Pia Isa Premieres “Trauma” Video; Song Features Gary Arce of Yawning Man
Oslo-based multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Pia Isaksen, also frontwoman for the melodic nodders Superlynx, released her debut solo album as Pia Isa, Distorted Chants (review here), in March 2022 through Argonauta Records. “Trauma,” with a video premiering below, is a fitting representation of it, for the weight of the chug in Isaksen‘s guitar and bass, the floating guest lead guitar of desert rock progenitor Gary Arce from Yawning Man, Yawning Sons, Big Scenic Nowhere, et al, the drums of Superlynx bandmate Ole Teigen, and the overarching focus on atmosphere. Too heavy to be post-rock, not quite doom, Distorted Chants found Isaksen able to find an expressive niche of her own, something apart from singer-songwriterism, but built on that foundation and fleshed out accordingly into a fuller sound.
I’ve started (mentally anyhow) putting together my year-end list of the best debut albums, and I assure you that Distorted Chants will be on it. Songs, performance, craft, it’s all locked in as Isaksen brings together pandemic-born material with a sensibility that avoids so many of the male-gaze-centered traps set for women artists in contemporary heavy music — it is not especially witchy despite its mindful ambience, in other words; the intent feels more ‘be itself’ than ‘play to style’ — and that is refreshing both in terms of sonic persona and the realization of the material itself. The sound and the album are hers — bolstered in this case by the almost-goth guitar work of Arce — and the abiding feel from the music is personal, emotional in voice and style of play, while carrying not insignificant tonal weight from the first lurching riff of “Trauma” onward through the somewhat-brief-seeming sub-four-minute run. You could easily say the same of the whole record.
What’s invariably a sign of our times, “trauma” itself has become something of a buzzword. The very notion of a person’s mental and physical self being altered by some event or infliction is the defining aspect of the 2020s thus far — remember that plague? as Isaksen puts it, “Like magma traveling underneath the skin,” before she reminds: “The body does not forget” — and Distorted Chants is of this moment. She is not by any means the only artist to explore outside the confines of a ‘main project’ in the post-pandemic era, but turmoil and, indeed, trauma, become fluid movement through heavy haze in her hands and the density in the sound of “Trauma” is as much welcoming as it is consuming. There’s some distance from the experience, necessary for any artist to frame anything as a creative work, but Isaksen effectively creates the space for the song’s ideas to flourish, and they do.
I didn’t expect Arce, who plays on three of the album’s tracks, to appear in the clip, but sure enough he’s in there with Isaksen and Teigen, so right on. The more the merrier. And for what my saying so is worth, if you don’t support free talk therapy for all who want it, fuck off. Whatever else trauma is, it’s real for a lot of people.
Enjoy the clip, followed by a quote from Isaksen and
Pia Isa, “Trauma (feat. Gary Arce)” video premiere
Pia Isa on “Trauma:
“I am thrilled to finally have the vinyl out and to celebrate it with the music video for the song Trauma. This is one of the most personal and heavy tracks on the album, graced with gorgeous guitar melodies by Gary Arce coming in over the massive riff guitars and Ole Teigen´s slow heavy drums. The song is dealing with difficult matter, where trauma is symbolised visually by smoke, lava and a volcanic outburst in the video. I tried to find a hopeful and empowering view on it and to me personally this is an example of how therapeutic music can really be and how it can transport you into a different mindset.”
Pia Isa is the solo project of bassist/vocalist Pia Isaksen from Norwegian heavy psych/doom band Superlynx. She is now gearing up for the release of her debut solo album “Distorted Chants”, which features Ole Teigen (Superlynx) on drums and a guest appearance by guitarist Gary Arce (Yawning Man, Big Scenic Nowhere) on three of the songs.
Having played and written music for most of her life a solo album has been brewing in Pia’s mind for a long time. Finally everything has aligned for her first one to materialize and “Distorted Chants” was the result of that. As much as she loves playing with Superlynx (formed 2013) and other people her ideas for this album seemed more right to work through on her own.
