Reykjavík Grapevine - jan 2019, Page 24

BEST VIDEO: aYia – “Slow”

As a music project that has always had a keen eye
for their visual components (or lack thereof, where
necessary), the title of Best Video going to aYia might
not be a surprise. With their first album out from Bed-
room Community and at least one headlining show
announced at Berlin’s Kantine am Berghain this May,
aYia is a dark star on the rise. Frontwoman Ásta Fanney
Sigurðardóttir, and Alexandre Souêtre, the director of
“Slow,” shared their behind-the-scenes thoughts on
the winning video.
LOVE AT FIRST LISTEN
Like many, Los Angeles-based director Alexandre ad-
mits to being a bit of an Icelandophile. So when he
went for drinks with Colm O’Herlihy, the label manager
of Bedroom Community, the solution was only natural.
“I told him, ‘Look, if you ever have an artist that needs
a music video, I would love to direct one for you guys,’”
Alexandre begins. “He just pulled out a computer and
played a few songs. The first one he played was that
aYia song, or a very early stage of it, and I instantly told
him, ‘That’s it. I’m doing it. I don’t know what it takes,
but I’ll take care of it.’”
EYE TO EYE
True to its name, “Slow” is a hypnotic track that builds
from soft, delicate tones to a deep, pulsing epic in its
own sweet time. “I’m not much of a storyteller,” says
Alexandre. “Most of the videos I make don’t have a clear
narrative, it’s usually more about a mood or a vibe. So,
knowing a little bit of what I had seen in Iceland, I had
some ideas already and even some locations in there
that I wanted to use specifically.”
In addition to Iceland, the video has shots from
around LA. One of the most startling features of the
video is not necessarily that juxtaposition, but the
opposite: it makes LA feel almost as moody and at-
mospheric as the Icelandic countryside. “The main
concept behind the video isn’t really something that
translates visually,” he explains, “nor was it the goal,
really. But I wanted to recreate a sort of resemblance
of the point of view of a young child looking at the
world.”
PROCESS OF BECOMING
“These shots go whoosh, whoosh, whoosh,” Ásta ech-
oes. “All kinds of scenes that question your barrier of
connecting things. Most things that are connectable
in movies are clear, or at least they have a couple
of clear narratives. But it seems like this is not what
Alexandre is working with. The tiny changes that pile
together raise so many questions.”
More than simply a video, Ásta sees “Slow” as a
metaphor for aYia right now. “I feel like we are in the
beginning of a process of becoming. Although we’ve
been playing for three years, we’ve just released an
album and we just now have two videos. So we’re
turning into. We’re becoming. In that sense, this video
is like glimpses of the future that is possible.” GDF
YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD:
‘Moods’
by TSS

“I started using this name during the time I lived in Kópavogur when
I was younger,” says Jón Gabríel Lorange by way of explaining his
moniker—The Suburban Spaceman, or TSS. “I would regularly ‘space
out’ to my music... so I found it quite spot on.”
Under the TSS banner, Jón—also known as one-half of experimental
synth pop duo Nóló, who were active between 2009-2014—released
'Moods' in mid-2018, a delightful 30-minute collection of dreamy pop
songs with psychedelic rock, funk and synth-pop elements. The songs
usually revolve around some sort of indeterminism; a specific mood
that strikes, a thought that comes out into the open, or lyrics that feel
‘just right’.
“The songs—although recorded over a period of time with various
inspirations—have an overarching feeling which ties them together,”
says Jón. “My sound is a bit of a muddle of what I like. Their titles are
often spur-of-the-moment ideas.”
NEW MUSIC ALL THE TIME
‘Moods’ won the “You Should Have Heard This” award recognising a
release that somewhat flew under the radar, which Jón feels fits TSS
quite well. “I can’t be bothered to think about marketing my music most
of the time. I’m not one of those musicians that knows exactly when
it’s album time,” he says. “I just want to make new music, all the time!”
The thing that sparked ‘Moods’ was a synthesizer that Jón pur-
chased in Belgium (where he currently resides), and which is heard
in every song. “Throughout my career, I’ve always tried to play around
with the instruments that are easily available to me,” he explains. “So,
getting this analogue synthesizer was a game changer as I’ve mainly
used digital synthesizers before.”
COWBOY SYNTH OPERA
During the making of the bittersweet “Only Say My Prayers In Hard
Times,” Jón became addicted to slide guitar, which fuelled a vision in
his mind of a cowboy riding a horse into the sunset.
“In the process, I decided that my next album would be a concept
album about a cowboy on acid,” he says. “Psychedelic rock in the wild
west brought to you by The Suburban Spaceman. I’m transitioning away
from the synthesizer for now, making this a guitar-heavy album. On
the one after that I might welcome a synthesizer back into the mix…
along with an opera singer perhaps. Who knows?” AJF
“I wanted to recreate a
sort of resemblance of the
point of view of a young
child looking at the world.” “In the process I decided
that my next album would
be a concept album about
a cowboy on acid.”
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