Anyone listening to triple j’s Good Nights with Latifa Tee last night (9th August) might’ve heard the premiere of Iraqi-Australian techno artist Motez’s new single, ‘Make Way’. The song – which features vocals from Nairobi-born, Adelaide/Kaurna-based artist Elsy Wameyo – is now officially here. Watch director Dave Court’s surrealist sci-fi music video below.
‘Make Way’ is Motez’s second single of the year and the first taste of his upcoming EP, Coalesce. The collaboration with Court, a multi-disciplinary visual artist, is not a one-off. “[Court] happens to be a mutual friend of both Elsy and I,” said Motez. “We wanted the visuals to reflect the essence of the song: the blend of cold and warm, of soul and concrete.”
Motez ft. Elsy Wameyo – ‘Make Way’
Motez and Court knew they wanted the video to feature a brutalist building surrounded by greenery. From there, Court let his imagination run wild. “The song’s artwork and video take place in a surreal, ailing city where buildings are falling apart and are sitting askew,” said Motez.
Both Motez and Wameyo can be seen in this decaying city. “Dave scanned both Elsy and I performing the song using point-cloud 3D mapping and projected our performance onto the cityscape while the camera moves around the collapsing city and its buildings,” Motez said. “Dave implemented a lot of AI and 3D modeling, as well as VR sketching.”
The entirety of the upcoming Coalesce EP will take place in this imaginary world, which Motez and Court have dubbed the “hypercube”. This conceptual framing helped direct Wameyo’s lyrical ideas.
“I knew I had two perspectives I wanted to write from,” she said. “The first being outside and in control, and the second being engulfed and powerless. But now within this, one thing I noted in life is that even though we’re all stuck, we seem to think that we’re not.”
The release date for Coalesce is to be confirmed.
Further Reading
Gang Of Youths, Midnight Oil, Elsy Wameyo, and More Crowned J Award Winners
NEW AUS MUSIC PLAYLIST: Our 50 Favourite Australian Songs of 2022
Motez Releases New Single, ‘Get It Done’, Featuring London MC Scrufizzer
