The Official Kylyra Homepage Biography

Completely unwilling to be limited or defined, Kylyra is Dark World's resident rebel diva. Her music moved from early techno rhythms combined with classically styled melodies on First Steps to the surrealistic and haunting concept album Ishtar's Ascent. After a well deserved break, Kylyra is back in full force with VOX and has once again managed to fashion a new sound for herself. Grooving heavier than ever, Kylyra meshes her alternative dance style with industrial and gothic lashings reminiscent of Front 242 and Intermix. Infectious beats, brilliant high-end percussive work and gorgeous multi-layered vocals showcase the versatility of this diva.

Heavily schooled in the classics, Kylyra's sound changed dramatically when she first heard Sven Vaeth's Accident in Paradise release. Excited about the sound she heard on Sven Vaeth, she decided to modify her own instrumentations by backing them with samples and grooves from her MC-303. Her experiments in alternative dance music caught the attention of Dark World and she quickly became a signed Dark World artist.

Kylyra was first heard in the Dark World session that became the Ennui Entertainment video "Into the Unknown" (air date 11-10 95). While working on her own melodies she joined the experimental improvisation group, Stygian Tars in 1996. She appeared with Stygian Tars on Episode One of Dark World Television, "Tourist" (air date 8-16-97).

Kylyra's first solo EP release in the summer of 1997, First Steps, created a stir both locally and internationally. During the Dark World Studio burglary (May 1998) she lost almost all her equipment except the MC-303; luckily that was with her at the time. With her public hungry for more, she dove into her new equipment (Alesis QS-6, MCP2000) and was convinced to remix two of her favorites from First Steps to include on the Dark World compilation, Artist's Row.

1999 saw the release of Threshold, the first mix release from Ishtar's Ascent, featuring 5 versions of "Threshold" along with "pianofortisimo". In December, Kylyra finished her first full length CD release, Ishtar's Ascent. With her new equipment and the free-form feeling of the Stygian Tars sessions fresh in her mind, Kylyra's sound matured to a new level. Ishtar's Ascent became a theatrical journey and differed dramatically from her other releases (which she likes to refer to as her "Producer's releases"). It combined spoken word, classical melodies, techno dance rhythms, live organics and haunting vocals to tell a tale based on "Of the Sleep of Ishtar" from the Necronomicon. Also released in December is the second mix release, In the Land of Death and Joy.

With the new millennium came a new home base; Kylyra followed her label, Dark World (now Dark World International) to the EU and took up residency in Ireland. She began work on VOX, but the project soon stalled due to equipment problems and the creation of the band Deemed Psychotic with her brother, Tor. In 2005 she released the mixes she had on VOX the EP for promotional purposes.

Kylyra was kept busy in 2006 with the band Deemed Psychotic, writing one hit tune after another with her brother Tor. The band triumphantly released The 1st to a well-established fan base. In addition, Kylyra was persuaded to compile her favourite tracks from her earlier works for the release Red Book. With Dark World International's digital deal with iTunes secure, Kylyra's sales took off immediately.

In 2007 Kylyra went into the studios once again, this time to finally finish the long-awaited full length release VOX. What has emerged is a harder-edged, industrial tinged sound with dynamic vocals ranging from the sensual wailing on "The Lizard King" to angry metal-edged "Wag on Demand".

'VOX has become, inadvertently I must admit, a statement on my views of the social and political environment today. I didn't set out to write such a strongly stated release; it just simply happened.

I had a lot of long breaks while recording VOX; equipment breakdowns and my work with Deemed Psychotic took up more than a year. I usually don't like to do that at all, but in the long run it was definitely a good thing. I came back into the studio very focused on my work and with a much greater understanding of Dark World's new recording capabilities.

Musically I looked for inspiration both new and old. I fell back into listening to Sven Vaeth; this time I focused my ear on his live set at Ibiza (5th Season). The music playing around the house at the time was a lot of Meat Beat Manifesto, Front 242, Intermix, and some Skinny Puppy. I was also re-exposed to Stygian Tars and Milwaukee's Black Orchid since I was around the Dark World studios while they were being remastered, and it seemed natural to include some covers of their material on VOX.

I included some songs with environments on the release; as usual, the Dark World studio staff were a great help in capturing exactly what I was after. I also had the good fortune of having my brother Tor play live bass and guitar on some tracks for me. I drove the rhythms hard and experimented with some different high end percussion work. Even though I included some down-tempo songs the release doesn't loose it's groove, and I'm very pleased I achieved that.

Lyrically this is some of the most honest and straight-forward material I've written. I admit I still get a bit mysterious on some of the tracks (allow me some artistic license, please!) but most of it is pretty much just me. In fact, according to my brother, "A Cup of Hope" sums me up quite well on the average morning.

In the middle of all my frenzied work I also managed to write and arrange a 40 plus minute live DJ set. I constructed it based on the Dark World website, so it's going to be called darkworld.com. I'm scheduled to go into the studio to record it some time in early 2008, and with any luck I'll have another release available next year.