WOODES RELEASES VIDEO FOR LEAD SINGLE ‘CRYSTAL BALL’ AHEAD OF DEBUT ALBUM RELEASE TOMORROW + ANNOUNCES YOUTUBE ALBUM LISTENING PARTY TONIGHT!
Photo Credit: Jordan Drysdale
Available to download and stream at midnight tonight, Woodes’ debut album ‘Crystal Ball’ is a body of work years in the making.
Featuring already released singles Euphoria, Queen Of The Night, Dancing In The Rain, title track Crystal Ball, and the recent stunning video shot in Africa for Close, her album ‘Crystal Ball’ is the encapsulation of everything Woodes had envisioned from the beginning.
(Woodes) "It feels very momentous to be releasing my first album, Crystal Ball. It’s been created over the last two years. It’s been my biggest undertaking as a producer, writer & creative director.
The title track and lead single Crystal Ball deals with themes around uncertainty and hope. Often it’s hard to know which way everything is headed, and for this song I wanted to turn those darker feelings into something lighter and more magical.
There are over 100 different layers in this song, with sparks, spells, electric bass, harp, mandolin & vocoder. It was a lot of fun to finish & I’m looking forward to playing it live, when Victorian musicians can return to the stage."
Filmed in a quarry on the outskirts of Melbourne with director and editor Nick Mckk, the video for lead single "Crystal Ball" (out now) is a celebration of all that is Woodes: stunning cinematic shots of nature juxtaposed with intricate mesmerising close up details, incredible fashion and styling, movement and performance, weaved together into an overall and lingering sense of euphoric celebration.
Styled by Woodes herself, along with Sim Farrugia & Mads Colvin, the clip features Woodes wearing clothing from Marda Label, Couture Love Madness, Sorrentino Studios, Etal, Romance was Born, and jewellery by Mesh and Melanie Woods.
Woodes Album Listening Party!
(Tonight at 8PM AEDT)
Join Elle (Woodes) tonight at 8pm AEDT as she talks you through the album, reveals some never before seen studio footage and special clips from live performances, as well as talks with Minecraft co-builder Reuben Gore, Euphoria MV director Em Dynes, and band mates Hayden Francis and Tim Cox about how the album, visuals, and performances all came together. And more importantly, listen to the album before its release at midnight!
Watch Via YouTube here // RSVP to the event on Facebook here.
ALBUM BIO:
In total, Elle wrote 40 songs for the LP, with the bulk of writing taking place during a three-week stint in Los Angeles with Grammy-nominated songwriter/producer Scott Effman, as well as a once in a lifetime opportunity where she recorded with Alex Somers (the American producer behind one of her favourite records, Valtari by Iceland’s Sigur Ros).
"I turned up to the studio and all the instruments from your favourite album are there - the piano, the mallets and all this different percussion, Mellotrons, glockenspiel and a big box of kids toys that they sampled," she says. "I think it’s why I like Alex and I like Sigur Ros. They really focus on capturing a memory or a feeling, rather than this perfect locked-to-a-grid song."
Along with her work with Alex Somers and Scott Effman, the 10-track album also includes writing and production credits with The Kite String Tangle, and the majority of tracks mixed by Simon Lam of Kllo.
"It’s a funny thing co-writing," she says. "A couple songs on this record I wrote with complete strangers. You have a song by the end of the day, and you’ve also shared all these personal details, to weave it together’
With Woodes' unique vision sitting strongly at the helm, the album is ultimately a product of collaboration. From writing, to art, to costumes, to video content, to her work with Reuben Gore building the Crystal Ball Minecraft world, this album is the product of dozens of creatives from multiple industries working seamlessly for one unique vision.
Combining her early years at Victorian College Of The Arts which shaped her ideas about composition and song craft, followed by years at a leading modelling agency informing her visual aesthetic, and live shows that are dynamic, full of energy, and highly visual, debut album ‘Crystal Ball’ is where all the elements of the WOODES universe finally come together.
Woodes vision may be singular, but this album represents every element of her multidisciplinary, multi-faceted, and deeply collaborative world. "One of favourite things in the world is to create music," she explains, "and an extension of that is to create with other people."