Video: Loyal Lobos, ‘You Were Bored’

Kevin Bronson on August 12th, 2020

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Singer-songwriter Andrea Silva takes all that she has absorbed so far and wraps it in an ethereal blanket on “Everlasting,” her debut album as Loyal Lobos.

Which is a lot. But rather than baggage, Silva’s expansive ruminations on femininity, sexuality and friendship, filtered through her roots in Latin folk music and evolving love for American songwriters and modern pop, feel like a triumph. As a body of work, “Everlasting” falls into the category of dream-pop (and it’s arguably the best release in that genre so far this year), but the native of Bogotá, Colombia, colors the collection with hues of Americana, jazz and electronic pop, giving it a unique flow. The song come in both English and Spanish, but the steely way she stares down her own vulnerabilities is a universal language.

Director Zach Madden’s new video for “You Were Bored” places in the singer-songwriter in dreamlike, 3D-printed environments. “The video started out as an idea that could be shaped into a COVID-19-safe production consisting of building miniature sets by myself in my garage, and then shooting the whole project with only four people for the miniatures, and shooting Andrea separately on a stage,” Madden says. “In pre-production we settled on five different scenes, with each one having the landscape and effects slightly different and increasingly more surreal until we end up with our final live-action scene.

“It’s been a real learning experience for myself and the whole team, especially for our VFX artist Louis Celano, to create these super-interesting scale model composites and 3D prints for the video. I’m particularly happy with how well the video works with the song, and is a testament to Andrea’s writing as well as her input throughout the project.”

Silva, who matriculated to L.A. when she was 18, found a collaborator who helped shape her vision in songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/producer Evan Voytas. Because of Voytas’ longtime connection with Teddy Geiger (he played in Geiger’s live band back in the day), the noted producer (who has worked with Shawn Mendes, Leon Bridges and Lizzo) signed on to executive-produce “Everlasting.” It fostered a working relationship Silva described this way: “Teddy is like a puzzle solver and walked into the project with a brand new perspective and helped us focus the songs and solidify the album as one piece of work.”

At moments, “Everlasting” will sound something like Phoebe Bridgers doing Mazzy Star or a Latin version of School of Seven Bells, but Loyal Lobos’ echoing resolve has a splendor all its own.

||| Watch: The videos for “You Were Bored” and “Si Te Portas Mal (Be Bad)”