Eartheater Ventures Into The Self (And Is Reborn) In The Surrealist CGI Video For “Ecdysisyphus”
The’e's a first time for everything/ More like, everything is the first time.
Eartheater is the project of Queens, New York-based electronic musician Alex Drewchin, who got herself 3D-scanned for the video for "Ecdysisyphus" from Eartheater's most recent album RIP Chrysalis. "Ecdysisyphus" is a gorgeous, ambient echo-backed monologue, during which Drewchin's CGI avatar bounds through a beige CGI world—her very own middle earth—constructed by directors Jamie Marsh and Sam Shea and populated by distorted versions of Drewchin herself. This perpetual metalepsis just is, she murmurs. In an email to The FADER, Drewchin expounded on the experience:
Being 3D-scanned and sending the code of my physical topography over to Jamie Marsh and Sam Shea to steer through this epic animation was hugely exciting while simultaneously one of the most strange psycho-physical "out of body" experiences I've had. The digital sigil of me as a liquid metal avatar, transcending earthly limitations, in a video game matrix is empowering and universally attractive, but then watching this accurate model of me bust through the membrane to a "4D view of a déjà vu menu" in a history museum where I encounter many primitive distorted deformations of my body leaves me feeling less than comfortable. The part of my ego occupied with my singularity and physical beauty along with my spirit obsessed with elegance and alinement is challenged here, for a moment, before all is defused in the deflation of the the body as it floats away weightlessly drawn to a higher place. I'm very thankful for the time and effort Sam and Jamie took to bring the poetry of Ecdysisyphus alive using abstractions of the human form to explore the layers of self we experience in every moment and psychological ecdysis.
Eartheater Tour Dates
US:
05/07/16 - Form Festival - Miami, Florida
05/14/16 - Floristree - Baltimore, Maryland
05/10/16 - The Living Gallery BK - Brooklyn, New York
05/29/16 - Trip Metal Fest - Detroit, Michigan
Europe:
06/07/16 - Piccadilly Social Club - Chiaravalle, Italy
06/08/16 - Dalla Cira - Pesaro, Italy
06/09/16 - Cellar Theory - Napoli, Italy
06/10/16 - Circolo Aternino - Pescara, Italy
06/11/16 - Vizi del Pellicano - Reggio Emilia, Italy
06/17/16 - Carpe Diem - Lisbon, Portugal
06/18/16 - Carmo 81 - Viseau, Portugal
06/21/16 - Glad Cafe - Glasgow, U.K.
06/22/16 - Fuse - Bradford, U.K.
06/23/16 - Soup Kitchen - Manchester, U.K.
06/24/16 - Cube Cinema - Bristol, U.K.
06/25/16 - Cafe OTO - London, U.K.
06/27/16 - Klub Famu - Prague, Czech Republic