"Held" is the latest track to be released from their debut album, Terroir, which is set for release on August 12th, 2022.
Blue Luminaire, aka Copenhagen-based, British-born composer, Nick Martin (they / them), has shared the otherworldly video for "Held", the latest track to be released from their debut album, Terroir, which is set for release on Bella Union on August 12th, 2022.
The video, featuring Blue Luminaire and Lucky Lo, was directed by Benjamin Tarp and filmed in Møn (an island in Denmark) using only the magical light around sunrise and sunset. Tarp explains: "Held is a very personal song for Nick, and giving visual life to their words and sounds was an amazing task to be given. Nick wanted the video to be filmed at Møn, which is a very old place with roots back to the dawn of time, and the nature there is truly inspiring to say the least. It was magical to experience and work with the light in these twilight hours during Scandinavian summer."
Nick Martin expands, "'Held' is a song about trying to look after oneself, of being there to carry oneself, particularly through difficult times. It is a song that whilst it addresses the listener, is really written for myself - those caring words of affirmation are gentle reminders... "have self-compassion".
The landscape personifies that deeper presence inside of us, one that is there to hold us when we fall. And since we are of the earth, not separate from it, as we'd like to believe... "we are held by ourselves"
Blue Luminaire is Nick Martin's latest project, marking a transition from their previous EPs - where they were composing and directing - to step into the spotlight as a performer, creating a sonic universe stretching across time to create an ever-moving, cyclical experience. Hovering between worlds, Blue Luminaire is the sound of the in-between.
The debut release, Terroir, utilizes their classical music training - Martin grew up in Bedford surrounded by classical music before studying in London - to create a unique and otherworldly sonic experience where past selves collide, and the universality of heartbreak, familial patterns and grief permeate.
The album title stems from the word terre (meaning soil) and connects to the idea that we carry the weight of our original, formative environments and relationships. Martin wanted to interrogate how they shape our sense of self, and impact our ability to connect with one another, while navigating a new path in the wake of a difficult break-up, and confronting their complicated relationship with their family.
Nick Martin wrote Terroir while working as a cleaner and assistant at a music venue in Copenhagen. Inspired by the performances they witnessed, on nights when no one was scheduled to appear, they took to one of the hall's pianos and started sketching out the melodies and lyrics that would soon become the album. The album was recorded two years later, with 14 instrumentalists and sound engineer Pape Arce, at the music venue where it all began.
Terroir's expansively meditative, mantra-like exploration of the self opens a soothing portal that urges connection in a world that aims to distract and deter. While working on the album, Martin was focused on the beneficial effect of music for mental well-being, and found a certain solace through Terroir's benevolent and exploratory nature. "Many of us are drawn to music, art and writing because of the need to get something out," they explain. "That thing you might carry around and feel like is this huge, dark, horrible thing you don't want anyone to see or hear. And yet when you do it, it feels good."
Terroir is proof that healing can flourish, even in our darkest moments.
Watch the new music video here:
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