Kevin Bronson on September 10th, 2018

0

Age.Sex.Location are not a band but a collective of friends and collaborators. They say they approach their music “without pretension or overthought,” even if the slick production on their first EP suggests otherwise. Whichever, the constraints of this collaboration suggest some wizards are at work: The group aims to produce an EP in a single, 72-hour session, inspired by the environment in which it was born. Thus, “ASL 1 Beach House” was conceived in a beach house.

The artists involved are John Ryan (aka JRY), Shungudzo, AFTERHRS (Andrew Hass & Ian Franzino), Julian Bunetta, Liza Owen and Teddy Geiger, with Ryan (producer and/or writer for the likes of One Direction, Maroon 5, John Legend and Niall Horan, among many others) and Zimbabwe-reared, L.A.-based Shungudzo handling the vocals. The highlight of the first EP is “Voodoo,” which, the vocalists explain, “was inspired by a mysterious woman we watched swimming laps in the Pacific Ocean for what felt like forever. We were entranced by her, almost as if she’d cast a spell on us, and created a song to sonically represent the experience of watching her. Exactly a year after we wrote ‘Voodoo, we went back to the same beach, where we met the mysterious swimmer. Shout out to Sharone!”

The captivating visual companion to the song is the work of Brazilian collage/animation artist Caco Neves. It’s a remarkable work featuring imagery that requires repeat viewings — people, places and things from many continents, interspersed with clips of various disasters.

||| Watch: The video for “Voodoo”

||| Also: Stream the entire EP here