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Band & Musician News - Anna Coddington Releases New Single 'Lantern'

Anna Coddington Releases New Single 'Lantern'

24 June 2016 - 0 Comments

Anna Coddington releases new single Lantern, her second for 2016, and one which continues the journey towards album number three. Mixed by Djeisan Suskov (Leisure), Lantern features a soaring chorus combining with delicate guitars and a talented songwriter at her most vulnerable, and follows on from the impressive tone set by earlier single Release Me.  

Released alongside an accompanying lyric video entirely created by Coddington herself, Lantern again sees Coddington laying herself bare lyrically, questioning her place in the world. Pieced together around the theme of uncertainty, Lantern once again showcases one of New Zealand’s most acclaimed songwriters and her incredible vocal range, floating between vulnerable verses and powerful choruses.

WATCH LANTERN VIDEO
ALL LINKS TO STREAM/DOWNLOAD LANTERN

As is so often the case with music, only so much PR-spin is useful before you need to put it in the words of the artist themselves. 

“I often describe songs as being like dreams – in that they can sometimes be strange bits and pieces your subconscious has cobbled together, and you recognize where those pieces have come from and understand why your brain has put them together, but when you try to explain it to someone else they look at you like “riiiiiiiiight”. ‘Lantern’ is one of those songs.

The most coherent theme comes from the fact that when you have a child, your own identity undergoes a sudden and extreme makeover. Everyone defines themselves by certain things, and for me I was mostly “a person who makes music” and “a person who does karate”. Both things came with their own social circle (whānau really), their own sets of routine and ritual, etc. I had spent years establishing my place in these things, and both things became almost impossible with a newborn baby. I imagine everyone has their own version of this – temporarily giving up the things you’d always been patted on the back for and used as markers for your progress in life. Giving up your own glory in the name of something more important in that moment (that’s your baby, obvs). – Anna Coddington

Lantern released worldwide Friday June 24
From the album Luck/Time out worldwide October 21, 2016

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ANNA CODDINGTON ON MAKING HER OWN MUSIC VIDEO:

Why did you make your own video?
I wanted something a little bit rough around the edges and knew I could do it myself.

How did you make the video?
It's a stop motion video. I hung an old Sony handycam from a mic stand above a blackboard, then started putting things on the blackboard and moving them bit by bit and adding to them and using a little remote for the handycam to take short shots as I went. I've always been a secret craft nerd and really enjoyed making this video. I would do one section of the song (intro, a verse, etc.) in a day, then as I fell asleep that night, think about what I could do for the next section. I didn't have a plan for the whole thing from the start I just felt it out as I went. You can actually see as you watch it that I got better and more confident at doing it as I went along.

What is the song/video about?
The song is a mysterious mix of symbolism and influence that I don't even fully understand. It has to do with reclaiming your identity and believing that you are a glorious lantern even if most of the time no one can tell because it's usually daytime when they see you. But it's also about wanting to feel like you matter to someone – “oh I want someone I can redefine". Maybe that refers to someone else or maybe yourself. I don't know. The video tries to reflect that – the little flame keeps getting lost in all the other shit on the blackboard, then redefining the scene – burning down the whole screen for a clean slate. I didn't think too hard on the symbolism for the video, I just followed my instincts.

Both the song and video carry an influence from melancholic children's stories and illustrations that I read my son, particularly The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle. It's kind of desperate and sad, then happy at the end and the pictures are a kind of rough and childlike which makes them a little haunting to me.


Next: Earmilk premieres Andrew Keoghan's gender-bending new video

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