Aroly Tariq releases debut single 'Light Shines Down'
Melbourne singer, songwriter, producer, and visual artist Aroly Tariq, one half of the band Audego, today releases her debut solo single ’Light Shines Down’ from her soon to be released six track debut EP.
The track is a mesmerising, eclectic and dreamy slice of experimental pop with elements of electronica, R&B and trap. It defiantly - and brilliantly - refuses to adhere to traditional structure with off-kilter beats, no easily identifiable verse-chorus, competing vocals and a glorious, extended ad libbed outro. The focus throughout it all is Tariq’s glorious voice - gentle yet demanding, hypnotic and all encompassing.
“Before I wrote ‘Light Shines Down’, I realised I was stuck in a rut of only feeling creative when I was sad, so most of my songs I made with Audego were all venting and complaining sessions,” Tariq says. “I wrote ‘Light Shines Down’ to form a departure from that pattern. I wanted to focus on the positives in my life and offer an ode to true love. My favourite part about this song is that the structure is kind of a collage of segments that are linked by the hook. It’s not formulaic. It’s a little journey that gets sweeter throughout the piece.”
Also out today is the video for ‘Light Shines Down’ which was created and produced by Tariq. It reflects her love of creating traditional and AI art and animation as an extension of her music.
“Creating the filmclip for ‘Light Shines Down’ was such an epic journey for me,” she says. “I knew I wanted to explore AI technology for the clip’s development, but had no idea how vast that landscape is. The clip’s creation was very DIY. I used the camera from my computer to shoot it myself and created a green screen out of pieces of large craft paper. I taught myself and implemented free AI software to help me create a series of shapes that I animated, and then I had to learn After Effects and Premiere Pro from scratch to compile the elements. I really had no idea what I was doing and went in completely blind. It’s been an experience of trial and error to form my own visual style. This wonderful augmented reality/digital mask creator, Sarah Mayer, superimposed one of her creations over my green screen footage, which I think blends really beautifully with my animations. All things considered, I think the video clip came out well for my first production. I can’t wait to make more filmclips and explore the possibilities between AI and AR interacting with sound.”
Throughout her career Tariq has worked with artists such as Funkstörung and Coy Haste (Caribou) and received support from major outlets such as Rage, BBC Radio 1, NPR KCRW and Triple J. She is a seriously talented artist with a killer voice and the type of music that challenges what pop music can be, invigorates you and brings all the feels. This new era in her career is looking exceptional and she is an artist that should be on your playlist right now.
‘Light Shines Down’ is out now. You can download on iTunes and stream on Apple Music and Spotify
To keep up with all things Aroly Tariq you can follow her on Instagram, Twitter and Soundcloud.
