Reykjavík Grapevine - okt. 2020, Blaðsíða 18

18The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 08— 2020
A Feast For The
Ears, The Eyes
And The Soul
A look at MSEA's latest and
most intimate album yet
Words: Jess Distill Photo: Art Bicnick
Album
Pre-order ‘I Turned Into A Familiar
Shape’ on Bandcamp.
“It’ll be my first gig of 2020!”
MSEA—real name Maria-Carme-
la Raso—says of her album launch
concert, which is slated for October
16th at Mengi. The album, ‘I Turned
Into a Familiar Shape,’ will drop the
same day, but it’s been ready since
early this year. “We started record-
ing in December and finished at
the end of February,” she explains.
But then the pandemic started and
the world stood still. “I’d anticipat-
ed touring this year and wanted to
release it in April,” she shrugs. Un-
fortunately, 2020 had other plans.
The inspiration behind
the album
Released on the Myrkfælni label,
‘I Turned Into a Familiar Shape’
was, as the artist explains, writ-
ten during an abusive relationship.
The emotions the artist felt dur-
ing the relationship and the ef-
fect it’s had on her become clearer
with every listen of the album. Her
soft, gentle vocals battle against
striking and dissonant electronic
sounds to create a feeling of vul-
nerability and confusion, while
short, repetitive musical phras-
es with lyrics like, “I still feel you
in my body” and “I’ll breathe you
into life” become something of
a mantra that pulls the listener
directly into the singer’s brain.
Despite not being a conscious
decision to use the relationship
as inspiration for her work, it was
clearly an intrinsic part of the
album’s creation. “[It] was writ-
ten throughout that time, but I
wasn’t thinking, ‘I’m going to
write an album about this,’” she
says. “When the relationship was
over I wrote more and noticed the
songs were all definitely from that
period, from that state of mind.”
A rich and vivid
experience
But MSEA’s creations go far beyond
the audible. Every song conjures
up such a vivid sense of colour and
texture that they become com-
pletely immersive; the sort of mu-
sic that should be listened to lying
down, eyes shut, so that one can
fully appreciate all it has to offer.
“I often have images in mind when
writing,” she reveals. “It could be as
simple as rain or ice. Even a smell or
a tactile impression, like the feel-
ing of slime. Visuals are very much
part of the music, but I think it’s
also important for people to hear
the music without them to give
them the chance to visualise some-
thing of their own. The music vide-
os help people jump into the sound
world.” Dreamy, otherworldly and
hypnotising—the music videos are
a stunning addition to the album.
So what about the launch show?
“It’ll be solo. Me, a computer, some
pedals,” MSEA explains. “I’ll have
other bodies on stage, dancing or
moving. If I don’t have visuals for
my shows it feels like something
is missing, so I’m hoping for pro-
jections and some set design.”
“I wanted a pretty big theatrical
show and then COVID happened,“
she laments, diving into her vision
of a larger, higher-production re-
lease concert. But while 2020 has
made such a show impossible,
hopefully 2021 will bring MSEA’s
fantasy to life. Until then, we’ll just
stream the album and dream.
MSEA, pictured in her home
Music
gpv.is/music
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“I often have im-
ages in mind when
writing. It could
be as simple as
rain or ice. Even a
smell or a tactile
impression.”
Your hands are cold...