September 4, 2026

Lydia Lunch featured on new video by Zohra (Azar Swan, Religious to Damn): ‘Murder In The Temple’

Lydia Lunch featured on new video by Zohra (Azar Swan, Religious to Damn): 'Murder In The Temple'
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Out March 17, 2023 via American Dreams is the solo album by Zohra (Azar Swan, Religious to Damn). The record was produced by Ben Greenberg (Metz, The Men, Algiers, Bing and Ruth).

But first you can enjoy the music video for “Murder in the Temple” featuring American singer, poet, writer and actress Lydia Lunch.

Zohra explains how the collaboration went with Lydia Lunch: “When I asked Lydia if she would lend her talent to the track – it was without any expectation, and I really had no idea if it would work. She subliminally caught on to the current running through the piece and went with condemning acts of violence in the name of God, and unbeknownst to her, I was painting a sonic world of the Abrahamic religion-super believing zealot / enthusiast. So Murder In The Temple is Lydia Lunch reminding the peons and the plebs to get their shit together.”

Zohra is the fourth daughter from a family of Afghan refugees. She grew up surrounded by her father and family friends playing Afghan folk and pop (like the songs of Afghanistan’s Elvis, Ahmad Zahir) in the living room till dawn, and she woke up to her older sisters dancing in their bedroom to Mary Jane Girls, Peter Gabriel, and New Order.

Over the course of the past decade, Zohra went from synthesizing these influences (in Religious to Damn) to compressing them (in Azar Swan).

Here’s the video for “Murder In The Temple”.

Side-Line also covered Lydia Lunch’s ‘Dead River’.

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