Over the last couple months, Ali Beletic has been rolling out her debut album as Alivenique. It’s called Year Of The Statement, and it’s out in September. So far we’ve heard “Rain” and the album’s title track. Today, Beletic is back with another.
Beletic’s latest is called “Vanguards.” Here’s what she had to say about it:
I wrote this song while Seth Olinsky who co-produced the record with me was doing a residency at MASS MoCA, and so I was working out of his studio, rather than mine. It was great to be in his super clean minimalist space. Actually, I did a lot of the early writing for the record that week. I remember working with the clap rhyhtms, the wolf sounds, and the vocal parts as my stating point. When Seth returned, he was floored, and really really moved by this song in particular. I am a huge fan of brass, the muted sound, the heroic associations, and fatalism. So leaving the chorus spacious, featuring just the heroism of the wolf calls and the brass was so monumental and meaningful. Seth and I spent a long time mixing this song to perfection. We really dialed in the cosmic vocal sonics and beauty of the record. I wrote the final outro with a parallel vocal harmony, that makes for the unique cinematic moonlit quality.
In the case of “Vanguards,” which both production wise and meaning wise, is a very important song on the record, I am dealing with a concept of the feminine spirit traveling through time and sort of a concept of past, present, and future collapsing within identity and the engagement of that as a modern ceremony. For me, as a woman, I feel this sensibility whole-heartedly as I imagine do many other women of course.
The idea of the mythological wolf calls during the intro and chorus was inspired by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ incredibly poetic and inspired book, Women Who Run With The Wolves: Myths And Stories Of The Wild Woman Archetype. If you don’t know her work, she is a really fascinating author and scholar, a Mestiza Latina author who was raised in now nearly vanished oral and ethnic traditions. In her honor a portion of the proceeds of this song will be donated to both protecting the wolves and indigenous women’s causes.
Check it out below.
Year Of The Statement is out 9/22 via Lightning Studios.
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