There are very few people who can sit comfortably in the presence of death without flinching, and fewer still who can make that space feel alive, honest, and strangely liberating.

In this episode of Live Well, Leave Well, I am joined by Cheyenne Harper, known artistically as KING IV, a musician, performance artist, and modern psychopomp working at the intersection of music, ritual, and transformation.

Through her work, including the album Psychopomp, the new track The Other Side, and the immersive live performance FUNERAL, KING IV explores endings, shedding, and rebirth. Not as concepts, but as lived experiences. An embodied bravery that willingly enters the unseen, names what others avoid, and creates beauty and meaning from spaces many people only encounter through loss, illness, or crisis.

In this episode, Cheyenne and I speak about death as a teacher, art as a portal, and the power of meeting mortality with curiosity rather than fear. We explore what it means to consciously prepare for death, not morbidly, but devotionally, and how ritual, music, and presence can transmute grief into connection, agency, and love.

This conversation is an invitation to listen differently, to your body, your fears, your endings, and to consider what becomes possible when we stop turning away.

KING IV’s next performance of FUNERAL takes place at Midsumma Festival on January 29. This episode offers a glimpse into the world behind the work, and the work behind the becoming.

Links and Resources

Shed your grey being.

Buy tickets to FUNERAL here: https://linktr.ee/kingivsound

Midsumma Festival

Howler :: Jan 29

This podcast is hosted by Baci Hillyer.

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Recorded and Produced by Michael Burrows

(https://www.michaelburrowsmusic.com/)

Edited by Granger Lock @ Brand Music (https://brandmusic.com.au/)