Here’s an X-Press X-Clusive! Ahead of the official launch for her brand new video Amour tomorrow, Wednesday, November 6, West Australian roots-rock artist Tanya Ransom is premiering the haunting video today just for X-Press readers.
Taking inspiration from Broome’s early pearling days in the 1930s and working with good friend and filmaker Harry Jakamarra, together they landed organically on themes of water, and the visual presentation of emotions being weighed down by them, which can clearly be seen in the video (check it out below).
Jakamarra said, “when I heard Armour for the first time I was quickly taken with the idea of drowning. To me the song is a realisation you’re being dragged down by your own defenses. Drawing inspiration from archive footage of Broome’s early pearling days and black and white epics of the 1930s, we set out to drown Tanya. Which proved more difficult than we first thought.”
Originally all the footage was to be shot in the ocean, from a boat, however the universe had other plans for Ransom and Jakamarra. They were sent the wrong underwater housing, the day of filming turned into a bizarrely windy day and the car broke down as they were towing the boat out of the driveway.
Stuck on land, they were forced to think outside of the box and it eventually worked in their favour. They filmed most of the footage at night in a swimming pool, weighed down and with DIY lighting. Dry season in Broome is quite cold and the pool was freezing, however it all came together to create this eerily captivating video, and in Ransom’s words, it was “all worth it for the sake of art”.
Seen performing crowd favourites such as Let Love Remain for WAMFest last Friday, single Armour was also featured on this year’s Kiss My WAMi compilation and captures Ransom’s signature and authentic folk-blues-roots fusion. With her powerful vocals and brooding guitar sound, she has performed at multiple festivals, while national touring has seen Ransom supporting artists such as John Butler, Missy Higgins, Kate Miller-Heidke and Boy and Bear.
Check out the video for Amour below, exclusively for X-Press.
