How KUČKA Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Algorithm

It takes a lot to derail Laura Jane Lowther from her creative path. Case in point: when she and wife Dillon Howl filmed a music video near an abandoned dairy farm and mental hospital close to their LA home, found through a Facebook group (Lowther’s a devoted internet trawler), they turned graffiti-covered walls into a post-apocalyptic scene complete with fake blonde hair, arsenic-white make-up, and shiny pom poms.

“You aren’t actually supposed to go inside the mental hospital part,” Lowther admits with a grin. “So we had to trespass and then the cops came. It definitely got a little bit scary at one point.”

Under her KUČKA moniker, Lowther’s second album, Can You Hear Me Dreaming? plunges listeners into similarly fantastical realms. Following her well-received debut album Wrestling in 2021, this new release is a highly anticipated comeback for the innovative artist, blending her gleaming electronic sound with themes of survival, love, and the chaotic digital world of today.

“Just before writing this album, COVID had kept everyone indoors, and not really living exciting lives,” Lowther tells Rolling Stone AU/NZ over Zoom. “I didn’t have many experiences that wasn’t like, watching TV. I think what many people did, including myself, was to retreat more into a fantasy world during that time.” 

Describing the album-making process for Can You Hear Me Dreaming? as “emotional voyeurism,” Lowther departs from the diary-like feel of her previous releases, diving into the minds of fictional characters. “At the time I was like, ‘Is this creepy? Kind of, but in a fun way,’” she laughs. “You have to be a little creepy, right?”

And inspiration hasn’t been difficult to find for Lowther: her impressive growth as a songwriter, producer, and vocalist has been shaped by collaborations with notables like Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky, Flume, and the late, great SOPHIE.

“Sometimes I’ll show up and an artist will say, ‘Okay, my album is about the universe in 100 years. Can you work with that?’” she shares about the many sessions. “Experiences like that really inspire me, opening up new creative avenues I hadn’t considered before.”

Much of Can You Hear Me Dreaming? is informed by Lowther’s self-admitted perpetual state of being “chronically online.”

“My Spotify algorithm is wild,” she confesses. “Finding someone with only seven monthly listeners, I’m like, ‘This is the best thing I’ve heard all year.’ Everyone’s constantly sharing online, whether it’s art, music, or writing on Substack. I could honestly spend all day and not get bored.”

It’s fitting, then, that the album’s enigmatic title comes from an old email address. “Remember when you were a teenager and tried to sound cooler?” she laughs. 

Lowther put her “chronically online” status to good use for her new album.

Can You Hear Me Dreaming? features collaborations with newcomers such as sauna6, winner of an online KUČKA remix contest, and pnkblnkt, discovered via Instagram DMs. Lowther also reunited with frequent creative partner Flume on the euphoric peak “One More Night”, an almost-forgotten demo rediscovered in an old Dropbox file during a New York tour. “It came together at the last minute and really fit well. It elevated the record.”

On the shimmering club anthem “Wasting Time (til the end of the world)”, she explores escapism through relentless algorithms, enhanced by its memorable (and aforementioned) music video.

“I’m so used to this rollercoaster of finding things [online] hilarious one moment and terrible the next. It feels natural for me to jump around and create emotionally chaotic things, rather than something that makes sense. For me, things never neatly tie up, especially emotions,” she pauses, chuckling. “It probably makes me sound unstable.”

The final product is a futuristic mix of gritty textures, layering tape-processed tracks, and new guitar elements joining Lowther’s glitchy, synth-heavy style. Howl played a significant role, co-writing tracks like “Heaven” and “Mountain” and spearheading the album’s fascinating visuals. 

“At first, ‘Gross Body’ was all synths,” Lowther recalls. “Bringing in Dillon gave me the freedom to play around more with production. I tried out a bunch of stuff and then put down some guitar. It just clicked. I’ll definitely use guitar more in the future.” 

This second album solidifies Lowther’s reputation as one of Australia’s top boundary-pushing electronic artists. Unfazed by the pressure, she thrives on out-of-the-box creativity—much like navigating the ever-changing currents of internet algorithms.

“On my previous album, I felt a lot of pressure, feeling like it had to be good. People didn’t even know I was a producer back then. 

“Now, I’m all about making whatever you want,” she asserts. “If people think someone else made it or dislike it, who cares? You’ll get hate online regardless – it’s just a drop in the ocean.”

KUČKA’s Can You Hear Me Dreaming? is out now via Soothsayer.