Enfnts Terribles

You’ve made some visuals for this LP. How would you describe your visual aesthetics?

My visual aesthetic varies a fair bit between the different music videos and artworks I’ve created, depending on the song and who has collaborated with me in making it. There are definitely elements that unify it, though. I would say that I’m often drawn to things that look futuristic or dream-like in some way: I love making music videos that feel like strange nightmares or dreams. My aesthetic is often described as “goth” or “sinister”, which is sometimes true, but sometimes it can be very soft, or bright like the video for “This Suburb”. But even when it’s soft and beautiful, there’s normally something weird or dark about it too. I’m also very drawn to purple and red, which are the dominant colors in pretty much all my album art!

What’s the deeper definition of your song “Obliterate”?

“Obliterate” is about beginning to recognize that you’re in an unhealthy pattern in a relationship, but being too entangled in that relationship to know how and when to let go of it. A lot of To Breathe Underwater is about me recognizing my own unhealthy patterns in various relationships, and feeling uncomfortable with how codependent I can be, and how much of myself I can lose for the sake of another person.

Where did the idea or concept for this video come from?

After working with dance duo Jake & Leilani (AKA Discomorph) on my previous video for “Supermarket Riots”, I decided I wanted to create an entire video for this song based on a relationship dynamic between them and me. In “Supermarket Riots” they were kind of this dark, “evil” force, and so for this video, I decided that I wanted to flip it, and instead have them represent a part of me that’s trying to help myself.

Because the song is about a conflict within yourself — part of you knowing that something isn’t good for you, asking “am I ever gonna learn”, but the other part of you throwing yourself into it anyway — I thought it would make sense to evolve a “chase” narrative around it. The dancers are the part of me that’s trying to save myself from pain, trying to stop me from running to this ghostly, unreachable figure that ultimately vanishes. It’s not immediately clear that they’re trying to help me. I wanted it to feel a bit ambiguous as to whether or not they were “bad”, as often the road to helping yourself feels most frightening. We shot in a forest to amplify the sinister mood of the song. We have so many mythical associations with forests: these endless, otherworldly places that you can easily lose yourself in.

The song references dreams about death and loss and being unable to process that someone or something is completely gone. That’s where the anonymously dressed figures come in: I wanted them to be faceless, to create a sense that what I’m trying to reach is inaccessible, or not completely real. Evie Friederich, who made the costumes, did an amazing job with this. They feel like a religious cult now, which really suits the song. Massive props to Serena Siow who co-directed this clip with me, enlisting a super talented hard-working crew to help bring my vision to life in ways I couldn’t have imagined!

What can we expect from you in 2021?

No concrete plans as of yet … but definitely more music!! And I’m praying for some shows we can actually dance at!