Glüme :: Twin Ritual

Truly timeless (and somehow ageless), Glüme Harlow seems to have been born from the seedy underbelly of Hollywood herself.  Glüme is more than a moody moniker, she is a movement.  Perhaps it’s easy to compare her looks to a porcelain doll, but that would be to glibly dismiss what Glüme is trying to proffer: becoming a post-traumatic individual.  And trauma is aplenty in her music.  A child-actor-turned-musician/performer/writer/composer/actress, this polymath’s chaotic childhood seems to have created a perfectly reversed Frankenstein’s monster: a delicately petite but indefatigable ingenue sewn intricately together from the bodies of Marilyn Monroe, Clara Bow, Angelyne and Anna Nicole Smith.  But make no mistake, she’s just drawn that way…her sensibilities are firmly rooted in everything from Shirley Temple tap routines to David Lynch films to Lana Del Rey-esque American Gothic nostalgia…and of course, maybe some Dita Von Teese for good measure.  Releasing under Italians Do It Better, Glüme’s first album, The Internet (2021) was met with critical acclaim.  This latest release however, Main Character delves into newer, refreshingly memoiric territory, like the deliciously piano-driven titular “Main Character”, or the much darker, club-ready “Flicker Flicker”, the Pet Shop Boys-suffused “Dangerous Blue”, or even the straight-ahead synthed-out “Brittany”.  Collaborating with talent like Rufus Wainwright, Sean Ono Lennon and STRFKR, the album is replete with bangers that are far more than the sum of their parts…and truly one-of-a-kind.  Her performance on Saturday night at The Paramount Theater, part of Disco Goth’s ongoing series, was filled with thrills and surprises (including a previously unreleased song, an accidental nip-slip and an “Air-Sax” solo from Alexander Burke), that left the audience wanting more.  Also, be sure to keep an eye out for her forthcoming short film Child Actor (TBA).  If you want to see a meteor, don’t look up, look out over Santa Monica Blvd (well maybe look up to see her billboards).