nikgml's video: Heidi Elva - There s a Spell

Artist/Band: Heidi Elva Album: Ships and Trees Released: 2008 More on Heidi Elva: https://soundcloud.com/heidielva https://heidielva.bandcamp.com/ https://www.facebook.com/heidielva/ Heidi Elva grew up in a small town in New Zealand. Next to a lake, under mountains and not too far from the sea. Her Father was a postman and a preacher, her Mother a housewife. Growing up there, Heidi felt a deep sense of isolation. New Zealand is a long way from anywhere. Later, Heidi moved to Australia and lives there now with her Colombian husband and blue staffy, Maya. They live in a beachside suburb of Melbourne where there’s lots of industrial buildings, two oil refineries and wetlands around it. Heidi Elva creates different forms of art – digital, video and music which she is most known for. Her music is created using an app on the iphone and ipad to create beats and other layers. Then she mixes it together to create soundscapes that have ambient hip hop style beats with glitchy layers and minimal vocals. Her songs conjure up a dreaminess that has a dark edge to it. Like an abandoned house with sparkly walls. ‘Ships and Trees’ was recorded in a tiny room on a busy street in Newtown, Sydney. The only light being a red lampshade. The layers came together over 6 months. Heidi would bring her ideas ‐ mini disc recordings of trains, a little old chinese man playing er‐hu on a noisy city street, a distant piano recorded in a town hall with paint peeling from its walls, songs already written on harp and her poetry. Friends would come and go with instruments – trombone, cello, trumpet, slide guitar and bass. Ships and Trees evokes the sound of the last moments of twilight, just before darkness overcomes. Using all the elements not only at her disposal but all around her, Elva compliments her harp and vocal basis with atmospheric loops, distant piano, the sound of trains; and on Er Hu nothing more than her recording of an old Chinese man playing Er Hu on a busy city street. Her ear for gathering the essence of a scene into a sound is at the heart of Ships and Trees. Like Inga Liljestrom, with whom she regularly plays, Elva explores the music of imaginary film noir soundtracks, but she has a distinctly Oriental flavor. Her minimalist approach and distant little-girl voice risk being passed on by in a busy world of hustle and bustle, but sometimes it’s worth stopping a moment to look at what is in your periphery vision – you might just like what you see. Critics "...her gently flowing style of playing is hypnotic.....as she created live loops and sang through her harp to distort her voice, it was clear she is an artist devoted to pushing herself. truly, her performance was a joy..." -Drum Media 2008 "Space. There is so much space in Heidi Elva’s music. There is violin, harp, rustling sounds and glockenspiel. There is cello, trombone and guitar. And there is her voice with its hesitant footfall, delicateness and questioning tone. But the defining characteristic of this elusive but captivating album from the Sydney-based New Zealander is all the things left unplayed, unsaid but still “heard”, the space between if you will. Elva creates an atmosphere of low temperature and low light where single notes hang in the air..." -Bernard Zuel, Spectrum SMH 2008 Original artwork: "It was different than usual", by Johanna Knauer https://www.facebook.com/Kunstfotografie.Johanna.Knauer/ http://www.johannaknauer.de/ Video, courtesy of nikgml Subscribe, here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuzd_zBNfKkxRppCk6x-uaQ My blog: https://nikgml.blogspot.gr/ My facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nikos.georgiou.35 My twitter: https://twitter.com/nikshockrock625?lang=el -All the material used in this video, is property of the artist who recorded this material. No copyright infringement intended. "Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use."