"The music video is a trippy and visceral dive into the soul of 'Ariana' - the song represents the concept of a dream mate," explains Christopher Harold Wells, brainchild of Nashville-based psychedelic alternative rock band The Neverlutionaries to Stitched Sound who premiered the video today, December 2, 2020. "Upon finally meeting her, how would I feel inside at that moment and what would those feelings sound like - that sense of longing for something you love is so strong and brings out so many emotions - the video is a visual exploration of those emotions?" "Ariana" is taken from The Neverlutionaries debut self-titled LP set for release February 2021 via Polychromatic Records.
Polychromatic Records founder Scot Dunlap explains, "It was quite challenging to produce a music video in the times of the COVID pandemic; we took an experimental approach by working with live motion graphics from artist Jacob Burke and footage from Emmy and Telly award-winning cinematographer Scott Mumford, SOC, to present a colorful and psychedelic exploration into the feeling and emotions of 'Ariana'. The song has a lingering sense of longing - we thought that a flower opening and the changes in the sky creatively represent the emotions one goes through in the process of falling in love and wanting to be with someone." The video was edited and produced by Dunlap at his home studio in Nashville, TN and also features a "special appearance" of Brooklyn-based model, fashion design and art director, Scout Isensee coordinated by photographer Adam Wamsley.
"Ariana" as a fantastical love interest is an idea as old as music itself, and The Neverlutionaries video takes that concept and breathes new visual life into it in the midst of the current cultural, pandemic and political climate. It is a layered atmospheric track with swirling-delayed guitar effects showcasing Wells waxing on the aforementioned desire. In the video, he sings in front of a background of elegant hazy effects from the cosmos and nature. "The song is about the way love makes your soul dance about and how the feeling moves you," Wells explains. "The music is like life with many movements and changes... harmony to discord and then to resolution. Like the ocean waves, the rhythm is never exactly the same and that is where the magic is. Being a huge shoegaze lover for years, it eventually and inevitably crept into my sound. I tried to achieve that feeling through delayed trippy guitars weaving through each other for an intense dreamy effect as love is intense and dreamy."
"Ariana" has already received praise from sites such as Newswhistle who said, "Already we're digging The Neverlutionaries' song "Ariana" - a dreamy song infused with steady drums, colorful keyboard sounds, and impassioned vocals." Rock And Blues International raved, "We just heard one of the coolest songs we've heard in awhile."Set for release in February 2021, The Neverlutionaries' self-titled LP comes alive with catchy, heavy, textural, sometimes trippy sounds and moves with thought invoking, soulful lyrical delivery that nods to the rock and soul strains of Lenny Kravitz and Prince fronting the bombast of Soundgarden in songs like "Hopped Up On Crazy", "Ticking Away" and "Everybody's Losing Their Minds". A Led Zeppelin/Jack White dirge and groove is sprinkled in "Save Yourself". "Ariana" is joined by the other Pink Floyd-blended ballads "As It Burns", "Precious Eyes", "Unconditionally" and "Stumble". Two retro rock-inflected songs "Ill Equation" and "Stardusted" round out the track listing. The bonus track "Ellis Street Stomp" is a piano and horn driven spoken word hazy jazzy brew of Prince, Mayer Hawthorne and Steely Dan.
An intercontinental musician who was originally born in Philadelphia by way of North Carolina and now splits his time between Nashville and San Francisco, Wells created his band with the intention of melding his rock and roll roots with his love of jazz, alternative and shoegaze, bringing energy and artistic collaboration to a set of songs he had been working on for some time. Regarding the origin of the band name, Wells explains, "The idea is that people are so lost in modern times, with so many issues to contend with and no great source of positive energy in which to draw from, that a real and true revolution seems impossible and it may never be. Hence, The Neverlutionaries. When I came up with the name late last year, there was a palpable tension in the air in our country, like something was about to blow... and it did."
Working alongside #1 Billboard-debuting producer Jaimeson Durr (Sammy Hagar, Joe Satriani, Train, Wyclef, Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart) at San Francisco's legendary Hyde Street Studios (Green Day, Tupac Shakur, George Clinton, Dead Kennedys), Wells was literally stopped in his tracks by the pandemic in the midst of recording, so he set up at home while quarantining in North Carolina to resume work on the LP. Pulling together a veritable who's who in session musicians, Wells coordinated efforts with friends and collaborators including legendary guitarist Kenny Olson (Bootsy Collins, Steven Perkins from Jane's Addiction, Norwood Fisher from Fishbone, fabled drummer James Gadson), San Francisco drummer/producer Chris McGrew (Pamela Parker and The Fantastic Machine, co-owner Wally's Hydeout in Hyde Street Studios C where Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Santana, CCR and CSN&Y recorded), pianist Ryan Hickey (producer, Wally's Hydeout), session/studio drummer Nick Baglio (Gucci Mane) and guitarist Jonnie Axtell (Psychefunkapus). The revolving cast of musicians in Wells' orbit also includes Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboardist/former Parliament Funkadelic keyboardist Peter Keys, southern rock outlaw rapper Alexander King and the aforementioned Kenny Olson who play together in a rock funk side project called the All Time Low Stars.
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