Following the release of her breathtaking new album Moonlit Reveries featuring Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche, acclaimed Basque multi-instrumentalist Elena Setién shares new video for single “Asking” directed by Catalina Giordano. The video takes us deep into the ancient cave systems of the Basque Country – vast systems of spectacular subterranean tunnels used from prehistoric times for everything from shelters and religious rites to wine production. Illuminated by Setien’s single headlamp, the caves take on a particularly otherworldly atmosphere, further enhanced by her ethereal vocal melodies and Kotche’s snaking rhythms and percussive shimmers.
Setién elaborates on the track and video: “When thinking about “Asking” and it’s lyrics, I immediately go back to the time when Homo Sapiens and the Neanderthals co-existed. They even mixed and gave rise to hybrid species, and there’s supposed to be some amount of Neanderthal in our DNA. What interested me was the origin of symbolic thinking and art. We know now that the Neanderthals had quite a bit of symbolic thinking, just as the Homo Sapiens did, and produced works of what could be called proto-art. And in this frame of mind, Argentinian video artist Catalina Giordano and I started having conversations about the music video. The result is a somehow surrealistic performance inside a beautiful cave in the Basque Country. Combining our own symbolic thinking and imagining with the cave surroundings, which for me are the main character of the video.”
One of the most energetic, propulsive tracks on Moonlit Reveries, “Asking” would ultimately be the track that brought Setién and Kotche together. The two started discussing collaboration which Setién began by using a series of unique drum patterns from Kotche’s “A Beat A Week” series as the basis for tracks. Kotche then sent in fresh drum takes for select pieces that embellished the framework set by Setién. Kotche’s presence on Moonlit Reveries invigorated Setién’s desire to delve further into rhythm as an avenue of expression, incorporating more Latin-influenced rhythmic architecture to her music than there previously has been. Says Setién, “Funnily enough, I, being a Spanish artist, sought inspiration in the rhythms of a Chicago drummer to reach something with a Latin feel to it. A somehow surrealistic way to get there.”
Elena Setién’s Moonlit Reveries is out now, and she plays San Sebastian, ES at Dabadaba on February 27th, following sets as various European jazz festivals.
