- Official music video out today
By Dimithri Wijesinghe
The official music video of Sacred Spaces: Solve et Coagula will be premiering on the Stigmata YouTube channel today (16), which is the second single to the fifth and most recent album released by the veteran homegrown heavy-metal band celebrating 20 years of music this year.
Having been around for two decades now, the band has made a name for themselves for being innovators in their genre, evidence for which is them releasing their fifth album; choosing not to opt for the traditional route of recording and releasing a full-length album in one go, they have released one single at a time, allowing for their listeners to live with each piece of music before the other was made available to them.
Considering the band has become renowned for their nuanced approach to writing, recording, releasing, and performing music, we spoke to frontman of Stigmata Suresh De Silva to gain a bit of insight into their most recent project.
Sacred Spaces: Solve et Coagula is the second single to their most recent album, released on 25 July this year. It was preceded by their first single Alyssa which was a drastically different track in its entirety in comparison to Sacred Spaces. Suresh shared that Alyssa was a very personal story, adding that Stigmata as an entity are first and foremost storytellers. With this first single, they put together a very personal and emotional piece – an ode to pets that are no longer with us – presenting to us Stigmata’s take on the perception of loss and losing.
The music video to the same was also released for the track and that too was approached in an honest and raw format where they chose to showcase images shared by real people of their pets who are no longer with them.
Suresh stated that during their two decades in music, they have taken care to never repeat or recycle a theme or topic – they have taken that on as a challenge, and as a progressive metal band, they have worn this badge of honour proudly. As one would expect, they promise great things with this upcoming music video as well.
About this second single Sacred Spaces: Solve et Coagula, Suresh said it is the polar opposite of Alyssa.
“The themes of Sacred Spaces: Solve et Coagula is a mix of what we consider sacred space mixed in with elements of alchemy. ‘Solve et Coagula’ is a Latin term that deals with the principles and basics of alchemy, while the song overall looks at how we hold dear spaces in our lives – whether physical, emotional, or psychological – that we value. Sometimes valuing these spaces can bring about the positive, and at times they may be negative and be a cause to hinder us.
“The song looks at this and deals with the concept of needing to do away with the old in order to create something new. Musically and thematically, it is expected to resonate with audiences differently,” he explained.
Speaking about the upcoming music video, Suresh shared that it will neither be a tradition nor conventional music video, noting that there will not be any live footage of the band and that concept was purely storyboarded to be a different experience.
Describing the music video without giving too much away, Suresh said it is sure to intrigue; while he said that they do not have live footage of the band performing, the music video will contain elements of Stigmata and will be focused on a dedicated story arc.
“You can expect a lot of symbols, metaphors, etc. and it is likely to really surprise a few people – it might even scare some, but our fans will all appreciate the art,” he said. He said they worked on the video for about two months and that the song in itself is a long track – it is six-and-a-half minutes; in comparison to today’s commercial music, this is almost a feature length piece.
We asked Suresh about some of the challenges they have come across in putting together a music video at a time like this where there are limitations in gathering people into spaces, and he shared that a large portion of the music video consists of graphics, some animation, and a lot of special effects and therefore was mostly done remotely. He said it felt quite irresponsible for them to get together a production crew at a time where globally social distancing is advised.
Speaking more about the video, Suresh said that growing up in the 80s and 90s, the music videos of the time were phenomenal, stating that they were often story-based and heavy in detail – a time when the visual representation is just as important as the auditory experience. He believes in this and therefore they have opted for a music video that will convey their story.
He said, however, that he is a firm believer of letting the art speak for itself, adding that the audience should be allowed the opportunity to enjoy it in their own terms and share their own personal interpretations to your work. Once your art is out there, the people listening to it are the ones who make it what it is to them.
Suresh said that they are a self-sufficient band, and leaving aside their music, they are professionals in their daily lives and bring to the table their expertise as those in the creative industry. Therefore, they have put together most of the art work themselves. However, this time around, he said that it has been their great honour to have worked with Grammy-nominated producer Romesh Dodangoda on the mixing and mastering of the tracks for the entirety of their fifth album, and to be one of the only Sri Lankan acts to have worked with him up to date, which also ensures that their audio is on par with anything out there in charts globally.
Finally, Suresh shared that the music video is something thought-provoking and entertaining to look forward to and that he hopes that it will be received well.
