One-woman band Kawehi will release her new EP - Robot Heart - on July 15, and she's partnered up with The Music Ninja to give fans a taste with the premiere of her first single, "Anthem." The 7-song EP was recorded entirely at Kawehi's studio in Lawrence, KS, and everything you hear on Robot Heart was written and created by Kawehi. Each of her releases focuses on a particular idea or sound. With Robot Heart, Kawehi wanted to make music from a robot's perspective - a female robot, to be exact, who wants to partake in all of the joy and disappointment that comes with being a human. In a recent interview with Philthy Mag, she explains her creative process: "Every EP's always completely different. Like, I'll do an all pop EP, and then an all beat-box EP, and then an EP of all songs written on toys, so they never sound like anything I've already put out." When asked about Robot Heart she admitted creating this new identity added another layer, saying, "A lot of my cathartic release is through writing and writing about my own experience, so it was cool for this one to write from a different perspective and things I'm influenced by. Like, sci-fi is a big one." Kawehi launched a Kickstarter campaign for the Robot Heart EP and not only hit her goal, but she surpassed it, reaching nearly 10x her original goal.
Kawehi has been previewing music from Robot Heart on her summer tour, her band being Ableton, a midi-keyboard, guitar, and beatboxing to create loops/layers. She kicked things off with a sold-out show at Jammin Java on June 17, followed by a sold-out show at New York's Rockwood Music Hall on June 19. On June 22 she played to thousands of fans at the Firefly Music Festival in Delaware and made her way to Milwaukee on June 26 to play Summerfest and then Chicago to play Schubas on June 27. Kawehi returns home to Hawaii for a few shows over the 4th of July weekend and later this month, she hits the west coast where she'll play the Northern Nights Festival on July 18 followed by shows in San Diego, Los Angeles, Dallas, Austin, San Francisco and more. On top of these dates, she'll also be taking part in the TEDconference in Kansas City on August 9 at the Kaufman Center for the Performing Arts. All tour dates are listed below, and be on the look-out for Kawehi to hit international waters this fall with a confirmed show and festival date in Singapore, with more being confirmed shortly.
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