The figures in the video are presumably aliens, or some kind of evolved humans, but they look approachable, even huggable - like mushrooms entities, or technicolor Teletubbies made of out of colorful fabric.įrempong says the concept of "A New Planet is Born" is based on a future in which humans finally transcend their ugliest tendencies. The video for “A New Planet is Born” is itself an expression of this wry outlook. When asked about her influences, she doesn’t mention astral jazz or funkadelic R&B but, instead, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” which she cites for its “creativity, imagination, and sense of humor.” “It would probably be a human voice - or just voices in general - even though they might be digitalized or transformed."īoth members say they wanted to look to the future with more of an element of humor, as opposed to the dystopian outlook to which forward-looking artists often turn. (It’s this sense that gives the “diaspora” part of the record’s title its meaning - and its particular resonance in 2016.) “Which sounds would be left, and which would remain?” explains Llelujah-ha. It was an effort, the band says, to imagine which sounds would be left after human beings finally left behind their native world. Tracks like “We We We We” and “Space Diaspora” in particular use layered vocal tracks to create a kind of pillowy soundscape. It’s an experimental record, but not avant garde per se - its topical concerns might be out-there, but its sounds are distinctly friendly on the ears, a combination of warm synths and vocal samples both spacey and soft, like flowing pastel clouds inside a nebula. The sound of the record itself was derived from that idea. The realistic-looking creatures are entirely computer generated. “It’s about these loops that keep repeating faster and faster - the idea was, what’s the maximum of loops? What’s the quickest we can get, when the past overtakes the future? Perhaps that’s the solution - that's when something new can finally happen." “It’s more of a playful idea, actually,” says Frempong. (“The past overtook the future,” recites Frempong on the track “The Story of Space Diaspora.” “A grand implosion which led creatures of all shapes, colors, and continents to be transported to a new time and era.”) “How could this world transcend itself - how could there be new patterns?"įrempong and Lleluja-ha - who prefers to be known only by his pseudonym - came upon the idea of a future in which the “recurring loops of human behavior” - incessant wars, endless political disputes, even art movements - finally cycled past themselves. “In general, the idea was to play around with what could be beyond us,” says Frempong. "Space Diaspora” takes “Kokokyinaka”’s border-shaking concerns to another plane, pushing beyond the Earth’s gravitational pull.
The album also related folktales she picked up on the same trip across the continent, creating an album that functioned as both a diary of her travels and an inventive piece of journalism. The last record, “Kokokyinaka," was assembled from field recordings taken by Frempong in Africa that were pitched and sequenced to create music.
Each OY album has traditionally grown out of a single theme. The group is now a two-piece that also features Lleluja-ha, who disguises himself in a colorful, mantis-like headdress that obscures his face. OY was started by Joy Frempong, who grew up in Ghana and Switzerland. Artbound Episode: The Mundane Afrofuturist Manifesto
0 kommentar(er)
