Video premiere: yOya, ‘The Heartwood’
Kevin Bronson on
1
On their latest single “The Heartwood,” L.A. duo yOya make harmonies sound easy — the pristine vocals of Alex Pfender and Noah Dietterich, framed by shimmering synths and a mix of electronic and acoustic drums, evoke an innocent but urgent yearning, right down to the final twinkling key. Not so easy, however, was the creation of the video for the song. “We have a bad habit of coming up with a new, complicated way to make a DIY video whenever it’s time to make one,” Dietterich acknowledges, adding that with one camera and a “budget very close to zero,” the duo got to work: They created a 375-foot-long painting and then “animated” it.
He explains the process: “We laid out 26 rolls of paper in turn on the floor of the hallway, planned out the sequence and brushed on some cheap acrylic paint. Then we built a sort of reel-to-reel contraption to smoothly scroll the paper rolls in front of the camera, creating an animated image. … Each 15-foot segment ended up being about 7.5 seconds of video in the end, so now we also have 26 limited-edition paintings. It was a ton of work, but we don’t like to repeat ourselves with our videos and we’re really proud of this one.” Indeed, it’s like a kids’ art project that comes to life on a grand scale. Roll on.
||| Watch: The video for “The Heartwood”
||| Live: yOya plays the Satellite on Monday night as part of Riothorse Royale’s residency in preparation for a long U.S. tour in October and November.
||| Previously: “The Heartwood,” “Fool’s Gold” video, “King of Nothing,” “I’ll Be Fire”
I flowed with the music and video until they merged into one beautiful experience.