13th Floor New Song Of The Day: Estere – Rent

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With a new, double album, in the works, Estere premieres her brand new video for her single Rent today.

The album, My Design, On Others’ Lives will be released on April 27th. For more information, here’s the record company blurb:

In a society that values material possessions as a measurement of success, how do we rebuild the meaning of ‘ownership’ to give true power?

Singer-songwriter, producer and social anthropologist, Estère encourages us to think about the preceding question in her hyper-percussive new track ‘Rent’, out today.

This new track is accompanied by a stunning, dance-heavy video, which sees Estère twist her way around various physical obstacles, including an army of pink pastel doors. The dance was choreographed by Estère with Wellingtonian dancer Emma Martin, creating a dance sequence that is both powerful and playful.

“My movement [in the video] sometimes comes across a bit unpolished, gawky – which I think rings true to this idea of ownership and just doing what you would naturally do in your own body. It’s not about being the best,” Estère reflects.

The entrancing visual was filmed in the lush surroundings of the Waitakere Ranges, directed by Alexander Gandar (Humans) and produced by Billie Ruck. Photo credit – Shamima Lone.

‘Rent’ is the first taste of whats to come from Part Two of Estere’s forthcoming double album, My Design, On Others’ Lives. The two-part work is due for release on Friday 27th April. It will be available on CD and vinyl (via RPM), cassette (via Prison Tapes) and all digital platforms (via DRM NZ).
Estère on My Design, On Others’ Lives:

“I’ve always been fascinated by other people. But there was a period in my life where I went a little crazy. I was coping with a variety of stresses and there was a traumatic incident that left me feeling disconnected and literally out of my body for a couple of months. I was really terrified I was going to stay feeling like that forever. But during that period of detachment from myself it was like I became more connected to other things. I read a list of autobiographies and philosophy books,  I experienced the world differently and after coming out of that state – I became terminally interested in the live’s of other’s.”

Breaking conventional barriers is a pivotal element in Estère’s two-part, sophomore album My Design, On Other’s Lives. She didn’t want anyone else to record or produce it and she didn’t want to write songs about love (except to her Grandmother).

Recorded at her home studio in a suburban 40’s Wellington villa, Estère’s production paints a canvas of unique juxtaposition. Citing the meaty side of electronic music with succulent bass and weighty drums then contrasting it with warm acoustic textures paired with the ethereal side of pop/jazz melodies, it’s clear why Estère stands apart in her own genre, Electric Blue Witch-Hop.

With her obsessive interest in collecting and recording samples, a plethora of original sonic sprinklings can be found on every song off the album. The backdrop to Vietnam is the hiss and sway of Bamboo trees Estère recorded in Tam Coc (Vietnam), whilst the sound of her Mum’s vintage telephone punches the chorus in Rent.

Part of what really makes My Design, On Other’s Lives stand alone, is Estère’s devotion to breaking the mould. The songs off the album escape popular music’s limited scope of ‘personal dilemma’, to conjure meaningful narratives about; displaced refugees, kids obsessed with technology, underwater/whale wisdom, controlling urges and calling out colonisation (to name some).

My Design, On Others’ Lives features her much-loved bangers of 2017 including ‘Pro Bono Techno Zone‘, ‘Control Freak’ and ‘Grandmother’.

Estère will perform live in support of Grace Jones sold out show at Queenstown Events Centre, March 2nd.

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