IlukaVelvet-voiced Sydney songstress ILUKA has just released her well-received second EP, Blue My Soul, and in the wake of its arrival The Music is stoked to be premiering the evocative video for her marvellous, soulful new single, The Fools.
Featuring a tonne of Edison bulbs (those are mad expensive, by the way, so props on going all out) and the euphonious back-up vocals of Toks Ogundare and Margaret Tengbeh, the clip follows in the footsteps of ILUKA's previous EP singles — which include Blue Jean Baby and the release's title track — in more ways than one, further showcasing the emerging singer-songwriter's considerable talent for crafting accessible, warmly atmospheric alt-folk tunes to remember.
That's not to unfairly or unnecessarily pigeonhole her, of course; indeed, it would be foolhardy (no pun intended) to do so, given the EP's diverse influences. As ILUKA has expressed before, the transient origins of the EP — "born in a Buddhist monastery in south-east Asia, took shape through a utopian human experiment in southern India, and matured on the vast, arid expanses of the American desert", to use her words — have infused it with a sense of earthly eclecticism underneath the unifying creative vision being exercised.
The video for The Fools was filmed, directed, edited and coloured by multi-talented cinematographer Ehran Edwards, with assistance from Michelle Nagy (first AD), Emma Elias (camera assistant), Ted Crosby (grip) and Nicola Beese (hair and make-up), with production from Tim Arney.
If you dig the sights and sounds above, you can catch ILUKA on the road throughout March and April, as she's got a sizeable east-coast tour lined up to kick off at The Pier, Port Macquarie, on Thursday 16 March.
Additional stops follow in Gold Coast, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Geelong, Wollongong and Sydney, where she wraps up at the Hudson Ballroom on Saturday 8 April.
The Blue My Soul EP is available now.
For a full rundown of dates, venues and other details about ILUKA's upcoming tour, see theGuide.
