Illuminati Hotties: Power up

From cartoon characters to real-life revelations, illuminati hotties’ Sarah Tudzin is turning up the volume on vulnerability. And she’s not afraid to get loud about it. Check out our latest Dork Mixtape cover feature.

Words: Steven Loftin.
Photos: Shervin Lainez.

Musical mastermind Sarah Tuzdin hardly needs an introduction, having been recording spritely punk under the moniker illuminati hotties for a little over seven years now. But on 'POWER', her upcoming fourth album, she's introducing herself to the world for the first time. It's not been an easy ride getting to this point. Over the last few years, Sarah's found herself in a reoccurring theme of liminal spaces, from being between a rock and a hard place before the release of her second album (her then label, Tiny Engines, was accused of unscrupulous financial behaviours leading to a boycotting, and one of illuminati hotties most treasured – albeit accidental – records, 'Free I.H.' filling the contractual obligations instead), to now, waiting for her new album to drop where this newly unfurled version of herself can be free. 

It's all been a developmental process. Previously, illuminati hotties has allowed Sarah to process a bunch of things without directly facing them head-on. "When I started this project, it was a bit more character acting," she explains. "I guess all three albums have a cartoon character version of myself that is talking about real stuff at arm's length to be able to be vulnerable or in a way where I can still cover it up with cleverness." This time, as she puts it, "The way I was writing the songs became a bit closer to the truth of me as a person as opposed to the girl hiding behind the illuminati hotties."

Looking back on this process now, Sarah is incredibly fond of it. "It's a great place to write from," she says. "I think that I love to write from a place of fiction, too, and a place of sort of punk surrealism. But this record, hopefully, will take us to a greater audience just because I think to let more people in, you have to reveal a little more."