Working with us on Ritual is the first time in his solo career that Jeremy has invited other creatives into the process.
A COLLABORATION WITH JEREMY GARA OF ARCADE FIRE
This season, Neuw is privileged to collaborate with Grammy-Award-winning musician, artist, and friend, Jeremy Gara. Jeremy is best known as the drummer of Arcade Fire, the band that arguably defined an indie generation through sheer ambition. Outside of the band, Jeremy is a prolific collaborator and a solo artist – exploring the relationship between music and visual art with a variety of tools including lasers, synthesisers, and oscilloscopes. His RITUAL light installation, which informed our collaboration, oscillates rhythm to the original soundtrack that he created for us.
“The visual side of my practice is still relatively new to me,”
“I started getting into it seven or eight years ago,” he continues. “I was building a modular synth rig for my music — just to experiment and explore. W hile working on that, I sort of stumbled onto the fact that there are a couple of companies that are making modular devices for video synthesis as well. So, I bit the bullet and bought a few super basic pieces. It’s grown since then. I don't have a plan of attack when I work, but I respond to certain things. It’s part of the process of making music for me. When I’m making music I'm thinking about the visuals or I'm doing the visuals at the same time.”
“My solo stuff was exciting after all of these years because it was the opposite of everything else I was doing,” explains Jeremy. “I’ve made two albums with zero help on the music. The only person that I let touch it was my friend Helge, who does music under the name Deathprod. He mastered it. Apart from that, it’s just me doing everything. It’s pure.”
“The origin story of Ritual is funny. I was just playing with the word - The word is so evocative. I'd been playing with a laser projector which seemed to cut through everything.”
“It doesn't matter what's behind it. It sort of looks like you burn the word into whatever it is that you’re projecting it on. When I was projecting the word ‘ritual’ onto things I found it so mysterious. It has a lot of different meanings. It’s kind of dark; in some ways at least. It's just the mystery of the word itself. I guess Pär saw something that I shared online and it spoke to him. His take on it was not at all what I had put into it. Which to me means it’s great. It’s finished. It exists beyond what I put into it.”
“I’ve been aware of Neuw for years. I have many pairs, but I gravitate towards Iggy Skinny in particular. Essentially, when I’m not wearing them I feel uncomfortable. I wear jeans pretty much every day.”
"Becoming friends with Pär (Lundqvist, creative director) was a happy accident. “We met through mutual friends. We see each other fairly often,” smiles Jeremy. “Pär asking me to do this has been interesting because it’s the first time that I’ve created solo work with input and opinions from others. In saying that, it's been super easy and smooth.”
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