Calgary alt-pop artist Selci recently dropped her new video for “Strangers,” an anti-Valentine’s Day track about a love that’s faded and gone, off her debut Effervescence EP. The song recalls a run-in with an ex-lover and the painful realization that after knowing someone so intimately, you hardly know them at all.
The video is framed around the deterioration of a relationship, juxtaposing Selci’s own memories in a surreal, subconscious world. A series of hazy vignettes spiral through memory, romance, dissociation and the loss of self. Blending high-definition and 8 mm film, home video and stop motion animation, analog textures are used to imply nostalgia and the timeless nature of broken relationships, while flickers of animation enhance the surrealist vibe.
“As the video progresses, I become cloaked in layers of fabric,” says Selci. “Happy memories are overcome by recollections of anger and violence, and I become engulfed by tulle. As the intensity increases, the boundary between reality and the subconscious world is blurred. This veiling is meant to signify the loss of self in a relationship. It mirrors the sensation of distance from the self and the distance from a lover as the relationship falls apart.”
Effervescence examines the aftermath of various relationships (“Strangers” and “Old Wounds”), a split with a bandmate (“Eyes of Amber”), and ponders the concept of artistic and societal freedom by using the metaphor of a mythic, mermaid-like creature confined to land (“Truth in the Sea”).
Though trained in opera, contemporary and classical musical styles, Selci uses ambiance and rhythm to compose sounds that exist on the fringes of pop music. To create Effervescence, Selci spent years in isolation while learning the craft of production, setting her on a path of rediscovery and self-acceptance.
Sound guru Sylvia Massy (Prince, Kate Bush) was enlisted to mix Effervescence, and Matt Colton (James Blake, Kanye West) was tapped for his mastering touch. The record also features an array of rare instruments and equipment from the National Music Centre in Calgary.
Selci is currently prepping her second EP, among a series of offerings to be released in 2020.