Shadow Works

Shadow Works
Information
Artist	Kerli
Released	February 22, 2019
Recorded	2013-2018
Genre	Alternative Pop Electronic
Label	Seeking Blue
Singles
Savages November 30, 2018 Better January 18, 2019 Legends February 8, 2019
Kerli's discography
Previous	Kerli
Current	Shadow Works

Shadow Works is the third mainstream studio album by Kerli, considering Utopia as her second, as it was intended to be. Kerli announced via PledgeMusic that the album will be released on February 22, 2019.

Background

Years after the release of Utopia, Kerli realised that she didn't want to become the type of person she has always wanted to and that she didn't want to experience everything she always wanted to: who she has always wanted to be was not who she wanted to be anymore, "that identity was outdated". She confessed, in a vlog post on YouTube, that she used to cry almost every day for the life she was leading, which clearly didn't fulfil her needs. She didn't know if she would ever write music again. Therefore, she decided to move to the Estonian forest, in order to comprehend her feelings and emotions and, ultimately, find a renovated tranquillity and peace, thanks also to the relaxation exercises she began to practice. She started the "slow strenuous process of looking at [herself] for the first time" and also found a way to "make art from [her] soul" again. Meanwhile, her long-time relationship of 9 years ended tragically and resulted in Kerli being absolutely heartbroken and humiliated. She began "a massive transformation process". After the Feral Hearts mini-era, Kerli decided to take a hiatus from all social media (although still posting on Instagram, sometimes) in order to "build a whole new [her]". She wanted to prioritize herself and her care again, making improvements step by step. Shadow Works is the result of this transformation process, it is the highest expression of the externalisation of Kerli's feelings and realisations that occurred throughout the years.

Title

In Jungian psychology, the "shadow" is an unconscious aspect of the personality which the conscious ego does not identify in itself. It is the home of everything one does not want to see in himself or herself. Because one tends to reject or remain ignorant of the least desirable aspects of one's personality, the shadow is largely negative. There are, however, positive aspects that may also remain hidden in one's shadow. Because the shadow is part of one's unconscious mind, it starts to project out upon one's reality without one's awareness. Therefore, the shadow causes a lost of distortions to one's experience of reality, resulting in a loose of clarity and wisdom about the situation the individual is in. However, with processes like "shadow work", one can start to reintegrate those disowned and repressed aspect of himself/herself in order to regain awareness.

Artwork

Kerli revealed the official album artwork for Shadow Works from November 27, 2018, to December 4, through social media. The artwork was shot by Estonian photographer Jörgen Paabu. The cover depicts Kerli standing, in a black dress, in front of a full black background. She is holding two Ankhs, an ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol that was most commonly used to represent the word for "life" and, by extension, as a symbol of life itself. The waxing crescent moon on top of Kerli’s head symbolises a new beginning, a moment where people can send their desires to the world, a positive message of hope. For the logo, some Greek letters are being used: "Ξ" instead of "E" and "Δ" instead of "A". Futhermore, the symbol for bilabial click "ʘ" substitutes the letter "O".

Through an Instagram post, Kerli revealed that it took her about 6 months to conceptualize, sketch and handmake everything shown in the cover arts. All of the different materials, once gathered from USA, Estonia and Asia, were all transported to Kerli's Moon Temple, which served as a "headquarter" for the Shadow Works visuals. Kerli started the process of creating and manufacturing things, spacing from dresses made of foam roll to "super high boots with random silk fabrics tied around them".

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Release and promotion

After scrapping the 2016/2017 album, Kerli decided to begin a new project. Via PledgeMusic her team announced that the first single, Savages, off the new version of the third album, was scheduled to be released on November 30, 2018, while the album was slated for release on February 22, 2019. Through an Instagram live streamed on January 5, 2019, Kerli confirmed that Better would be released as the second single off the album on January 18, 2019. The release date was confirmed on January 15. Kerli began posting image teasers on Instagram and other social media platforms on February 5th 2019 to announce Legends would be released that Friday (the 8th).

Singles

• Savages was released as the first single on November 30, 2018. The music video is finished, and will be released soon.
• Better served as the second single off the album, released on January 18, 2019.
• Legends will be the third single released with a release date of February 8, 2019.

Note: only one other single than Savages will be getting a music video, as of yet, Kerli and her team have not decided which of the other three will be chosen.

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Tracklist

#	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	The Opening of the Way (Intro)			1:51
2.	Mimicry			4:34
3.	Everybody Bleeds the Same			4:02
4.	Savages	Kerli Kõiv, David Dahlquist, Even Sarucco	Kill Dave, Cyrus Saidi*	3:09
5.	One			3:20
6.	Purification (Interlude)			1:04
7.	Legends	Kõiv, Christian Buettner, Josh Cumbee, Gennessee Lewis, Caitlin Morris, Marcello Pagin, Afshin Salmani		2:58
8.	Where the Dark Things Are		Varien	3:40
9.	Better	Kõiv, Andrew Richard Burns		3:44
10.	Giving Up the Ghost			4:12
11.	Tuleloits	Kõiv		6:08
12.	Shadow Works (Outro)			3:43

Notes

• denotes executive producer

Credits and personnel

Musicians and producers

• Andrew Richard Burns - composer (9)
• Brian Malouf - programming, mixing (4)
• Cyrus Saidi - executive production (4)
• David Dahlquist – composer, piano, guitar, programming (4)
• Even Sarucco - composer (4)
• Kerli Kõiv – composer, background and lead vocals, vocals production, piano, guitar, programming (4)
• Kill Dave - production (4)
• Nicolas Karl "Varien" Pittsinger - production (8)

Visuals and design

• Gerda Miller - makeup
• Jörgen Paabu - photography, designing
• Kaja Seppel (Ilusalong Intersalon) - hair stylist
• Kerli Kõiv – creative direction, styling
• Liina Heck (Ilusalong Intersalon) - hair stylist
• Urmas Lüüs - black iron ankhs

Managerial

• Cyrus Saidi - manager

Labels and publishing companies

• Atlas Music Publishing (4)
• Tiny Cute Monster
• TONO (NCB) (4)
• Seeking Blue
• Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. (BMI)

Release history

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label
World	February 22, 2019	Digital download	Seeking Blue
World	TBA	CD, Vinyl	Seeking Blue

Gallery

The real reason I've been in hiding.