Stare at something long enough and the surface begins to disappear. Underneath, hidden worlds reveal themselves. Stockholm-based composer Shida Shahabi explores these secret meanings through ephemeral atmospheres and emotive cello arrangements on the stunning “Deep Violet of Gold.” “[It] explores complexity in certain materialeties; the things you perceive when you look or listen to something for a longer time,” she explains, “All of a sudden, you see a nuance of gold in something that isn’t gold at all at first sight.” Repeating patterns create languid forms, growing bolder and brighter through each iteration.
The video’s imagery feels like a collage of liminal moments, spaces where our focus can linger on Shahabi’s moving, elegiac sounds, something director Adam Golfer honed in on. “For me, the song evokes a sense of becoming, and occupies a space of in-betweenness,” he says. “When I set out to collect imagery for the film, I gravitated towards sunrise and sunset, the elemental markers between light and dark.”
As “Deep Violet of Gold” coalesces toward finality, distorted drones block the sky, refracting sunlight into a new spectrum. Pitches rise and fall, heightening the dramatic shifts. Familiar timbres and expressions become incandescent, alive with new energy as violet waves overtake the clouds. We spiral into a sonic reverie, basking in the changed landscape’s complex glow.
Shida Shahabi’s forthcoming album, Living Circle, will be released on June 23 via Fatcat. It can be pre-ordered HERE. In October, she will appear live at Hannah Peel presents BBC Radio 3 Night Tracks. Tickets are available HERE.
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