Max Cooper:
The project began as so many others at the start of the lockdown period when everything was brought under inspection for all of us. And as often is the case, my writing process became a sort of balance, against my collapsing world of touring and new uncertainties. There's something about focusing on a simple chord progression and the feeling it contains which often puts things into perspective. What developed was the Earth EP, with a focus on the beauty and processes surrounding us, and our role amongst the system. I started chatting to Jip about the project and he had the great idea of linking the reflections of the music to those of ice and its role in reflecting light from the sun, linking in footage from his visits to Svalbard, research lab imagery of ice crystal formation from Wenting Zhu, and his own ice formation experiments. Big thanks Jip for the beautiful work, I hope you enjoy it too.
Jip Mus:
The film is choreographed by a natural source; change of temperature. I was amazed by all the different shapes and movements water would make, a continuous dance of shifting into states of aggregation. I got to visit Svalbard last November for a photo series and I was shocked to feel the rise of temperature in the Arctic so vividly. When I first heard the music that Max sent me it gave me a melancholic feeling, the same feeling I felt seeing this island slowly disappear. I hope this film helps us understand the value of these places and that we need to preserve them to slow down the rapid changes of temperature on our planet. I would like to thank Wenting ZHU from Beauty of Science (research institute from China), Cecilia Blomdahl (drone operator from Svalbard) and of course Max Cooper for working together with me on this film.
