Here's the new video for "On The Rise" - the second single off Blood From A Stone. Curtis Peel did an amazing job on the animation. Hope you all enjoy it.
You can get this track (as well as the first single) instantly when you pre-order the new record. Check out the Pledge Music page for an exclusive t-shirt, signed vinyl, test pressings, art proofs and more. Album drops July 8 on Feel Music.
Soulive founder and guitarist Eric Krasno has been writing and recording for nearly two decades. But it's only on his new solo record, Blood From A Stone, that he steps up to the microphone. While most of the tracks sit comfortably on the blues and R&B end of the musical spectrum, the single “On the Rise” explores a more psychedelic vibe, complete with a laid-back groove and cinematic orchestrations.
Video artist and filmmaker Curtis Peel gives “On the Rise” an equally psychedelic animated music video, which premieres today on The Creators Project. Amidst the procession of imagery are a levitating cyclops buddha, several technicolor nature scenes, and multi-hued babies in strange wombs. Peel tells The Creators Project that the song’s groove and “sugary, psychedelic choruses” suggested to him that the video would need a lot of color instead of a heavy emphasis on plot.
“For me, the narrative was this sort of gradual reveal that culminates at the end of the final chorus,” Peel says. “At first you think you're just watching this cyclops monk enjoying a meditative ritual on a hilltop of some distant planet, but as he starts to trip out, you realize that he is envisioning a distant civilization that has long since been buried beneath the ocean.”
“The waters subside, revealing ruins/infrastructure akin to a major metropolis like New York City,” he adds. “Our monk feels compassion for the humans that didn't survive whatever catastrophe had its way with them and decides to plant the seeds for their rebirth, but the humans quickly grow out of control and the monk flees the planet.”
Peel animated the video using primarily Adobe After Effects. He compiled over 50 scenes individually, then transitioned between them sequentially. “Given that the story-line ended up being this stream of consciousness, this gave me the freedom to simultaneously storyboard and piece together the animated bits as if you were turning pages in a comic book,” Peel says. Check out the music video for "On the Rise" at TheCreatorsProject.Vice.com
Watch "Waiting On Your Love" at Billboard.com
Soulive and Lettuce co-founder and guitarist, Grammy winner, and producer for just about everyone (he's worked with Talib Kweli, Norah Jones and 50 Cent, to name a few): Eric Krasno has an impressive CV for someone who's only releasing his second solo album two decades into his career.
The experienced Krasno crafted the bulk of upcoming album Blood From a Stone in a handful of days alongside Rustic Overtones' Dave Gutter. "We didn't realize we were actually making the record, so there was no pressure, and that let us experiment in really cool ways," Krasno explained. "There's a lot of rawness to the recordings, and that really bled into the performances and my vocal delivery."
Blood From a Stone and lead single "Waiting On Your Love" (premiering exclusively below) mark a change from Krasno's earlier funk-imbued style to a more structured blues and R&B-influenced sound. "Growing up, I listened to Hendrix, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and the Grateful Dead, along with a lot of hip-hop," Krasno recalled. "When I linked up with Soulive, we played instrumental music, and that's the path I’ve mostly been on ever since. This record loops back to those initial bands and songs I loved, but with the added experience and influence of the past 20 years."
Krasno described "Waiting On Your Love" as "a song about moving on. Realizing you can’t wait any longer on something that isn’t there." Sonically, it's a mix of his varied influences. "It's blues, but psychedelic, and has a hip-hop feel at the same time. The hypnotic vibe is a good introduction for what’s to follow."
Krasno utilized the city of New Orleans and its resources for the single's music video, enlisting skilled local faves Mike Bertel, Alex Glustrom, and Ben McKay for the colorful clip. "For the initial shots in the video, we actually hopped a fence and snuck in to an old rundown factory building in New Orleans," Krasno said. "At one point I’m standing with my guitar on a rail at the top of a seven story building acting like everything was cool, but thinking ‘damn, I could fall deep into the abyss from here.'"
"Waiting On Your Love" marks Krasno's first single featuring his vocals. "It's something I didn’t know was there," Kresno said. "I would have been totally content just being a guitar player and writing songs for other people, but this inspiration just happened, and I'm really glad it did, because it's changed things. I didn't know I had this in me."
Watch "Waiting On Your Love" at Billboard.com