[Exclusive Premiere] Song Of The Day: Lorelei K — “Perfumed in Feeling”

Lorelei K Is Serving Us A High-Fashion Dream In The Airy New Video For The First Single Off Her Full-Length Studio LP Due Later This Month.

Welcome to Song of the Day, where we hip you to all the new local releases you should be caring about. By highlighting one new North Texas-sprung tune every week day, our hope is that you’ll find something new to love about the rich and abundant DFW music scene five days a week. 

Lorelei K – “Perfumed in Feeling”
RIYL: Pure glamour.
What Else You Should Know: Dahlia Knowles aka Lorelei K is an experimental pop singer-songwriter and multi-hyphenate musician out of Denton with a debut studio album titled Lightbender on the horizon.

The project was recorded with Michael Briggs of Civil Audio over the past two years, but Knowles officially announced the album in early July. Now, “Perfumed in Feeling” is the first taste of what’s to come from the 15-track release.

Leading the song with a lyrical admission of “I found you in a dark place / Someone new in a new phase,” Knowles’ inspiration comes from an autobiographical journey of self-discovery — the ‘you’ referencing Lightbender, a character she describes as an ethereal, angelic being.

“I wrote this song whenever I was recovering from surgeries and doing a lot of soul-searching,” she says. “And a lot of Lightbender is me dealing with a loss of purity and a loss of innocence and a changing body. So I was writing about Lightbender as a version of myself that was at peace and that could navigate the world with more ease. And more fabulously.”

Through the kaleidoscope of Lightbender as a figure, Knowles, who is trans, has been able to channel songwriting from her experiences of coming into her own womanhood on her own terms and in her own light.

“It’s absolutely a diary,” she says. “This is a very trans-centered song, and it was definitely a moment that I needed just for me.”

The video for “Perfumed in Feeling” (directed by Colt Matheson) is a high-fashion editorial spread come to life under muted jewel tones — a reflection of the same glamorous spirit Knowles felt through the writing process.

“[Perfume in Feeling] is the most optimistic tone on the record,” she says. “And this was the one that I wrote that was kind of trying to brighten up the really dark shit I was writing at the time. So, I wanted to do homages to Cher and vintage perfume ads — something pretty and kind of silly. It’s very different for me.”

Lorelei K will debut the album’s live performance at Dan’s Silverleaf on October 25 before joining Rosegarden Funeral Party for tour across the U.S. next month. Lightbender is out October 25.

Cover photo by Gabriela Guerrero.