Photos by Maria Galbach (including the BTS video-shoot photo above) and Abi Manos / Words by Willa Rudolph
NYC electronic fixtures Shallowhalo and Swordes have teamed up on the new song and music video “You Are My Religion Now” (released Friday, February 23rd). The track is like a hallucinatory trip to the 1980’s that stars Shallowhalo members Allyson Camitta and Ezra Tenenbaum alongside Swordes and Serge Neborak, all sporting black and pink 80’s-inspired outfits from Allyson’s own closet. The beat is synthy and calls back to Depeche Mode, Ultravox, and Missing Persons even if none are cited by Allyson as specific inspirations, but you can see who *is* cited by Allyson in the interview below!
Shallowhalo takes a uniquely retro-futurisitic approach to technology in their writing and creative process (again, see interview below for more details) just as video director Aria Cabello combines cutting-edge technology with vintage VHS aesthetics (shot and edited with Maria Galebach) to produce the surreal visuals, not to mention the nifty video monitor with built-in VHS player appearing in the video itself.
In other words, there’s layers to “You Are My Religion Now” and there’s layers in the music too like in how the song’s sleek electroclash hook gets dirtied up by the buzzy synths and dubby production. Visually, the viewer witnesses all three artists singing, dancing, and synthesizing in front of hyper-saturated green-screened images of flowers blooming and digital noise. The sensibility is quirky but mesmerizing at the same time (just like most religions!) and you may get chills when Shallowhalo and Swordes harmonize on the title phrase then go into a wordless falsetto sounding blissed out and robotically detached in equal measure.
In this strange, liminal setting, the hypnotic duo kidnap their love interest (played by Serge Neborak) and tie him up, stashing him in the trunk of their car and later setting him up as a sort of totem in their altar. It all has a slightly uncanny feel to it, like they’re in our world but not really. Technology is prevalent throughout both in retro-future physical objects and as glitchy effects added to the video image. Allyson and Swordes spy on the “love interest” through an old box TV as they pet the console like stroking the shoulders of their crush. The pixel-y green screens surround the group and bleed onto their skin with the sickly glow turning their bodies temporarily see-through. Meanwhile, the love interest types some gibberish on an old computer monitor displaying nothing but white noise static.
We sat down with Allyson to discuss “You Are My Religion Now” further:
WR: What inspired the lyrics of the song? The sound?
Allyson: The lyrics were inspired by a delusional love story fueled by obsession. I’ve been really interested in cult-like figures and the power that it has in getting people to leave everything behind and believe. I think crushes can have that power over people too where your object of desire feels god-like and you want to surrender your love to them. For the sound, Ezra and I were listening to artists such as Justice, The Human League, and Schwefelgelb and in general wanted to make a dance banger with punching beats and explosive synths.
WR: Did you write in tandem with Swordes, or was it already written & then you showed it to them?
Allyson: The song was already written when we sent it to Swordes, but we had this grandiose monologue sequence planned that we didn’t get around to recording yet, so there was a blank space in the track. Originally, we asked Swordes if they would be down to add some doubles to the track, but they went above and beyond and sent back a ton of options and even felt inspired to write a verse where the monologue was supposed to go. We were blown away! We were able to incorporate most of what they sent and it really made the track come together. We were already big fans of their music after playing a show with them last year at Market Hotel so it was really exciting to be able to collaborate with them on a track.
WR: How much did you participate in the making of / plot of the video?
Allyson: When I originally approached Aria Cabello and Maria Galebach about making a video, I sent them the track, lyrics, and a mood board of images. We had worked with both of them before in different capacities. Maria had just made some Shallowhalo visuals for our live show in LA for the Fool’s Gold Anniversary party, and Aria made a music video for Abifrail last summer that I made a cameo in, that hasn’t been released yet. When we had an initial meeting, they came with an idea for the plot and visuals that were very much in line with the message of the song. We’re all friends and I’ve seen their work before and they both have amazing taste so I put a lot of trust in them for the vision of the video and they nailed it.
WR: What sort of music videos were you inspired by – like was there a genre that you were looking at?
Allyson: For this video in particular, I was inspired by music videos that incorporate visualizer effects that help tell a story with glitches and movement. One music video that I love that I think about a lot is Chairlift’s video for “Evident Utensil.” The shots themselves are so simple, it’s just a couple of people prancing around in grass basically, but the data moshing is so hypnotizing and unexpected that you can’t stop watching it. When I sent the video to Maria, she said that when data moshing was first invented that both Chairlift and Kanye made music videos with it, but Chairlift did it first and Kanye was allegedly mad, which I thought was funny. I also went down a rabbit hole of watching Kylie Minogue videos…
WR: What was the making of the video like? Process, experience?
Allyson: The process of making the video was a combination of preplanning, working with what we have, and going with the flow. Aria and Maria co-collaborated on the video and I met up with them a couple of times beforehand. Since we were planning to shoot most of the video at my apartment, they came over to check out the “set,” and since I have a ton of clothes, we picked out the costumes for me and Swordes to wear mostly from my closet. I think we are all used to working with a DIY mentality so we were on the same page in using whatever resources we have access to and reaching out to friends who want to be involved.
Our friend Serge Neborak was down to be in the video and Abby Manos and Natalia Deibe helped assist. The final scenes with Serge tied up in the back of the trunk were hilarious to shoot; we shot those with Ezra’s car across the street from a nearby coffee shop and definitely put on a show for the onlookers. A huge part of the video was the VFX that Maria added in post so even though we spent an entire day shooting, we had no idea what the finished video would look like until the very end. Everyone worked so hard on it and I would love to work with them all again on a future video.
WR: What is your writing process like with your partner Ezra?
Allyson: Ezra and I have written so many songs at this point and our process is constantly changing, but it usually starts with us brainstorming what kind of vibe and feeling we want the song to have. For this song in particular, Ezra laid out the arrangement on Ableton and we wrote the song together. I think we even tried using Chat GPT for the lyrics as an experiment, but didn’t end up using anything from it. We spent a few sessions tweaking the sounds and playing with his treasure trove of analogue equipment, which is personally my favorite part of the process. This was the last song we wrote for the EP and we were actually considering scrapping it until Swordes stepped in. Ezra came up with the bassline on his Korg MS-10 and it all fell into place.
WR: Any releases coming up soon?
Allyson: Our next single, “Golden Thread,” is out March 22nd.
WR: Is this song part of a larger project?
Allyson: This song is part of our upcoming EP, Connection, out April 5th on Fool’s Gold.