Spoken word is all the rage with musicians at the moment with Lana Del Rey and Imelda May both releasing spoken word / poetry albums.
Now, Derry musicians SOAK and Saint Sister’s Gemma Doherty have worked with photographer and filmmaker Ellius Grace on ‘I’m Alive’, a spoken word / visual piece with VFX by Cian McKenna and conceived by Grace.
SOAK says Grace came to her with the idea for “an antidote to anxiety,” which led to her writing a poem based on “finding beauty in the mundane.”
Doherty then provided the music score and McKenna shot the video.
“I sat down in the up and down waves of isolation, when I let my brain go I started to write about how it feels to ‘wake up’ from a long depression. The relief when a tide starts to turn and things I’d given up on begin to seem possible again. Ellius asked Gemma Doherty to compose the soundtrack and she provided a gentle and gripping bed to speak over. I hope this piece can act as a reminder that it won’t always be like this.”
SOAK
Video credits
Director – Ellius Grace
Cinematography – JJ Rolfe & Narayan Van Maele
Production – Motherland & Ellius Grace
Edit – Alan McCarthy
Music – Gemma Doherty
Poem – SOAK
Sound Mix & Sound Design – Brian Fallon
Title Design – Shauna Buckley
Animation & VFX – Cian McKenna
Thanks – Ross Killeen, Aaron McEnaney
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
