Adelaide sisters Tess and Erin Fowler are set to launch their first full-length visual album titled Alchemy on June 7. Recorded by producer Kiah Gossner, the album is the culmination of several years worth of songwriting and brainstorming between the duo.
The eight tracks from Alchemy will be accompanied by a cinematic experience spanning the entirety of the record. While each track will feature an individual film clip, the visual album is intended to be read as a cohesive, singular body of work.
“Erin and I have always wanted to do more than just music,” Tess Fowler tells The Adelaide Review.
“Having grown up in the arts, with me doing acting and [Erin] doing dance, we’ve always wanted to explore interdisciplinary and diverse arts practices. Alchemy was the way we decided to do that.”
Originally intended as a personal project between the sisters as a way to announce their return to the music scene, the visual album soon crystallised into something far beyond their expectations. Their collaborations with Director Morgan Wright and Cinematographer Ella Kroning from Adelaide’s leading independent film studio Repeater Productions and visual time-lapse expert Nick Graalman assisted the duo in realising the potential of the project and creating a polished final product.
“Many people don’t really know what a visual album is and those that do only know of it because of Beyonce, so we’re like, if there is actually some scope here to do something quite unique and original as Australian artists, then we may as well jump on it,” shares Tess.
Alchemy will be debuted in all its audio-visual glory at the Mercury Cinema on June 6
With Erin as the director of choreography and Tess overseeing the theatrical elements and dramaturgy of the work, Alchemy is a testament to Sitara’s broad and multifaceted approach to their music.
The album is inspired by Tess and Erin’s exploration of tantra throughout the past year, particularly the idea of transformation through confronting one’s darkness.
“[Alchemy] is about the polarity of dark and light emotions and being on your own. I think in society today, everyone is very resistant to going into those places of dark emotion. We’re very resistant to our pain and suffering,” Tess tells The Adelaide Review.
“I guess [the album] is a way of showing that through emotional expression and through tapping into that darkness, that’s where the alchemy takes place and you can come out the other side better for it.”
Without further ado, The Adelaide Review is pleased to share the exclusive premiere of Oh Mama, the first single and video from the visual album. The track explores the nature of soft, expressive femininity and how it can often be denied or condoned in society.
Alchemy will be screened at the Mercury Cinema on June 6 and the album, with the album released on June 7.
Tickets for the premiere screening can be found at eventbrite.com.au
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