Arswain released his stunning new single & video "Bust"
Today, experimental electronic artist Arswain released his stunning new single & video "Bust". His latest single is the first taste of upcoming sophomore album Lick From The Sink, due out May 5th. "Bust" is a perfect counterbalance to the jarring experimentations of Arswain's 2020 full length Partitioning. Eschewing genre expectations, the song leans into an indie-pop sensibility layered on top of a haunting electronic beat. Avis's vocals are ethereal and poignant, pulling the listener into the swirling sonic landscape of the song. The accompanying video is an impressive visual narrative directed by return collaborator Indexthumb. You can stream the song and watch the official music video here.
It's fitting that Arswain, the electronic alter-ego of LA based TV & film composer Freddy Avis (Major Crimes, Why Women Kill, Jungle Cruise, DC League of Superpets) shares the same birthplace as computer-generated music itself. As a disillusioned undergraduate at Stanford, Avis sought creative refuge at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA), soaking up the sounds of Nicolas Jaar, Holly Herndon, Apparat and of course, Nine Inch Nails. These influences gave birth to his signature style of mood, tectonic beats, textural sound design, aching vocals and a songwriting pathos that is equal parts melodic and wandering.
Arswain has this to say about his latest song:
"The early versions of “Bust” were way more aggressive, clubby, and frankly kind of generic. And when the time came to write lyrics I felt like I had nothing to say. I thought the track had hit its dead end. Luckily around that time though I had read this incredible short story titled “Bust,” written by my dear friend and poet Hannah Smith. Without giving too much away the story is set in the oil fields of west Texas and is, among other things, about the connection between environmental destruction and gender politics. I started drawing inspiration - and eventually direct language - from it and suddenly the song found this much dreamier, introspective side to it. I ended up rewriting entire sections to match this new feeling the story gave me. This new version of “Bust” became a sort of “favorite child” of mine from the album, thanks to Hannah’s inspiration and collaboration.
It’s cool to think of “Bust” as this sort of tri-medium collaboration: Hannah’s story into my song into Indexthumb’s music video. Each is very different but came from the same original place. For the “Bust” video I wanted to focus on one specific aspect of Hannah’s story: how one’s immediate environment and distant memories interact with one another. I contacted my longtime friend and collaborator Willow Hamilton (Indexthumb) and told them to adapt this prompt in the context of taking a stroll in a city park. Willow shot the video during Spring bloom in Berlin and the first edit they sent me was pretty much perfect. Usually music videos take rounds of revisions but by the next version it was done."
Arswain will release his new album Lick From The Sink on May 5th, followed by a release show in Los Angeles at Zebulon on May 14th.