Karma & Desire is the seventh solo studio album by British electronic music producer Actress, released on Ninja Tune on 23 October 2020. Its announcement was preceded by the surprise release of a single-file album by Actress named 88, which included a PDF hinting towards Karma & Desire's track listing.[8][9] The album was officially announced on 1 September 2020 and described by Actress as being "a romantic tragedy set between the heavens and the underworld".[10] The announcement of the album was accompanied by the release of the lead single from the album, "Walking Flames", featuring British singer Sampha.[11] The album was included in Pitchfork's 41 Most Anticipated Albums of Fall 2020.[12]
On 23 October 2020, Karma & Desire was released through Ninja Tune, along with an accompanying short film of the same name directed by Lee Bootee/ The film stars Actress, Sampha, Zsela, and Aura T-09, who all feature on the album. American musician Yves Tumor also appears.[13] The album reached number 4 on the UK electronic album charts and was well received by critics, with Actress being acclaimed for further developing his sound.
Critical reception
Phil E. Bloomfield of Bandcamp described Karma & Desire as "warmer and more generous than anything [Actress has] released to date",[14] In a 10/10 review, Ela Minus wrote in Future Music that the album is "a masterpiece of ethereal, smudged contemporary electronic music" and "perhaps Actress' most accomplished work to date".[15] It was named the 41st best album of 2020 by The Guardian[16] and the 31st best album of 2020 by Clash.[17] At the 2021 Libera Awards, Karma & Desire was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Record,[18] ultimately losing to Caribou's Suddenly.[19]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
[2]