EPK | shonalika

horrid gay out for blood

pronunciation: sho-nah-lee-kah (vowels as in go-car-key-car)

Short Bio

Introducing Shonalika, the queer cryptid bloodletting trauma through horror-inspired darkwave and EBM. Through strangely uplifting club bangers, they explore the dark edges of human emotion with violent sounds, explosive lyrics, and unsettling imagery.

Long Bio

Introducing Shonalika, the queer cryptid bloodletting trauma through horror-inspired darkwave and EBM.

Previously a guitar/keys player, Shonalika lost the ability to play instruments due to issues around fine motor actions and worsening chronic pain. Around 2019 they made the switch to electronic music, learning to produce from scratch.

Their debut EP “XXX,” reflected their eclectic music tastes, a blend of industrial, synthpop, and hip-hop. Since then they have focused in a darkwave/EBM direction with the singles ‘pali pini,’ written in the constructed language toki pona, and ‘maggot,’ featuring a music video featuring maggots.

Constantly experiencing the pain, frustration, and exhaustion that occurs at the intersection of marginalised identities and too autistic to shut up about it, Shonalika is not concerned with sanitisation, appeasement, or respectability. With heavy, dance-able club bangers and lyrics to challenge anyone brave enough to listen, they accept the role put upon the structurally oppressed that step out of line. Several more singles precede their second song collection ‘Disappointing Sex with Sleep Paralysis Demons’.

Shonalika performs with their pseudo-platonic life partner Vesper Morningstar, who hits drum pads, the spacebar, and Shonalika when they’re not paying enough attention.

They are also half of the 80s-inspired synthpop duo Powderpaint, where they’re still quite melodramatic but aren’t allowed to sing about maggots.

Influences

ABRA, Angel Haze, Austra, Banks, Dead or Alive, Echoberyl, Emilie Autumn, Fever Ray, IAMX, Ic3Speak, ionnalee, Jeff Buckley, Kyla La Grange, Lady Gaga, MARINA, New Order, Pet Shop Boys, Shygirl, Sisters of Mercy, Sopor Aeturnus and The Ensemble of Shadows, Susanne Sundfør, System Of A Down