Ember Knight – Pandora
Today, genre-bending artist and performance myth Ember Knight unveils “Pandora,” the first single from their upcoming record Water Can Fly! Out July 25 via flying ideal — a dream pop/hyperpop gospel about heartbreak, transformation, and emotional delusion on an epic scale.
“Pandora” captures the surreal, painful absurdity of watching something sacred begin to fall apart. Described by Knight as “a whisper through the haunted hallway of a relationship” Pandora laments just how much horror a romantic partner has been hiding – but like the myth of Pandora’s Box, at the bottom of that truth is hope. It’s one of the most sincere offerings in the artist’s canon — no armor, no character, just the first breath after something breaks.
Co-directed by animator Clara Murray, the video previews the emotional terrain of Water Can Fly! — a record that likens a breakup to a mythic quest, blending gospel sincerity with DIY fantasy. The full project will be unveiled in a one-night-only immersive concert inside a custom-built warehouse dark ride in Los Angeles.
This is the first tear in the fabric. And there’s a train coming.
The Law of Conservation of Mass states that matter is neither created nor destroyed, it can only change form. Take the water cycle, for example: through its various stages, it can become liquid, solid, or gas – nevertheless, it remains water at its core. Ever-changing herself, Los Angeles-based multihyphenate Ember Knight follows up her Adult Swim series Ember’s Etiquette and a creative collaboration on Vera Drew’s feature film The People’s Joker with a collection of seven original songs. On her new EP Water Can Fly!, she explores how – much like water – love changes form.
Produced by Estelle Allen, Water Can Fly captures Knight in flux as she makes her first foray into hyperpop as well as a new chapter of her life. Ever-shapeshifting, she fuses contemporary and 90s/Y2K pop sensibilities with her signature theatricality, vulnerable storytelling, and idiosyncratic worldbuilding. With references to the Beach Boys memorial in Hawthorne, the Beatles, Lord of the Rings, and Nelly Fertado, Knight takes us on an epic journey of despair and rebirth. Stylistically glittering yet intimate nonetheless, the seven songs possess the grandiosity of Knight’s chamber-pop rock opera Cheryl, a beautifully unhinged ode to female insanity, as well as the candid heartwrenching of her debut album The Disappointment Cowboy, a Smiley Smile-esque folk record featuring voicemails from ex-boyfriends.
Knight says of the EP: “These songs were written over the course of a year-long breakup. Almost all vocals are my first take, recorded in the various homes I was couch surfing through. I wrote in icy tones, steamy tones, liquid tones. I never thought these songs would see the light of day, so I let myself write as poppy and cheesy as I needed to. I cringe at a lot of lines now, but have chosen to release it unedited.”
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