The new video-single from debonair Estonian chansonnier Mart Avi.
Or rather video-singles, as this is what we used to call a double A-side.
I'm reminded of Junior Boys, not in the particulars so much but the approach: a thoughtful outsider take on / takes on deluxe nowpop aesthetics (Weeknd, Jeremih, etc), that level of gloss and seductive sumptuousness... but with echoes of earlier pop-not-pop infiltrators such as The Blue Nile, Prefab, Associates, Climate of Hunter Scott.
In the mission-statement, “Soul ReaVer” is described as "a long exhale full of nameless longing, sharing Burial’s introspective yearning for lost cultures and futures, and the wistful elegance of a 21st century Cole Porter". This dude can write! And in his second language too!
Avi further explains the video concept as "an alt-history of a torn personality like a Star Wars Sith Lord or some Disney character being revived – brought back to die again, then to awake again, It doesn’t have the oomph and zest of “Spark”, no yearning for ultimate supremacy, no plans to find anything in particular, not even oneself, in that celluloid shrine — just a vague urge to make the Big Reel spin again.”
According to the AVICORP communique, flipside "Spark" for its part teems allusively on both audio (New Jack Swing) and video levels (The Matrix, Hype Williams, Bowie's "Little Wonder”) with '90s-ness.
In case you're wondering, "ReaVer" comes from an actual, if archaic, English word, "reave" - "to rob, despoil, deprive one of, tear away."
This lead-dual single is a taster for his late-2020 album Vega Never Sets which promises to be a gorgeous treat.
Avi caught in performance in Tallinn in 2017.
More to explore at https://martavi.bandcamp.com/