The concept
‘The song navigates between the possible meanings of the word: careful as in “full of care”, as in “meticulous”, careful as in “being cautious”, “discreet”, or careful as a warning for imminent danger. I took the simultaneousness of these concepts as a conflict: that of wanting to be safe, aware, accepted while craving to stand out and be noticed, regardless of what surrounds you. Hinting at the ambivalence of the mantra « Careful », the animation acts as two sides of the same coin: the fascination for uniqueness and diversity becomes overshadowed by self-obsession and vanity.
The repetition creates a distorsion between what you hear and you think you hear. Reflecting on the music, I wanted to install an ambiguity between what you see and what you think you see. In a non-linear approach, the animation plays with coexisting loops and rich detail. The accumulation of small events blend in together in an abstract magnetic set-up, allowing the perception to be different each time.
I developed a universe teeming with cycles and magical elements: fruit oil, lave pearls, strawberry skeletons, egg cages, flower pipes… All these become accessoires for the humans to explore their own singularity. Yet, by doing so, the collectivity is disrupted. Self-admiration takes over, closing the protagonists inside their own bubble, as the landscape is torn apart. The camera is no longer a window into the macrocosm but a mirror for the characters. In order to visually materialize this shift, I chose to combine two visual spaces: one of timeless, physical geographical maps and scientific illustrations together with the contemporary, virtual space of social media and profile pictures.’
Alice Saey, the director
Jo Goes Hunting about the song
Experiments on a tape recorder are combined with hypnotic samples to build a song with multiple rhythms and meanings. By arranging the fragments of voices together with abstract text, the song breaks the superficial meaning of « Careful » open. The multi-interpretable nature of the word gives the text and music a mysterious and ambiguous character.
In terms of composition, content and production, Careful is a journey of discovery for me. Experimental electronic sounds, repetitive rhythms and ambiguous lyrics became the starting point for all the songs on the new album. The compositions of my debut album « Come, Future” gave a lot of room to spontaneity and changes in rhythm. The desire for more rest, repetition and increasing bows of tension resulted in “Careful”. The song is, from a compositional point of view, the foundation for my new method.
Jimmi Hueting, the musician
The process
Jimmi approached me to developed a visual identity for his new album “Front Row”. While listening to the first material, I was struck by the visual potential of the song “Careful” and wanted to make a video to it.
I began sketching ink drawings and created an abundant visual universe, inspired the textures of the music, scientific imagery, botanical illustration, geographical maps.
I drew a collection of micro-scenes which all had in common the relationship between living creatures and the way they use and affect their environment. The compositions play with the multiplicity, confusion and repetition of forms in nature. A trip to Indonesia also impressed me in several ways. Firstly, the art of Batik prints and the symbolism of the patterns, which infused in the artwork for the album. Secondly, the relationship of people with nature: the contrast between the locals blending and manually collaborating with the landscape and the tourists using it as a decor for instagram selfies. This observation stuck with me for the development of “Careful” .
Alice Saey
More info: youtube.com
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