It's been a year since the release of Cold Specks' second album, Neuroplasticity, but the sorrow in Al Spx's voice is as urgent as ever. Today, she's back with a short film of the same name, soundtracked by two particularly emotional songs off the album, "Living Signs" and "Old Knives." The film, directed by Young Replicant, features a beautiful narrative, wracked with love and loss, and ultimately hones in on what it feels like when those two things intersect.
"In the studio, I was aggressively determined to construct songs that were wild but still elegant. I wanted to create movement. Listening now, I can hear a sense of urgency in the songs," Al Spx explained to The Fader over email. "We didn’t want to make another typical music video, so we set out to create something that would stand on its own as a piece of art.”
Young Replicant offered up some additional context, too: "I left half the script unfinished until after we had found our location and had done some of the casting. It was important for me to make sure the video had a very specific sense of place, a unique energy inspired by the setting as much as the music itself." From: https://www.thefader.com/2015/09/14/cold-specks-neuroplasticity-film
Canadian singer-songwriter Al Spx (who uses a stage name out of respect for her parents' disapproval of her career in music) found her band's name, Cold Specks, in a James Joyce quote. "Born all in the dark wormy earth, cold specks of fire, evil lights shining in the darkness," is the line from Ulysses that compelled Spx to keep making the dark, incendiary music she'd started writing at university.
Joyce's quote can also be applied to Spx's latest project, a short film featuring two songs from Cold Specks' 2014 album, Neuroplasticity. Fans of the television show Twin Peaks will find references in both story and image, as the video's young protagonist spins obsessively through his own anguish and obsession toward a violent and heartbreaking climax. Much like David Lynch's famously inscrutable series, "Neuroplasticity" creates as many questions as it answers. Spx's propulsive voice and seething music, paired with director Young Replicant's tense, choppy storytelling, will both reward and confound on multiple viewings. From: https://fm.kuac.org/music/2015-09-16/cold-specks-explores-violence-obsession-and-memory-in-neroplasticity
