dividing, Android Lust continues to push the creative envelope on Devour, Rise, and Take Flight. "Lover Thine" sets the tone: the song begins with a fusion of glitch-tech machine noise and strained vocals that are continually interrupted by bursts of propulsive and sludgy aggro; somewhere in the middle a smooth beat adds an element of urgency. The sonic message: except the unexpected.
Android Lust has always made excellent use of varying textures, but on Devour, Rise, and Take Flight the juxtaposition of so many different ideas is almost schizophrenic. "Hole Solution" straddles the line between electro-pop and electro-clash; "Leah" is rich with swells of synth that combine neo-classicism with ambient; "Memory Game" pairs frantic electronics and hyper beats with distorted vocals that recall Shikhee's distinctive insectoid hiss on Resolution. While Devour, Rise, and Take Flightt moves in a million different directions, the overall effect is cohesive and compelling. This album shows a remarkable depth that is sadly missing from most recent electronic offerings. Instead of retreading the same tired sounds, Android Lust has taken the more difficult path of striving for innovation. However, that isn't to say that the aggression that Android Lust was known for is a thing of the past. "The Body" manages some impressive industrial pummeling, even if it is punctuated by the strumming of an acoustic guitar; the digital hardcore of "Thomael" is purely explosive.
I feel that Shikhee's vocals need to be mentioned, but what can really be said about them? Her voice can be piercing, plaintive, and sometimes unsettling. It is always perfection, the silver thread that stitches this record together.
As a phrase, "Devour, Rise, and Take Flight" could be an apt description of this point in Android Lust's oeuvre. All of the many possibilities engendered by electronic music have been cannibalized by this project and synthesized into unique and unheard forms. This album is a departure--from just about everything you've ever heard. Brilliant. - Jack
Hi Sam… I received the Android Lust disc yesterday and listened to it. It’s not often that I’m absolutely blown away by an album but this one sure did. It’s already on my list of the Best of 2006. Congratulations!! Review will be up soon. - Matt Rowe
Not only has Reznor of NIN lost his teeth, but it is Shikhee of Android Lust that has pulled them out of Reznor’s head with the release of her very potent, highly nihilistic Devour, Rise, and Take Flight. With Reznor’s crown as the bloodied prince of angst in jeopardy, Android Lust is all too willing to invade and conquer.
Android Lust is Shikhee, a persona draped in anger and loathing, who, as NIN did in the distant past, uses the things that disrupt and confuse as a palette of musical exasperation. On her new album, Shikhee goes right to the throat with a collection of 12 songs, each more harrowing, more broken than the previous. With intense heat emanating from the first track, “Lover Thine,” it’s hard to believe that it can get any darker…but it does. “Lover Thine” begins with an industrial barrage that mixes a hardcore element with murderous imagery segueing into a musically darker “Hole Solution,” a song that spews hatred like a fluid fouled, spilling from a spigot. The softer but no less poisonous, “Wicked Days” is excellent, followed by the suicidal assault of “The Body,” a definite declaration of who owns whose flesh, building into a miasma of resolve. Even the president cannot escape this heated anger with a directed furnace blast of sardonic barbs found in “Fell the Empty Mask.”
You owe it to yourself to bask in this bath of intoxicating rage. Every song is a treatise of pain and anguish, a mixture of introspective disbelief and unanswered fury blended in a fabric of frightening electronic sounds with no borders, explorative textures, and dizzying rhythms. Android Lust is the new voice of desperation. Shikee, the voice and heart of Android Lust, is the new fear and loathing.
Move over, Reznor, your successor hath come.
#1 in Top 10! Issue #55
After a sleep of almost three years, the animal woke up to offer us an album full of nuances this time. If the first albums of Shikhee were rather radical and of a rare fury "Lover Thine," this new opus welcomes some changes here and there with sometimes, for example, an unexpected pop influence "Hole Solution." The whole benefits, once again, from a very good production, due essentially to an artist who takes her time to offer us an amazing mixture of intelligent compositions and an astounding visual side. Let's also pin some more acoustic tones (in the very surprising hidden track) like the unexpected collaboration between Android Lust and ... Tori Amos. Of this album, we shall hold the more varied influences, a tortured background and a will of welcome perfection. (CX:8 DP:9 TSF:9) -CX Sam adds: There is no collaboration with Tori. No idea what this guy is talking about! =)
A solitary woman named Shikhee is Android Lust. She writes all the songs, does all the programming, feels all the pain. This is why Sam Rosenthal signed her to Projekt. She is comparable to Trent Reznor in those regards. Mr. Reznor is not the original solo studio member musician (Prince? The The? Hello?). Here’s where they differ: Trent Reznor’s last album was called
With Teeth, while Shikhee actually uses hers. Her teeth tear at the fabric of being. Her teeth expose the world underneath the surface of flesh and it’s not pretty.
Android Lust has little to do with lust as it is about the consequences realized too late. That puts her on par with her Projekt peers, but she’s always considered herself an industrial artist. What kind though? Not EBM. Not synthpop. Not noise either. Shikhee/Android Lust is unto itself.
