Kelsey Lu Is Collaborating on a Vibe-Shifting Tincture to Help “Purge What No Longer Serves You”

“I hit them up because their songs already felt like potions to me!” says Maelen, who was a fan of Lu’s experimental 2020 single, “Let All the Poisons That Lurk in the Mud Seep Out,” an enigmatic track performed and written with the artist and producer Yves Tumor. “That song brought up a really clear, visceral experience in my body,” says Maelen, adding that “sensation is always my way into formulation—it’s a very physical, meditative process.” It’s perhaps fitting then that “Let All the Poisons That Lurk in the Mud Seep Out” is also the name of the duo’s recently-launched 30 ml tincture, which features a blend of stimulating blue lotus, transformative spirulina algae, and energizing nettle seed that Maelen describes as “liquid music” for its ability to purge poisons, transcend spiritual blockages, and support meditation. For every bottle sold, one is donated to the Herbal Mutual Aid Network.  

The creative process required a back and forth between Maelen and Lu over the course of a year, working on completely different timelines, and often contemplating what the song meant to each of them, and what feelings and images it brought up. “I asked, ‘If the song were a potion, what would it do? How would it feel in the body?” Maelen explains, detailing long talks about fear, courage, and how those emotions relate to creativity. “What did I unleash while releasing? Shared language around the emotions that were mutually felt when listening to the song,” Lu explains. 

For Lu, taking the tincture at dawn as if it were their morning cup of coffee is when they reach for it most, but recently, they’ve found themself using it throughout the day as well. ” Since first receiving it, it sat with me sweetly, gently opening me [up], and allowing room for new presence and forgiveness around things I was being rather hard on myself for,” explains Lu, who also reveals an experience with the tincture that resulted in “a deep purging,” during which they cried extensively before falling into a 10-hour blissful sleep shortly after. “Purging isn’t always glam,” Lu concedes. “But it’s clearing what no longer serves you.”