Within the chaotic dystopia that is our world these days, it is really precious to listen to songs whose music make you want to grab the person next to you and start dancing, despite what the lyrics are talking about. Then, it will just be a word or two from the lyrics of MADAM‘s songs, that will momentarily want to make you stop dancing and start some serious thinking about your life choices but you will very soon start dancing again nonetheless.

Following the release of their third album entitled ‘Back To The Sea’ in 2016, Sukie Smith’s band named MADAM, has been also releasing videos for most of the songs within this album. If you have seen the videos that accompanied the previous album then be prepared for a change in style, as the new videos have the quality of short films. The latest addition to the series of videos for the band’s latest album, is the one for the song Not Here Yet which we are really happy to exclusively present with this introduction. The video was directed by Sam Willard, who brilliantly captures the agony of the lyrics, through the rhythmic alteration of the scenes while also grasping the inherent dynamics of fire and water. In this video, the ‘heroine’ is seen inside a small fishing boat in the middle of the dark sea and while the lyrics talk about both the agony of a mother and the overseeing of a mission involving a crowd. We observe someone controlling the boat’s position and releasing it to the sea, while a fire burns on the sea shore and  the boat is being swallowed by flames and high waves. The boat’s passenger seems helpless yet decisive to stay put.

“Spy glass
Binoculars
Mission on
Crowd control
Cells to mold
My only Son
As yet unborn,
Waiting for consent, Waiting to descend…” (lyrics from the song ,‘Not Here Yet’)

                                                                                   
This album was released in the apogee of the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean and these small fishing boats like the one on this video, have been the symbols of personal tragedies for thousands of people who have lost their lives in the sea. Therefore, I could not help but think that this video together with the first song of this album entitled ‘Back To The Sea’, might refer to this situation. Sukie has vividly explained the thinking behind this video and the whole album during our interview:

“I just think that living on an island you have to have a sense of the sea and its power. I was brought up next to the sea, my grandparents were fishermen,but it was not even a conscious decision to talk about the sea. At first I thought about maybe making an EP to go along with ‘Back To The Sea’. Thinking about how a lot of the songs in my previous albums have references to the water, I was thinking that the sea is also romantic, it symbolizes freedom.There is a personal reason for calling the album ‘Back To The Sea’. I wanted to talk about these little memories in your mind that feel vital, things that seem random from different periods in your life which you can’t really work out why they are important. I remember just standing in the sea when I was about seven and just knowing that one day I would be part ‘sea’ and part ‘sky’ again, just understanding that I would be dead but still part of the world. I don’t know what that was but it felt as a profound thing in my head just thinking ‘one day you will be back to the sea…’ so that’s why I called the album that. So the reason is very personal , the album starts with the sound of the sea and ends with the sound of a volcano and it was just me trying to articulate the whole thing, life, death and everything in between in one album (laughs)…”

Next week, on April 27, MADAM will present the new video for ‘Not Here Yet’ at Brewer’s Bar in “…an event, a party for all those people who have helped to make these videos, seven so far and all with absolutely no money. Part of my life as an actress involves asking people that I’ve worked with in the past to help me make these videos for the songs …” As Sukie has explained “We went on tour in Italy as a trio, we had a lovely time there and Italy has been lovely to us as a band. We were, myself, my cellist who has been playing with me for a long time Sarah Gill and my long-time friend and collaborator Adam Franklin from Swervedriver. We played most of the songs from this album and Adam was brilliant, he found all these amazing effects and made loops so the songs sound really beautiful. So next week it will be us presenting these songs at the gorgeous Brewers Bar which is run by a friend of ours. We are also presenting these videos not just as music videos but more like short films that continue the narrative of the songs and their essence…”.

If I were you, I would not miss the opportunity to attend this event and also the upcoming gig of the band on May 11th at Bush Hall.

The videos for the rest of the songs of the albumBack To The Seacan be accessed by following these links:Back To The Sea‘,  ‘I Am Your Home’, ‘Rules Of Love‘, ‘When I Met You‘.

You can support the band by purchasing their music through their bandcamp page.

 

 Blaue Rosen box

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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