The music on her new album Devour, Rise, and Take Flight is a bit slower paced than her last outings. The songs are stripped bare, which brings out her secret weapon: her voice. It’s not operatic or soulful, and it's not its range or prowess that attracts us. It is Shikhee’s ability to allow us into her tortured world. In other words, she sounds like she’s honestly crying. It’s the rawest emotions I’ve ever heard anyone sing since Michael Gira of the Swans. Take “Memory Game” where at the end of the track she repeats the line “here for another day” several times. In the background a series of shrieks develop, growing in volume and intensity as if to be “here for another day” has become a prison sentence. How about “you think you have the right/ because you fucked me a couple of times/ to tell me what to do” from “The Body”. The album is full of vocal and lyrical epiphanies.
I really would like to know what has happened in her life to create such a volatile and lethal album. Not in a tabloid way but in a sense of needing to understand. But then I’m sure it’s in her music. Something is below the surface. I can’t wait for the next album to peek deeper into this fascinating soul. -Thom
I'm tempted to say that this release is surprisingly good, but then considering the quality of the music that has been released by this project, where's the surprise? This is the perfect CD for the jaded, aging, electro fan who thinks they've heard everything (not that I'd know anything about that). The departure from a more straightforward electro-industrial sound that began with
The Want EP continues, and, indeed, flourishes here into something so full of new ideas, beauty, and changes in tempo, sound, and style that it is almost impossible to make comparisons. No, really.
Still more polished and consistent than on her previous release, The Dividing, Shikhee's vocals continue to pack more of a whallop and range with every new release. Somewhat less processed screaming here and somewhat more sultry, haunted, headphone romance. Very nice indeed. Listening to her, here's one thing I keep wondering: How many unsolicited emails must this lady get every day containing various unseemly propositions from overzealous teenage boys (or, for that matter, jaded, aging electro fans)?
Shikhee moves so deftly from ballad to synthpop to blips to raging, straightup, 'coldwave' often in mid-song that it's impossible to put this release in some kind of overarching category. Actually, I take that back, I'll put it in a category. Essential listening for anyone reading this website. -Drew
I remember hearing
The Dividing for the first time and thinking, “There’s no way this could be topped.” Then I heard the remix album
Stripped & Stitched and I remember being shocked at how much better I liked it than
The Dividing , as if it were all new songs. Then the
Dragonfly single hit and, again, my jaw had to picked up off the floor. So with much anticipation,
Devour, Rise, and Take Flight is finally released and to say its amazing would be the understatement of the year.
The album opens with the fractured sounds of “Lover Thine.” It quickly takes off into one of the darkest descents Shikhee has made though. “Dragonfly” comes up pretty quickly (track 3) and despite having heard it numerous times before the album released it still stands as one of the strongest songs on the album, it’s just a great song that doesn’t get old. “Fell the Empty Game” is another obvious highlight with its odd timing and heartbeat like presentation. Shikhee lets her voice soar a bit on this one, offering a bit of beautiful among the chaos. The completely battered sound of “Memory Game” comes immediately after and is probably the creative highlight of the album, everything about this song screams “This won’t work!” but somehow it manages to all come together so well that it becomes a highlight.
Overall this album is another landmark in the both Shikee’s journey and the world of electronic music. It’s completely innovative yet it never totally alienates you. It may be a bit less aggressive overall than The Dividing but fans old and new will not be disappointed.
Android Lust’s Shikhee is back again with a full-length follow-up to 2003’s album
The Dividing. Everyone who expected a direct continuation of the path she musically went back then will be surprised about her new outcome.
Devour, Rise, And Take Flight is a switchback.
A switchback of emotion that intensely pulls you back and forth between aggressiveness and thoughtful delicateness without a moment of losing voltage. Compared to Shikhee’s tendentiously introspective journey The Dividing, this new outcome overall explores a far more in-your-face attitude whilst still keeping smooth and mysterious atmospheres. Imagine a mix of NIN, Björk, Massive Attack, and I, Parasite and you'll get at least a bit closer to what's coming through the speakers.
Whilst celebrating this amalgam between power and beauty, Shikhee’s vocals are accompanying the moods and tempos of the songs impressively and varied, switching between sexy, subtle, magic, demanding and sulfureous.
As varied as the vocal performance are the songs. You're offered an interplay between heavily crunching guitars, forceful drums and calm breaks ("Lover Thine"), elegantly throbbing and smooth rhythms that melt with spacy and trancy effecting sound splinters ("Hole Solution"), a wedding between sweet'n'trippy electronica and noisy’n’crashy industrial attitude ("Dragonfly"), gentle pieces that spread some Far Eastern flair ("Wicked Days"), lively pulsating beats and twinging sound snippets ("Memory Game"), disturbing tunes, voices samples and erratic rhythms ("Thomael") or dark ambient journeys with piano spots ("Unrecognize").
The album was produced by Shikhee and mixed by her and Christopher Jon of I, Parasite, who also participated with some vocals and instruments within different songs. Devour, Rise, And Take Flight is a remarkably passionate album and definitely a highlight of 2006. - Breda