New York, NY (Top40 Charts) As evidenced by this music video, Arswain is more than just a musician; he's an artist who's concerned with the complete and total package of his creative expression." - V13
If you've been looking for the logical next step after spending your entire quarantine wearing down your Aphex Twin,
Massive Attack,
Portishead and Brian Eno records, fear not - LA's electronica rising star Arswain (Freddy Avis) is here with an exciting new entry in the world of dark electronic music in the form of his latest cinematic single and video "Pleasure".
Dark, danceable electronic beats made lush with synth textures and an infectious groove are complimented by the beautiful nightclub-like atmosphere of the video. Directed by Will Hamilton (Indexthumb) and choreographed by German modern dance icon Carly Lave; the moody video evokes a feeling of mystique and sensuality that tie in perfectly with the musical cues of the song. The choreography and editing are standouts in this video - with a perfect synthesis of motion and color that feel like they grew organically from the song itself.
The inspiration for "Pleasure" comes from a surprising place. As Arswain explains:
"At the time I wrote 'Pleasure' I was fixated on this idea of climate change as an act of violence; how we, consumers in rich countries, are unwittingly killing people overseas by engaging in petty pleasures like driving our cars and buying meaningless products. So 'Pleasure' is about that daily guilt that accompanies modern life, the costs of which are far greater and broader than we perceive on a daily basis. Video director Will Hamilton (aka IndexThumb) understood this vision completely when I came to him for a video, and Carly brought it to life by portraying a club-goer who, like many of us, is aimlessly seeking a kind of fleeting pleasure in nightlife, completely unaware of the consequences."
Lave and Hamilton were the main creatives behind the video, choosing the nightclub as a focus as a result of its predisposition towards pleasure.
"We wanted to create a subversive, visceral video that expressed the track's critique of our culture's addiction to consumerist pleasure, and actively questioned the viewer's relationship to such pleasure-seeking," said both Lave and Hamilton. "Depicting the entirety of that behaviour felt impossible, so we chose to focus on one theater of excess and pleasure, the club, and built a narrative around a character (Sasha) who relies on that space to escape the pain of modern alienation through pleasurable movement. Rather than glamorizing that search, we chose to express the futility and internal frustrations of Sasha's never-ending hunt for satisfaction through her body and movement."
Arswain will be releasing new music throughout 2020, spearheaded by a remix compilation version of his debut full length album Partitioning
