To question the hidden mechanisms that surround us is no easy task. The yearning for power is always lurking, snapping everyone into becoming monotonous and senseless beings. And yet, there are those—like PLUS44KALIGULA—who dare to question. Those brave enough to cleverly portray opposition to a rigid system.
In her new EP “Double Blind,” PLUS44KALIGULA presents a distilled beacon of exhaustion, disgust, and revolution. It urges us to turn our backs on a mirage of comfort and to re-examine ourselves as beings trapped in a system beyond our control. As the world collapses once again, PLUS44KALIGULA offers us hope—through understanding..
Tell me more about you. When was your turning point to decide you were going to dedicate your life to music? Where does your artistic name “PLUS44KALIGULA” come from?
/plʌs ˌfɔː ˈfɔː kəˈlɪɡjʊlə/
plus → 44 (spoken as “four four”) Kali-gula:
Kali (/ˈkɑːli/ or /ˈkæli/): Referencing Kali, the Hindu goddess of time, destruction, and transformation — often seen as both fearsome and protective. She is a destroyer of evil forces and a symbol of divine feminine power, chaos, and rebirth.
-gula (from Caligula): A nod to the Roman Emperor Caligula—long mythologised for madness and excess—the name evokes a theatre of hubris, cruelty, and psychosexual power. Though modern historians challenge tales of debauchery, pointing instead to populist reforms and anti-elite stunts (like threatening to make his horse consul), Caligula’s legacy remains a potent symbol of absurd authority and unbound spectacle.
I believe that your new single “Home” is a very interesting reflection on life and repentance. You managed to use a very catchy riff while setting the tone to open a discussion with the listener. Do you think this new single is different from your previous creations? What are the points that set aside this new musical piece?
Home is the clearest message that has come through me – a distilled beacon of disgust, exhaustion, and revolution.
My work as a whole interrogates fractured identity, inherited violence, and the psychic detritus of empire. It explores how language, myth, and the body become sites of both containment and resistance. I’m particularly focused on liminal figures—those that exist on the edge, the stranger, the joker, the jester, divine and abject, vessel and voice.
My friend, Emmanuel Biard, said recently, ‘who is the hand in my voice?’ And that’s a good question – what, and who are the external factors of control that we accept to be our own voice?
I draw from surrealism, myth and legend, and religious iconography—framed through a post-industrial lense. I am interested in how spectacle can function not as escapism, but as an act of re-mythologising power. We communicate through stories – we have control, and responsibility over our words, and what we choose to share. In the beginning, there was only this, and it remains true. .
While watching the video of “Home”, It made me think of the story of a modern grim reaper. It also made me wonder, did you have some sort of inspiration for composing “Home” and your new upcoming EP “Double Blind”?
Double Blind is an offering: a dirge for us caught trapped by the machinery of unregulated Capitalism— the current name for an ancient morbid beast through time which actively prevents solidarity and change. We are not new, but one of myriad iterations of the same pyramid cloaked in ‘Progress’. We wander confused, asking not whether AI might save us, but whether we deserve saving at all.
The video for “Home” unfolds as parable: Lilith, exiled and unrepentant, turns her gaze backward—not in longing, but with a sense of duty—to retrieve Eve from paradise lost. Yet what if Eve, content in her chains, ‘refuses liberation’? To quote Fisher and Žižek, “It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.”
I yearned for clarity in communication for these songs – our stories through time have only archetypes left – the things we relate to and understand. Our shared narratives are how we see each other. As the world collapses again, I offer hope in understanding, and can only encourage honesty with each other and the self.
From bell sounds to chorus-like harmonies, I noticed that in “Home” you used a wide range of sounds and samples. Can you tell me more about the creative process of your upcoming EP “Double Blind”? Did you have any set criteria to choose what sounds to include?
Writing is rarely something I plan out. I know what music speaks to me, and politically what it means and where it comes from. I have a big place in my heart for both indie, glam rock, and dance music. I have always loved old musicals and classical music – what comes doesn’t ask permission. I try to trust my ears, my guts, and my heritage.
As an artist, who would you like your main listeners to be? Do you have a particular listener in mind that you would like to share your music with?
Everyone – bring your next door neighbour – bring your cat – we need each other – now.
