The new video from Hite, entitled 'Paste' has premiered via Paste Magazine. The song is from her debut album 'Light Of A Strange Day' out now via Six Degrees Records. Hite is the new project from Julia Easterlin and the follow up to her collaboration with Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Toure on their #1 iTunes world charting album, 'Touristes.
The video was shot by Alex Cullen in a New York warehouse with the use of butterflies to showcase transition. The track Eliza Jane was written by Julia for and about her trans brother, River. "Cullen, Julia Ngeow and the Resonant Pictures team were so passionate and generous in putting together this project. It's a very personal joy for me and for my family - it's a beautiful way for us to celebrate River and this gorgeous and pivotal time in his life. Particularly now in the face of so much anti-transgender political bulls, we're happy to be able to make a proud and personal statement with this video."
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Julia Easterlin's earlier work combined looping and layering her voice to create her music. On Touristes, she began to move away from what she calls "the looping artist pigeonhole" and the current incarnation of her work, Hite is more of a vehicle for lyrical expression. This record, Light Of A
Strange Day, she says, "is a natural progression, away from loops and into more flexible, expressive forms of storytelling. In the making of the album, i left behind all my familiar tools (loops, computer, effects pedals, rhyming lyrics) and played only acoustic instruments, one take, one mic, open ended, stream-of-consciousness. it was a completely different approach to music making, and releasing it under the
Julia Easterlin name (which is so attached to loops and upbeat, poppy vocal music) felt somehow... dishonest. it's been a decade since I wrote my first piece of looped vocal music, and i needed a fresh new home for my new music, so different from previous work."
Growing up in
Georgia and moving around to Boston and ultimately settling in NYC, Julia cites references for her own songwriting from the southern Appalachian folk music she grew up listening to as well as alternative pioneer Bjork. The decision to change her performing name to Hite was a simple one, "Hite is my middle name and my great-grandmother's maiden name. she was a tiny woman my mother loved very much, and she passed away right before i was born. mom passed the hite torch on to me. ...she said she always thought i might go by 'Hite' someday, if I ever wanted to shed the weight of girlishness. So here i am. Hite. Woman. Music-maker."
Hite is looking forward to playing the songs out live with dates to be announced soon and recently played WBUR/The New York Times 'Modern Love Live' at
The Wilbur in Boston on Valentine's Day: A live recording of the hit podcast based on the popular New York Times column. Hosted by Meghna Chakrabarti (host of Modern Love: The Podcast) with Daniel Jones (editor of the "Modern Love" column), this event included Modern Love essay readings by Emmy Rossum ("Shameless"), Brian Tyree Henry ("Atlanta"), and Alysia Reiner ("Orange Is the New Black.") You can check out Hite's performance
here
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