The Orielles’ experimental film La Vita Olistica will give you a new vision of how far visuals for music could go

March 2020, The Orielles released their second album Disco Volador, finished their UK Headline Tour, they were then set for tour dates in North America, including the huge SXSW Festival in Texas. However, everything finally ended up with postponement or cancellation, and we know what happened after. 

While so many bands and musicians have decided to play live-stream performances during these uncertain times, surprisingly, The Orielles has chosen a completely different way. After a year of releasing of Disco Volador, the trio presented their fans with La Vita Olistica, a directorial debut experimental film, directed by the band’s vocalist Esme and drummer Sidonie Hand-Halford, accompanying with the soundtrack - a live-performance album, which is also a re-scored piece from their latest record Disco Volador, filmed in Unit 3 Regents Trading Estate, the usual area for Sounds From The Other City. 

 

Listening to the soundtrack album kept rewinding some memories of the last The Orielles gig I went to a year ago in London since I always enjoyed how The Orielles’s has performed their music with continuous scores at gigs, this time, they make it to a record. 

 

Tracks selected for the film include Come Down On Jupiter, Rapid I, 7^th Dynamic Goo, Memories of Miso, Material Mistakes, While The Flowers Look, remade into a brand new La Vita Olistica version, in between songs they created transitional sounds with manipulated soundscapes. From the soundtrack album, we can expect the film will continue to explore the main theme of Disco Volador – Space. The total 11 tracks, 32 minutes 39 seconds of album listening will take you on a journey to a space The Orielles created. 

 

Opening with Come Down On Jupiter, the new version emphasizes space with the addition of its instrumental arrangement, Thrift Shop Cowboys then creates a more rapid atmosphere. Ending track La Vita Olistica is only 29 seconds, the vocalist Esme’s narration in English and another French narrator’s voice, marks the end of the film. 

 

Overall, the arrangement of the soundtrack sounds has changed a lot from the record, The Orielles has put the drum as a more important character and it plays a role in transitioning each track. 

 

Since the screenings will only happen in summer, we can still expect a lot from the soundtrack album, as well Memoirs of Miso, a clip from the film, now available to watch here. The short clip, starring The Orielles’ good friend, also a music photographer Neelam Khan Vela and independent band Walt Disco. Referencing The San Francisco Tape Music Center by David Bernstein, it also gives us a general idea of what the film could look like – largely inspired by the 60s/70s Avant-Garde and Expanded Cinema (use multiple projectors and screens to challenge the space perception and create an immersive environment). 

 

The Orielles has announced screenings of La Vita Olistica in Liverpool and Manchester have been scheduled to August, but we can expect more to happen when things are getting real, and to support the emerging band and their cinematic debut. 

 

You can now stream the soundtrack album here. 

 

 

 

Eva Leung 

@watermelonlaidbackgal

Image: Official Album Cover, Heavenly Recordings