Today, Loren Kramar, Secretly Canadian’s latest signing, announces his debut album Glovemaker out April 26. If the Chateau Marmont could sing. This would be it. Ecstatic aspiration. Doubt. Proximity. Desire. The album Glovemaker is about the skins we craft to be seen by the world, and Loren reminds us that we are all in drag. All exposed. No matter what gloves we slip on. At the heart of these songs is an irrepressible desire to be known. Loren’s fantasies of success and stardom read as metaphors for a deeply human longing for acceptance and connection. Kramar is a showman and you hear it in his words: Blistering truth. Drama. Urgency. Glovemaker explores love and loneliness, dreams and promises, everything Los Angeles dangles. Kramar’s witty, vivid lyrics unfold with his powerful and intensely yearning vocals. This whole album is a shrine, a mantle atop a blazing fire of life, spread with the memorabilia of Loren; all of the pain and lust dazzling on unabashed view.
The announcement is accompanied by the LP’s title track, both saddening and salacious with haunting synth (John Carroll Kirby) and sax (Sam Gendel) to go along with Kramar’s grand, velvety vocals. The single comes with a self-directed video starring Nick Robinson (Maid, A Teacher, Love, Simon) and non-binary artist Ilana Kozlov that sees Kramar dressed as a sad clown at a costume party, not aware of anyone but his own ego. The video is a circus mirror; an exercise in distortion and performance, and we watch as Kramar pushes his own image, his own spectacle of self, to a point of collective isolation as an ode to the melancholy of social performance set against the fantasy of Hollywood.
Loren Kramar says, “Glovemaker has become a kind of code for artmaking itself. A glove as a covering or mask that follows the contours of the life beneath it. As a song and symbol, this is an album about studying and tracing my own life – and then sharing what’s there. I live with a constant sense of reaching and this song is an attempt at telling that story. The loneliness, the striving and the obsession with becoming a better artist, more successful, more understood, loved.”
“Hollywood Blvd“, released late last year, is an anthem that encapsulates Kramar’s dreams as he confronts his doubts head-on, pulsating with vibrant horns and resonant bells. BBC 6 Music called it “romantic and seductive” and added it to their playlist, while it earned additional critical praise from Clash, Stereogum and DIY.
To celebrate the announcement of Glovemaker, Kramar will head to London for his debut UK show on Wednesday 20th March at The Grace. He’s also set to perform in Paradiso, Amsterdam: March 18.
Kramar’s music is a testament to the sheer beauty of his voice, characterized by a warm, confident timbre reminiscent of Old Hollywood legends. With a penchant for grand, dramatic melodies, Kramar channels the likes of his former tourmate, Father John Misty and Lana Del Rey, seamlessly intertwining celebration and critique of the enigmatic world of fame, glamor, and artistry. Born and bred in the heart of Los Angeles, Kramar’s upbringing immersed him in both the art and artifice of the entertainment industry. Reflecting on his journey, Kramar muses, “There’s almost a self-created fanfic that comes with imagining oneself as a star. It’s a coping mechanism against insecurity and shame… that I am enough, that I have value as a person outside of being an artist.”
