Continuing their voyage of illumination, broaddaylight brings all the shining reflectors they can fit in the premiere of their video for "Three Light Six" (2013 Lighter MIx) curated by Saint Marie label boss Wyatt Parkins. A dreamier, stripped down rendering of the original found on their album anniversaries:reunions; Sarah, James and Henry present a carousel of audio-visual light that signals the seas they have swam before and the dreamier atmospheres of spaces they are heading toward.
Shimmering along to James Eakins' waving guitars and Sarah Eakins' vocals; lights flash gently as the particles meet with the reflective surfaces and project colored beams dots like thousands of miniature beacons. The band becomes enraptured by the pouring of light, where everything from the sequined wall of radiance to the punctuated dots from hundreds of stage lights become an instrument like the arpeggiated blend of guitars and synths. Colors of red and blue coat the the remix and cloak the artists in a sea of incandescence. Welcome to what broaddaylight refers to as their 'light aquarium', where every aura of projected light becomes a bubble of oxygen or ripple in their sound's oceanic aspirations. The "Lighter Mix" is an experiment in the band's practices of sonic-subtlety, where the visuals blink like the strings of a strummed harp as their sounds and aquatic gestures shine like the song of sirens enjoying a morning swim.
We had a roundtable discussion with broaddaylight's Sarah Eakins, James Eakins, Henry Bennett, along with Saint Marie operator and auteur Wyatt Parkins to discuss the visual 'light aquarium', and what's in store for 2014.
What was the production and set up like for the "Three Light Six (2013 Lighter Mix)" video? Seemed like it involved lots of sequins and various moving party lights.
James: After a few ideas and plans for the video fell through, Sarah and I visited the James Turrell exhibit at LACMA for a bit of inspiration. We started experimenting with static lights in our studio space thinking we could create an environment which would be multi-functional for a simple but dreamlike video. We weren't quite happy with them static lights so we brought in a couple of projectors and loaded them up with some of our artwork which we then projected onto a sequin background, and used a fan on a very low setting to create an ocean of movement. We call it the light aquarium.
Sarah: It's really gorgeous to sit inside the room with these lights reflecting and washing over everything. singing within it was magical.
J: From there I set up my camera and we did one night of shooting. Then we handed it off to Wyatt who did an amazing job editing, he understood right away what we were looking to do.
How did the 2013 Light Mix rendition of "Three Light Six" happen?
J: With Static Waves 2 coming out we wanted to do something special. There were some new tracks we had in different stages, but nothing felt quite right yet, and we didn't want to rush anything. I've always loved 'Three Light Six'. I went back and took a listen and realized I could use this opportunity to strip it down and have it be a bit of a bridge of where we have come from and where sound-structure-wise we are heading.
I have always felt that light, and forces of light play a big part of broaddaylight's sound and ethic. How did the fixation on light begin to making sounds like colored lights with guitars and voice come together?
Henry: I've naturally associated chords and melodies with colors as far back as I can remember. When James and I first started the band we connected as song writers through our love of jamming on guitar together for hours at a time; we may play the same rhythmic and melodic patterns as we explore the pattern's potential and write a song, but we manipulate their texture through layers of effects, loops and samples, and ultimately tie it all together with Sarah's soaring and dreamlike singing. to my ears, a delayed/reverberated guitar chord or an arpeggiated synth line can be the audio embodiment of sunlight filtering through glass, or the spinning lights of a carousel. in broaddaylight we hope to recreate visual revelations, in a sense illuminating a vertical mind space instead of the traditional singer/songwriter verse/chorus/verse formula. colors can be mixed, lights can grow brighter, and the music we play lends itself naturally to sensations of blending, blurring, and growing brighter as you look deeper.
J: From early on i was obsessed with the color of music. Growing up with MTV and seeing images in conjunction with music had a huge influence. My fist early concerts were 80s metal actually, and I remember focusing on lasers cutting through fog machines right on cue with a change, and thinking it was the raddest thing in the world, and how much I'd love to play with shit like that. and then of course later listing to Robin Guthrie and examining his work, reading Brian Eno's writings and listening to him, that was like taking a master class in painting with sound, they are the renaissance masters.
What does broaddaylight have cooking up for next year? Winter plans? New Years plans?
J: We will probably be recording at full speed this December as everything is really beginning to fall into place. We are experimenting with space in conjunction with light for this one. more about the breath and giving everything room to really shine through. We'll be continuing to play in the photo/video world – I'm an avid photographer so it's quite the obsession as well [via Flikr]. After this initial jump with video, I think we will be working on more of them in conjunction with the songs. I wouldn't be surprised if these latest experiments have us releasing an album with a full film in some form along with it, as well as video shorts. There are rumblings of a show/shows, the first course of action for that being to figure out how to take the light aquarium with us. If anyone has James Turrel's email feel free to put us in touch!
What was the production and set up like for the "Three Light Six (2013 Lighter Mix)" video? Seemed like it involved lots of sequins and various moving party lights.
Wyatt: We took a different approach with this video from the others I have worked on. Essentially, the band sent me a TON of footage to work with via a hard drive in the mail, and I had to make it into something. I had decided I was going to try and work solely with the footage they sent and nothing stock or filmed by me. I feel that the key to making a good video is dramatic, well-timed scene changes, effects, and a great song, of course. I started out just getting familiar with the footage and kind of an outline of what the video might look like, and then things just fell into place. There is enough footage left to make several other versions without using the same footage again. It is hard to 'put the brush down', as I always feel there is something left to do to make it even better that I have not uncovered yet.
Share some words on Static Waves 2, compiling the current states and waves alive in Saint Marie family.
W: First off, we love doing it, and the artists are always generously willing to contribute. It is not always easy putting it together, but we feel it is a great opportunity to give back to the fans and an opportunity to introduce them to the entire SMR roster. This is why we sell the entire 2-disc set for only $5.98. This is not a project for profit. In fact, if we break even, we are happy. It also gives me an opportunity to have complete artistic freedom with the artwork. We contribute a lot of my time to the artwork of SMR, but with input and direction from the musicians, themselves. With Static Waves, we have free reign over the artwork, but we still look for opinions from others during the process.
What can you tell us about what's in store for 2014?
W: So many releases that we are a bit scared, ha ha. We basically have two releases a month, starting in February and through most of the summer, at least. This may change, as things don’t always fall into place in time, but this is the plan for now. It should be a great year, but we foresee many late nights ahead in our future. Just to name the ones that we have estimated release dates for: Lilies On Mars, Strata Florida, Spotlight Kid, Blackstone Rangers, Young Boy, Lightfoils, Seasurfer, The Capsules, We Need Secrets, The History Of Colour TV, The Spiracles, and a surprise that we have not even announced and are very excited about. 2014 should be the year to set us apart from the crowd.
Static Waves 2 is available now from Saint Marie Records.
