Melody’s Echo Chamber Releases Video For “Alma” Off Upcoming Emotional Eternal LP

It’s been a full decade since Melody Prochet released her self-titled debut under the moniker of Melody’s Echo Chamber. At the time, much of the press gravitated toward the easiest angle, choosing to focus heavily on the fact that it was produced by her then-boyfriend, Kevin Parker. This understandably left the French artist with mixed feelings as her music was gaining traction and receiving positive reviews, yet so much of its success was being attributed to someone else. Archaic as it is, it can remain difficult for women to gain the respect that they deserve in the music industry, and the back-handed appraisal of Prochet’s work was like a double-edged sword. Any comparison to Tame Impala that could be found was always drawn, but also praised, simultaneously validating and dismissing her in the same breath. Likewise, touring as the opener for Parker‘s critically acclaimed project helped gain her fans and recognition, but only tied her closer to the very thing casting the shadow that she needed distance from.

The album Bon Voyage followed in 2018, after a delayed release caused by a serious accident, which found Prochet hospitalized for months. Initial demos were recorded using Flying Lotus‘s studio in Los Angeles, before setting up shop in Sweden to record with Reine Fiske and Fredrik Swahn of the Swedish band, The Amazing. Reine is, perhaps, even better known as the guitarist for Stockholm pastoral psych-prog outfit, Dungen, whose frontman, Gustav Ejstes, and drummer, Johan Holmegaard, have not only contributed to releases by The Amazing, but appeared on Bon Voyage, as well. Now, with Fiske and Swahn handling production duties on Melody’s brand new album, Emotional Eternal, it’s nice to discover that Ejstes and Holmegard have popped, yet again, to add their own small contributions.

Emotional Eternal is slated to be released tomorrow, April 29th, through Domino records.  With the fast-paced music industry and a pandemic that makes every year feel like 12, it seems like forever since Prochet‘s last release. That being said, there’s something refreshing about an artist who takes their time crafting their work in silence, resurfacing only when they have something to say and a flushed-out product to deliver it through. Emotional Eternal reflects growth in Prochet as an artist and a clarity of vision. While her breathy dreamlike vocals remain, there is plenty of range showcased on this release. “Pyramids In The Clouds” has an upbeat Middle Eastern flair to it, while “The Hypnotist” sounds as if Blonde Redhead were to cover something off of Serge Gainsbourg‘s Histoire De Melody Nelson. Up to now, the only official leaks offered have been a sundrenched fever dream titled “Personal Message” and the shimmering disco-grooved lysergic serenade of “Looking Backward.” Today we get, “Alma,” our third and final video/single before the album drop.

“Alma” is a deeply personal song for Prochet. According to the press release, it was written a year after giving birth when she was separated from her daughter for a night and turned to music to fill that void. It’s not surprising to discover that this song features Gustav Ejstes, and Johan Holmegaard, as it’s the one track on the album where you can truly hear elements of Dungen coming through. This is a track where all players can feel free to unleash themselves, as Melody‘s is at a point in her evolution where she has established that her voice is too strong to be drowned out.

Speaking of “Alma,” Prochet states the following…

“To me this song is a butterfly. It feels more like a little poem to life than a song; it was the first song to arise from the echoes of silence since Bon Voyage. I think I recorded the emotion of that kind of spiritual experience of the essential yet heart-breaking separation from the pure love bubble to the world of others.”

Regarding the recording process, she explains…

“We recorded “Alma” in Swahn’s studio in Stockholm again; I remember we gave special attention to the groove, to give it a swing and emphasis on the light side, with a minor sound of danger in the veil of the mist somewhere. Johan Holmegaard played drums, Gustav Estjes played the piano and little velvet flute; Josephin Runsteen created transcending strings and noises directed by Reine and Swahn.”

As someone who listens to a lot of library music, “Alma” appeals to me in the sense that it sounds as if it could appear on the soundtrack to some 1970s foreign thriller. This is the type of theme music that plays as the couple in cable-knit sweaters drives their Volvo around the mountainside on the way to drink wine at their vacation home. Everything may seem wonderfully peachy, but below the well-coifed hair and candlelight, something sinister is buzzing. At some point, a mysterious killer with black gloves will lurk in the shadows and paintlike blood will inevitably spill. There’s a mystery to be cracked and a handgun is definitely getting fired.

Of course, the vision that they chose to go with is nice, too; albeit quite a bit different. Directed by Hyoyon Paik, the video for “Alma” is, apparently meant to depict “the astral travel of a soul traveling freely until it eventually arrives back at its origin.” Comprised of a series of breathtaking majestic landscapes, it looks a lot more like the Instagram posts my wife and I send each other to feel sad about places we will, most likely, never visit.

Emotional Eternal is available to pre-order on Dom Mart in exclusive color vinyl, vinyl, CD and digitally. Pre-order: Dom Mart | Digital.

Check out the video for “Alma” below.