Watch: Stellar OM Source “Polarity”

20 Jun 2013 — Henning Lahmann

In his review of Stellar OM Source's latest masterstroke Joy One Mile, author Andrew Wagner concluded by writing that it's "an album whose driving force may be an embrace of chaos, existing at the high levels of intensity where seemingly disparate emotions (the misery, the ecstasy) meld together and become one." Even more so than anywhere else on the album, this apt interpretation is best reflected by LP opener "Polarity", whose very title perfectly encapsulates the work's deliberate internal contradictions. The brand new video for the track, directed by Christelle Gualdi herself, translates the concept into the visual realm, creating further fissions on different levels: while the acting characters' beauty is out there in the open, the track's relentless acidic bass assaults give the video's commanding watery images an uneasy feel, adding something indistinctly uncanny to the women's slow dancing's sublimity. Sharing some of her throughts on the video, Gualdi adds:

"A feel of mystery and expectation initiates the sequences. I needed a central character to direct the energy flow, and the girl in blue face became this. When she submerges underwater, we understand her role. The flashbacks explain more before the ballet begins. The object of their dance is revealed in the end: polarity as an exchange of beauty."

Joy One Mile is out on RVNG Intl. Stellar OM Source will perform in Berlin together with Oneohtrix Point Never on October 4.