18 October 2019 - 0 Comments

Hit Me Where It Hurts, the first single from Alae’s freshly sealed partnership with Canadian producer Justin Gray and Anti Gravity records releases today, alongside a local first of it’s kind music video featuring the work of some of NZ’s most renowned music video directors.

Recorded in Los Angeles with Gray after a transformative collaboration session at the APRA AMCOS Songhubs initiative in March, Hit Me Where Hurts wraps a tale of one-sided love in a a springtime slice of slick soulful pop. This is Alae as you’ve never heard them before, and just a taste of what’s to come. Songwriter and vocalist Alex Farrel-Davey states; ”Hit Me Where It Hurts was the first song I’ve ever written in a group situation, and with people I don’t know. The process was massively unfamiliar, but it flowed so well. It’s really opened my mind to to a more collaborative songwriting process, which is something I would have been really closed off to previously. It was a real privilege to work with such a knowedgeable collective.”

The video for Hit Me Where It Hurts has no less of a story to tell, and it’s bold concept brings together five of New Zealand’s best music video directors for a kiwi collaboration like no other.

With bodies of work that read like a who’s who of NZ music, with over 150 music videos in the can between them, Chris Graham, Greg Page, Alexander Gander, Charlotte Evans and Petra Cibilich bring their directing talents to the latest from Alae, with ground breaking results. Mikee Carpinter, band manager and editor of the video explains how the concept came together; “For the music video we wanted to use a selection of directors and run with the idea of an ‘Exquisite Corpse’ style video, where none of the directors knew what the other directors would be doing for their 1 minute section of the song. We asked these amazingly talented humans because they had shown their own beautiful aesthetic through the work they’d done previously. Lucky for us they all said yes!”

The final video was revealed at a group viewing party, where the band, and directors all saw the end result for the first time:

"I loved not knowing what the other directors were shooting, and that we all interpreted our sections of the song in our own unique way" – Charlotte Evans

“We all agreed to embrace the mystery of the whole concept, and likened it to the shared drawings from primary school days, where someone drew the head & folded it over, the next person drew the torso and so on. When we screened it for the first time all together, it felt like Christmas and each director’s segment was like opening another surprise present.” – Chris Graham

“There was something creatively liberating about not knowing what the video would reveal itself to be on screen, or how your own chapter could carry or disrupt its flow - it was a matter of running wild and anticipating the unexpected.” – Petra Cibilich

"It's pretty rare as a director that you get to work with other directors, so the opportunity to bump around with a bunch of minds you usually just admire from afar was exhilarating stuff." – Alexander Gander

“Don’t tell the other directors, but I shot the whole song. Nine angles, full takes, just in case my allocated section changed. Heh heh!” - Greg Page

Hit Me Where It Hurts is the first single to be released from Alae’s forthcoming five-track EP which will release Summer 2020. Single is now through Spotify, Apple Music and iTunes.

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