"impermanent, i / body and mind / when I die, leave me at the party"
Most of the time I prefer to just write about songs specifically but when it comes to the beautiful zoetrope of "Impermanent I" by Bay Area non-binary artist Asha Wells I don't think I can divorce the song from the surreal filmic Official Video so I will talk about both in tandem. By the way, I absolutely love the artful experience of the film and song together. The sonics and arc of the song, steeped in a kind of soulful jazz dipped post punk / art rock sensibility and I feel (please, go with me on this) a complex amalgam of Sada (somewhere between "King of Sorrow" and "Haunt Me") and Cigarettes After Sex (somewhere between "Crush" and "Apocalypse") and The Cardigans (somewhere between "Erase / Rewind" and "Communication") or thereabouts. Sorry to get so specific, I am sort of crazy that way.
The beautiful atmospheres of the filmic Official Video feels to me to push deeply back into a blend of avant garde art like a spicy collision of vintage cinema. Firstly I though of the 1929 German masterpiece Pandora's Box staring the magnetic Louise Brooks whom Asha Wells bears a striking resemblance to, not in a direct doppelganger way but in hair styles and artful presence, beauty and starry eyes. Secondarily I though of Jean Cocteau's The Blood of a Poet (1932) just because of some of the staging although the design of "Impermanent I" is much more artfully impactful. Just an amazing piece of work. Bravo to Asha Wells herself for concept, costuming, props, set design and kudos to Curtis Z. Austin as cinematographer.
From Liner Notes (bracketed):
[Bay Area-based non-binary artist Asha Wells is releasing their new 3-song EP 'Tears of a Clown' on Friday, February 10th, 2024 via Anxiety Blanket Records.]
['Impermanent I' is the first taste of the new EP. With ‘Tears of a Clown’ Wells brings the self-assuredness of a classically-trained voice, to the unfettered freedom of a self-taught instrumentalist. Their arrangements are unlimited and yet laboriously braided. Forming a cathartic amalgam of art folk and chamber pop with a new age sonic twist.]
[This upcoming EP departs from their previous release ‘Water Words’ in Wells' willingness to tap into more non-conventional sound orchestration and ever-evolving pop sensibilities. In this new work, Wells' draws on themes of the delicate nature of self, falling from love, and the rebuild that breaking makes.]
"impermanent, i / body and mind / when I die, leave me at the party"
I love that line, love it.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://ashawells.bandcamp.com/
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/asha-wells/1561165545
Asha Wells is a non-binary indie folk artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Asha Wells is releasing their new 3-song EP 'Tears of a Clown' on Friday, February 10th, 2024 via Anxiety Blanket Records.
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