Who is “Drum & Lace”, can you tell me a little bit more about yourself and your EP “Midnight Roses”?

Drum & Lace is an extension of who I am- it’s the more ‘in your face’ part of me that in a way also feels like the most vulnerable, as I feel freer to express myself through music created under that name. But I’d say that primarily I am a composer and performer that works within the world of film, fashion and media. 

The EP ‘Midnight Roses’ is my third self-released EP and it’s inspired by the events of a night out somewhere in Europe. It’s structured to feel like the hours between sunset and dawn, from the more upbeat ‘we’re out and having a great time’ sound, moving to the darker more layered tracks and finally to “Sunrise” that is supposed to capture the moment it starts getting light out again and the euphoria of the night starts to wear off.  

One of the tracks off of Midnight Roses is Abysso, which you’ve created this beautiful music video for. What was it like stepping away from composing for fashion film and creating your own visuals to your music?

It’s been great to write music for ‘myself’ and my ‘visuals’ rather than to accompany someone elses vision. The ‘artist’ aspect of Drum & Lace, both musically and aesthetically, happened only more recently when I started to release tracks that I’d written that weren’t related to any particular project. I’ve learned that it’s definitely important for me to step out of the studio, and put creative effort into making EPs, videos and everything in between- it’s been a fun challenge to balance these two aspects of Drum & Lace. 

What was the writing process like for Abysso? With fashion film, you’re given a visual to draw inspiration from- did you have a visual for Abysso in your mind already when writing or did the music come first?

When writing anything I tend to have some sort of visual inspiration, and for Abysso honestly it was just something dark, somewhat sinister but also beautiful. The track comes third in the EP, so it’s supposed to be the darkest time of night when you’re left with your demons. 

I’d love to talk about more about the visuals of Abysso for a moment. What was the concept for this video and how did the collaboration of fashion and dance help bring this to life?

“Abysso” was Directed by Charlene Bagcal, who’s eye and aesthetic I love. She also ‘gets’ my aesthetic and I think for this track we bonded over how dark and moody the visuals could be. The overall vision and creative direction for Abysso were all from her- I just sent her some saved instagram photos and she created the whole world for it. 

Also, Fashion is always an important aspect for me, but for this it was more about capturing the right mood and feeling, but the red outfit and what the dancer wore were definitely well thought out! Also the dancer, Darrian O’Reilly did an incredible job. I’ve been collaborating more and more with dancers and choreographers, and I was happy to be able to bring that element into this video.

What was your relationship with the director of Abysso’s visual, Charlene Bagcal, like? How

did she get brought onto this project? How important is collaboration to you?

So Charlene and I have had a chance to work on a handful of projects together, including a horror short that we just wrapped, and she shot an incredible video for the track “Parisian Night” (also off of “Midnight Roses”) so it made sense for the collaboration to continue. Just like with everything else, I think it’s so important to find people that you can truly collaborate with, as in give each other space to experiment and fulfill a vision rather than just give a set of instructions. Collaborating with her and in general also usually brings out so many new ideas that you wouldn’t have gotten to yourself, it’s so inspiring!

Do you have any upcoming projects we can get excited for?

I do, quite a few! For one, the horror short that I just finished doing sound and music for for Charlene will hopefully be out sometime soon! Also I recently co-scored a fashion documentary with Ian Hultquist (my husband) called “The Gospel According to Andre”, about Andre Leon Talley, that will be coming out in the spring. In terms of releases, I just put out a short soundtrack EP for a fashion film I scored called “I Am An Individual” by Noir Tribe presented by Polite. And lastly, there’s going to be some new Drum & Lace music coming out very soon this winter!

"ABYSSO" CREDITS

Director - Charlene Bagcal

Cinematographer - Eduardo R. Servello

Production Company - REMA

PA - Padcha Uaarisakkul

Creative Direction - Charlene Bagcal

Editor -  REMA

Dancer - Darrian O'Reilly

Colorist - REMA