Rora and the Untamed, the new project from The Last Dinner Party’s Aurora Nishevci and composer Nathen Durasamy, have announced their debut album, Do You Like Me Now?. The record will arrive October 9 via Island Records, while the duo has introduced the project with its debut single, “Savage White Swan.” The 10-track album brings together two musicians who previously worked together on orchestration for The Last Dinner Party’s second album, From The Pyre.
Nishevci and Durasamy said Do You Like Me Now? examines their experiences and conflicting impulses as working artists. “Ultimately this record is about our relationship to being artists,” they said. “There’s this inner conflict of simultaneously wanting to be seen and not seen, wanting to be in the shadows and wanting to have the spotlight.” They added that the album considers their motivations, relationships and careers.
The album draws on both historical subjects and the musicians’ personal experiences. “Artisan Lover,” the second track, takes inspiration from Greek mythology, while the title track addresses subjects including messages directed at girls in patriarchal societies and racial prejudice affecting people of color in classical music. Other songs on the tracklist include “High Water,” “Wash It Off,” “The Hearse,” “Tiara,” “Valkyries,” “Silicone Sunshine” and closing track “His Neck Is Fragile.”
The project marks a new role for Nishevci, who is known as The Last Dinner Party’s multi-instrumentalist and contributing songwriter and now moves to the front of the stage with Rora and the Untamed. Durasamy, a British-born Mauritian composer, has worked in film and television composition in addition to his collaborations with Nishevci. The pair orchestrated The Last Dinner Party’s From The Pyre, while Durasamy has also contributed orchestration for Jax Jones and producer INFLO.
