Tales of Truth

Walking the streets of Lisbon in February of 2011, lyrics began to appear in KMD's head about everything from earthquakes (Chile experienced a big one during that same time), to looking at reality through a different lens (as she played around taking photos of Portugal). These lyrics would turn into songs to be recorded on her first solo LP, "lux capone".
Having recorded six full length records combined, with bands Ultrababyfat and Luigi, KMD endeavored to create a unique studio experience for herself and co-producer/engineer Benjamin Price on this seventh LP project.
Some of Atlanta's best independent musicians contributed their time and skills to "lux capone" including -Pat Brooks (percussion), Bret Busch (backing vocals), Zachary Hollback (theremin), Matt Jarrard (cello), Bob Lewis (trumpet, slide trombone), Jim Prible (bass), Jonathon Rhum (saxophone) and Steven Satterfield (backing vocals).
Experimental from the start, "lux capone" started life with the main rhythm guitar tracks. Then the lead vocals were layered on followed by basic harmonies. Next, KMD recorded the drums and percussion which was both a challenge and a learning experience.
A drummer in Gories cover band, the Telepathics, and percussionist in Brazilian band, Os Ossos, KMD easily translated her knowhow into simple driving bass and snare drum beats enhanced with layers of shakers, bells, tambourine and floor toms.
The original plan was to give the record a more electronic feel- KMD and Price experimented with several sounds before defaulting back to standard bass and snare drum tones and KMD played the entire lot with a touch-sensitive keyboard. Floor toms and all other percussion was performed live predominantly by KMD with some help from Benjamin Price and bassist, Jim Prible.
Atlanta drummer Pat Brooks (Little Tybee) provided cymbals on a few tracks and his snare drum rolls help give a marching band feel to "a Weight from the Blue".
While tracks like "Disco Moon" and "Vibrant" exhibit the type of gritty pop hooks that will feel familiar to KMD fans, a handful of moments on "lux capone" stray from the usual and exhibit KMD's most honest efforts to let her songs become whatever they wish. "a Weight from the Blue" begins with an acapella sadness that is reflected in the "chorus" with instruments and thoughts that are spoken, not sung. "Footsteps on Wingspan" was intended to be a percussive track of boots through a parking deck; when listening back, KMD decided to leave the candid walk and conversation as-is and enhanced it with various other elements. The lyrics for "Limbs" exhibit KMD's love of wordplay as she uses "limbs" to mean arms and legs, and "shoulder" to mean the roadside and speaks of blood as "constantly making the orbits around a beating sun". In "Brilliant Seed", the youngest of the tunes, written just weeks before entering the studio, it's as if KMD was writing herself a pep-talk about discovering new talents and letting them breathe. With "Tales of Truth", sung with vocalist Steven Satterfield, KMD looks at fairy tales versus harsh realities and takes the opportunity to tell the male singer AND the listener, "I try to be one of the things that you know to be true".

Album trivia:
Artwork of "lux capone" displays KMD photographs from the Lisbon trip that inspired the very first lyrics for the record. The name of the record is a play on the name of a Lisbon nightclub called Lux Fragil (John Malkovich is part owner).