As a classically trained musician raised on hip hop and electronica, Lihla’s sonic terrain shimmers with tension. Organic but digital, raw but fragile, sensual and defiant. With these ingredients Lihla conjures up the ambient spirits of artists like Bjork and Lamb to write and produce contemplative songs that move both heart and body. 
Strings, pianos, horns, digital detritus and tripped out beats provide a beautiful neoclassical haze for Lihla’s sumptuous voice. Every note written, played and produced by herself. The Dictionary of Sorrows defines Ambedo as a melancholic trance induced by vivid sensory details. The perfect description for Lihla’s first foray into a mystical world of Pop music. Playing tribute to her experience as a contemporary dance and circus composer, strings and pianos caress abstract beats into a fertile canvas for Lihla’s voice, immersing listeners in a theatrical soundscape that’s personal, playful and raw. The 12 songs on Ambedo are like rays of light sparkling through gaps in the clouds, contemplative but never depressing. Ambedo was written and recorded in Berlin, where Lihla settled after 10 years touring the world composing and performing for dance and theatre companies. “This album comes from a point of stillness in my life” says Lihla. “After touring 22 countries and having a baby, I found myself in Berlin with a place to live and write music. The lack of movement tipped me into a kind of identity crisis, I was forced to find my balance and figure who I was as a writer, a musician, a performer, and as a mother.” This examination of female identity in the modern world, combined with Lihla’s unique Chinese Australian heritage flows throughout Ambedo. The balance between motherhood, womanhood and life outside of your home country is evident in the tense interplay between the organic and digital in Lihla’s music. As an album, Ambedo may not be conventional Pop but its soul has been born from a long history of singer-songwriters exploring love, loss and sensuous joy. This is only the beginning for Lihla. Dim the lights, close your eyes and slip into the lush, warm world of Lihla. Mixing: Thomas Wegner Mastering: Felix Zoepf