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Maya Shenfeld Shares New Video For “Body, Electric”

November 10, 2021

Maya Shenfeld shares striking video for “Body, Electric”

Composer and sound artist  Maya Shenfeld has shared the new video for “Body, Electric”, taken from her forthcoming debut album In Free Fall, out January 28th, 2022. A collaboration with visual artist Pedro Maia, known for his work with VesselLucretia DaltShapednoise and more, “Body, Electric” explores the album’s title of “free fall” and the human body in motion. Filmed in the woods surrounding Berlin, the video’s slow refracting camera angles, granular analogue film texture and Shenfeld’s contorted movements (a nod to her yoga and meditation practices) mirror the track’s cascading, balletic synthesier loops, bringing into sharp contrast the sheer physicality of Shenfeld’s music. 

Shenfeld explains: “I found some parallels in Pedro Maia’s visual language to my own production process, experimenting with form, time, and especially analogue processing which adds this fine layer of noise and grain – also a key element in the production of the music. I love that collaborating with musicians is an integral part of his practice, and the way his work offers an expansion of sound works, making the listening experience, especially in the context of a live show, immersive, inviting the listener to get lost in time and space.”

Maia elaborates: “In this video we’re responding to some of the concepts Maya explores in In Free Fall, the idea of being on the edge of falling, still movement, three-dimensionality. The track has a somewhat romantic flare, a sort of playful reference to the Strum und Drang movement – and the dark forest echoes that. While the contrast, shades, and overexposure are responding to the track’s title: body, electric.”

This rhythmic loop of notes emerges and initiates the first sequence to this engrossing ensemble. Maya fuses these bold and distinct tones and soundwaves together and the energy bounces from the soaring notes and provides this intoxicating ambiance.

As the loops progress and the introduction to key passages which are carefully placed in the arrangement come to life, this body of work starts to showcase this real push of emotion. Through the structure and the choice of elongated waves and surge of melody, Maya starts to sculpt this immersive landscape, the journey begins to feel adventurous and moving both in sync with one another. Maya Shenfeld delivers this impressive instrumentation that moulds into this harrowing display, affection oozes from the venture we all embrace from start to finish. Although the bright notes shine, it’s the brooding intensity that adds this expressive contrast into the dynamic and complex composition. “Body, Electric” sparks this raw affection, the listener feels alone with the musician, drawn into the midst of this voyage and able to appreciate the cathartic outcome of the single.

The film perfectly captures the intimacy of this ensemble and the striking values.

Maya Shenfeld’s music is as powerfully evocative as it is strikingly intimate. Through a mastery of sound sculpting and visionary approach to composition Shenfeld has established herself as one of the most vital voices in Berlin’s New Music scene. Her work exists in liminal spaces, collapsing the boundaries between electronic synthesis and organic sound as it draws equally from classical tradition and underground experimentalism. Each aspect of her output, from site-specific sound installations to works for new music ensembles and even playing guitar in punk bands, combines an astute technical prowess with an authentic, tangible expression of soul. In Free Fall merges the grand vision of orchestral music with the granularity and intimacy of deep listening, exploring a tension between immaculately structured compositional architecture and the sheer joy of noise, grain and feedback.

Pre-order Maya Shenfeld’s In Free Fall:
https://thrilljockey.com/products/in-free-fall

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