“Doves” now part of the album We Buy Diabetic Test Strips as a bonus track and includes a short film made together with Ryosuke Tanzawa.
The duo’s recent musical productions Armand Hammer –made up of rappers Billy Woods and ELUCID– have made it clear that their creative philosophy also includes a policy of coexistence and common collaboration. The rapper duo has confidently exercised the idea of a soundscape filled with the presence of different artists, including Jpegmafia, Kenny Segal, Danny Brown, Pink Siifu, and The Alchemist among many others. Today, a new track for the acclaimed album We Buy Diabetic Test Strips appears together with a short film made in the company of the artists Benjamin Booker and Ryosuke Tanzawa.
“Doves” It is an epic of almost nine minutes that builds a transcendental experience in conjunction with the guitar and voice of Benjamin Booker; The musician begins the track with chords that resonate gently and little by little fade into a disturbing reverberation. Soul rock strings provide a sense of intimacy suffused in a layer of static reminiscent of a tape recording. Armand Hammer maintains the presence of his guest through the progressive distortion of his guitar, throughout the track it is this melody that serves as the basis of a beat experimental that has no percussion. Suddenly, Billy Woods bursts into the soft soundstage with strong rhymes that tap on top of the instrumental. The dissonant energy that it caused is nuanced through the verse of ELUCID, who seems to be reciting a spell from the depths of a layer of snow covered in sound saturations. Finally, “Doves” It completely becomes an environment of resonance and monumentality that hides the notes of a piano among a collapse of sounds. At the same time the voices of woods and ELUCID that end up outlining the song.
I was very excited to make a video for Armand Hammer (‘Tabula Rasa’ and ‘Stone Fruit’ are tracks very important to me) but I wasn’t expecting something nine minutes long with basically everything… it’s quiet and loud, intimate and expansive, beautiful and horrible – all at the same time,” Ryosuke Tanzawa shared about “Doves.”
The experience of “Doves” has a short film made together with Ryosuke Tanzawa –known for his video clips for Madlib, Earl Sweatshirt and The Alchemist–. The audiovisual accompaniment is an emotionally charged proposal that shows woods and ELUCID immersed in the cold snowy environment of New York. First. Still images become objects of contemplation and build a leisurely photographic exhibition in which movement gradually slips. The open shots of winter environments around the city entail a movement outwards from the image, a look towards the intimacy of Armand Hammer that gradually moves away. At the end of the video, the calm flow in which we saw the rappers’ everyday surroundings becomes a superposition of images, where the city lights and architecture oppose the shapes of nature and the flight of pigeons.
Armand Hammer will be presented live on March 6 as part of the Pitchfork Festival CDMX.
Here we share his new video, “Doves”so you can get into the atmosphere of Billy woods and ELUCID before his concert.
