Aïsha Devi returns with new album ‘Death is Home’ on Houndstooth, her first LP since 2018 and her most personal work yet. Aïsha Devi nurtures an idiosyncratic approach to her music. She describes her sound as Aetherave, and uses bassy-heavy club motifs and intentional aesthetic signifiers to transport listeners to a dizzying, kinetic environment, harnessing timeless frequencies. ‘Death is Home’ is ultimately a manifesto. It’s Devi’s most revealing work to date and a direct result of her personal evolution and ongoing quest. Growing up under the shadow of isolation and abuse, she formed her practice as a healing method, using it to neutralize her past and recreate an alternate, more hospitable reality – beyond the human condition. Her feelings were compounded when she tracked down the whereabouts of her father B.K. Gurung, a Nepali drummer whom she never knew. Devi was informed he had died young, but rather than perceive this as a binary, through mourning, she realized that his existence had already offered her a lifeline and a refuge. “Vapors of violence remain in my broken bones, intoxicate my DNA,” she invokes. “I’ll lick my wounds and heal at night. I’ll take over.” She extends this invitation to anybody tuned in to her signals, providing lodging for those that crave it. Birth is virtual. Death is home.
