The New Citizen Kane has spent over a decade building something bigger than a discography. Behind the name is Kane Luke, a London-based artist with roots in Dublin’s theatre scene who treats every release as another piece of a much larger creative universe, one that stretches across music, film, and visual storytelling. That world expanded further on August 14th with the release of “Free To Feel,” the first of four chapters making up his Psychedelika Pt.2 project, seven tracks running just over 25 minutes.
Inside Free To Feel
Rather than dropping a single album all at once, Kane is telling the Psychedelika Pt.2 story across four separate EPs, each one carrying its own emotional arc. “Free To Feel” is chapter one, built around a question that could easily tip into self-importance in the wrong hands, whether we’re actually willing to examine what we believe rather than just assume it. Kane keeps things from getting heavy-handed by refusing to pick a single register, some songs stay personal, some drift more philosophical, a couple even lean political, and all of it sits inside music that never stops being genuinely fun to move to.
“Dream Logic” kicks the record off somewhere fuzzy and uncertain, less a clear thought than a half-formed one you’re still chasing down. The production builds up plenty of texture without ever feeling busy, and there’s an off-balance quality running through it, like the track is second-guessing itself even as the rhythm marches on with total confidence. It’s a fitting opener, since this whole EP is less concerned with answering questions than with sitting inside the unease of not knowing yet.
From there, “Metallic” turns the whole thing up considerably, easily the record’s biggest jolt of pure movement, glossy and urgent in a way built for a packed room rather than headphones. Kane’s own vocal keeps it from ever feeling like sound for its own sake, there’s a real person steering the energy rather than just riding on top of it. “Into My Heart” pulls the temperature back down right after, softer, more melodic, Kane singing closer and quieter this time, less concerned with explaining what he’s feeling than just letting the feeling sit there unexplained.
“Ugly Alligator” and “What’s Real?” dig into heavier territory, questioning things and pushing back against easy narratives, but neither track slows the tempo down to match the weight of what it’s actually saying, the groove stays upbeat while the lyrics stay pointed, and neither song bothers handing you a neat resolution at the end. The Gwen Stefani cover, “What U Waiting For,” sits inside that same world more naturally than a typical bonus track usually would, its whole point about not stalling and actually moving fits the record’s larger argument without feeling bolted on. The record ends by circling back, a bare, acoustic take on “Metallic” that strips away every layer of production down to just the song itself, a genuinely quiet, grounded way to close things out after everything that came before it.
MetalLic
For a sense of where this EP is heading, “Metallic” is the place to start. It’s the lead single Kane put out ahead of the full project, a self-produced track built on layered synths and a driving low end that never really lets up. There’s an unfinished, almost live-take quality to how it’s put together, like Kane recorded the version where he stopped second-guessing himself and just went with what felt right in the moment.
That idea, letting go of the need to control every outcome, sits at the core of what “Free To Feel” is reaching for as a whole. “Metallic” pushes into questions of identity and what it actually means to wake up to your own life instead of just performing a version of it for everyone watching. It works less like a standalone single and more like a doorway into Kane’s bigger creative world, setting the tone for a four-part project built around transformation rather than one neat, contained story.
Final Thoughts
With a lead single this confident and a concept this ambitious, “Free To Feel” delivers on the promise its early singles made. Four chapters telling one continuous story is a big swing, and this first one lands as a genuinely cohesive, purposeful opening statement, ambitious without ever feeling like a lecture, danceable without feeling disposable.
“Free To Feel” is out now. Follow The New Citizen Kane on his official website, Facebook, TikTok, and SoundCloud for more.
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