Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland based producer, Amamelia (aka Amelia Berry) has dropped her new single, 'Love Is Useless' featuring fellow musician Junny (aka Jennifer-rose Tamati). The track is accompanied by a vintage-inspired music video directed by Benjamin Zambo (Princess Chelsea, Jonathan Bree, Cut Off Your Hands).
"We watched a lot of old live performances and public access TV - Top of the Pops, Robert Ashby’s Perfect Lives, Abba videos, YMO, The Paul Lynde Halloween Special." Says Zambo. "We bounced around a lot of ideas for segments based on these shows. The idea was to treat it like a low budget variety show that we had just found and chopped-and-screwed to fit our song. That meant we could be very fun and inappropriate with our performances and costumes, and shoot extra segments that didn’t fit with anything. The song is very serious in its lyrics, so we wanted to hint at some painful past between the performers - but do it in a very stupid performative way."
The track is instantly addictive; Amamelia's signature sounds and drum breaks pairing perfectly with Jennifer's smooth vocals and soft-spoken adlibs. 'Love Is Useless' captures an enchanting energy whilst being driven forward by Berry's energetic beat production.
"I'd been listening to a lot of mid 90s downtempo, a bunch of Everything But The Girl and I really wanted to try out using those kinds of sounds and just make something a bit heartbreaking" says Berry.
"The first thing I made for the track was the pad, I really wanted to create a kind of Playstation startup noise. The sub followed next, which is just the test tone from the Akai S950. I'm really fascinated by how this particular sine wave has a different quality to any other."
The track arrives with two reimaginations by Baby Zionov and Amamelia herself.
Watch the video below.
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