Anteloper will play live in Chicago at Sleeping Village this Friday, February 25th. Get Tickets Here!
Within the hollowed-out spaces of bass synth globules and bricklayer drum machines mixed with acoustic rhythms, Anteloper – the duo of jaimie branch and Jason Nazary – send rockets across the Chicago skyline. This polyrhythmic approach on “Bubble Under” (from their excellent Tour Beats Vol. 1) has become a staple to the duo’s live sets. Nazary spells it out, “I like to think of this as a kind of sonic latticework – rhythmic layers that follow their own trajectory but are woven together into a bubbling multi-dimensional whole.” When branch throws weary brass darts across the compulsive aural landscape, it feels like being in the eye of a hurricane and watching it collapsing in on itself.
branch sees a dichotomy in between the concept of the track and the music itself, explaining “The title “Bubble Under” is pretty dark, implying slipping away under the surface to a watery death. Even-though the music is somewhat upbeat I can hear the darker narrative in the relationship between the trumpet and the Juno 106.” This contrast brings an intense focus to the piece as it barrels on toward conflagration. branch continues, “Musically there is an internal arc from when the Juno makes her first appearance at one min 15 seconds building in delirium as she fills her lungs up with air and slips under the water at 2 minutes 29 seconds. While the juno is our protagonist, the trumpet is our narrator – relaying the play by play throughout.”
Teaming up with director Kim Alpert, the video for “Bubble Under” combines kaleidoscopic imagery from protest footage shot by Nazary with silhouettes of branch playing trumpet. “The driving concept behind the video for “Bubble Under” was to use footage from jaimie branch while she spent her Covid-19 time in remote Alaska against video from Jason Nazary who participated in the actions for social justice around New York City,” Alpert explains. To heighten the piece’s potent spectral flow, Alpert used a combination of digital and computational effects looking at the displacement of light triggered from the audio itself.
branch gets philosophical, though she imbues it with a real practicality, “Every new ending is a new beginning and here we find ourselves living through one long drawn out transition – it is within these times that moments exist with the possibility for real change,” she offers. “We just have walk with an open heart and an understanding that we may bubble under, but then again we may fly.” The result twists vibrant colors around the earthquake-proof sonic architecture, giving “Bubble Under” the heady send off it deserves.
The trio of branch, Nazary, and Alpert will come together tomorrow, February 25, at Sleeping Village in Chicago and branch can’t wait. “The Chicago release show on 2/25 will be the first time that Anteloper X Kim Alpert will play since May 4, 2019,” she says. “Personally, I couldn’t be more excited. The capacity for visuals at Sleeping Village is super strong and the openers Spectralina (Dan Bitney and Selina Trepp) are straight up heroes of mine!)”
Anteloper’s debut album Kudu was just reissued on vinyl for the first time at end of January via International Anthem, who also released Tour Beats Vol. 1. See them Friday, February 25th at Sleeping Village in Chicago with Kim Alpert mixing visuals live. Tickets HERE.
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