Luka Kuplowsky

Luka Kuplowsky’s voice is a paradox — at times it sounds too hushed to be captured, as if it’s going to disappear like smoke, then in the next instant it’s as big as the sky. It is a voice that bends the ear to listen and whose music carves out a unique space for poetic language and improvisatory playfulness.

On his new double LP How Can I Possibly Sleep When There Is Music Kuplowsky extends his interest with improvisational ensembles and live recording, as its seven-piece band (Alex Lukashevsky, Anh Phung, Evan Cartwright, Felicity Williams, Josh Cole and Philippe Melanson) craft a singular sound of spaciousness, experimentation and unbridled expressiveness that traverses traditions of jazz, folk and blues. Conceived as a record of adaptations and responses “to a millennia of poetry”, the album draws together the poetry of Ryokan Taigu, Bohdan Ihor Antonych, Maria Rainer Rilke, Yosana Akiko, Du Fu, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, W.W.E Ross, Li Bai, and La Fontaine, placing them within a dynamic environment of ecstatic and imaginative expression. Produced by the luminary Toronto producer/songwriter Sandro Perri, the new LP enfolds international literary and music influences alongside hyper-local Toronto touchstones into a beautiful sprawling record of meditative and free-wheeling sonic adventurism.