Watch Amamelia's Video For New Single 'Colourbox'

Tāmaki Makaurau electronic artist and Trash Recital star Amamelia aka Amelia Berry emerges triumphant with the second single from her forthcoming album Bananamelia!, out today with animated visuals created by 2018 Walters Prize finalist and all-around digital guru Simon Ward. Possibly named in reference to the genre-spanning '80s combo of the same name, 'Colourbox' reportedly drew inspiration from "Cornelius, The Cardigans, and Stereolab's Dots and Loops", featuring vocals by Maddison Van Staden (who records and performs with Berry as happy hardcore duo Van Staden & Böhm) and Hannah Renwick.

Enlivening heart-melting synthetic melodies with effervescent breakbeat energy, Ward's beautifully low polygon video for Amamelia's 'Colourbox' includes a sly homage to Len Lye's 1935 experimental film A Colour Box, folding layers of resonance into the poetic riverside vision, created with support from NZ On Air. Hit play below and don't miss Amamelia performing this Friday at Andwahn's Cerebral Flex EP release party, with Canterbury's The Big Fresh Collective crew...

Andwahn Cerebral Flex EP Release Party
with... Amamelia, Caru, Keighto, Liam K. Swiggs
Friday 23rd September - Whammy Backroom, Auckland
Tickets available HERE via UTR

"I originally started writing Colourbox in 2015, for my band Polyester (then still Kip McGraph) but never finished it... For this Amamelia version I wanted it to roll out like an old jazz standard, where listeners hear a verse once and then the rest of the song is variations of the chorus, like something from a Busby Berkeley musical but with breakbeats.

Maddy and Hannah's vocals are really important for the emotion of the song, their voices are so complimentary and Hannah's double in the chorus really adds this sweetness to Maddy's lead. I had a lot of fun doing the analogue synth parts for this track, and I'm really proud of the pulse-width flute sound." — Amamelia

"I really love the nostalgic mood and how it's a genuine love song but comes at it from the side, in a really natural way... It was fantastic working with Amelia, we both have quite similar interests in weird films, games and music. She was playing a lot of Ape Escape and wanted a video game feeling for the video. In my head I had some overly complicated love letter to animation, set outside in a natural environment (but made on the computer). After we chatted a bit, it ended up becoming a mix of things we both love.

My original video idea involved a 3d character making a large scale paint on film animation so when things shifted to video games I tried the pixel art version of Len Lye... MSPaint on Film. I tried to mimic that process at a super small scale on the computer, drawing lines and blobs on a very thin digital canvas in Aseprite, then position animating that, like a film strip going through a projector at 25fps.

I'm really pleased with how the video turned out, it was a fun journey of experimentation with this one and I got to go outside for a change. Also - I still love the song after hearing it a million times too." — Simon Ward

'Colourbox' is out today on major streaming services. 'Bananamelia!' launches on Thursday 3rd November via Sunreturn — limited vinyl LP preorders available HERE.