Kiwi Music Podcast with EstĆØre
Ever since EstĆØre spoke to her grandmother about Carl Jung and his concept of archetypes, the Wellington-based producer knew the direction her next album would take. Fascinated, EstĆØre dedicated herself to creating a record based on Jungian theory, devouring five books and filling six notebooks with ideas, brainstorms and eventually the material that appears on her third masterful record, the concept-album Archetypes.Ā EstĆØreās Jungian obsession dominated her sleep, creating bizarre dreamtime scenarios featuring encounters with cheetahs in a garden or sea creatures in a flood, while others revolved around delivering life into the universe and the massive task of guardianship over these beings - the instinctive selflessness of motherhood. Other dreams depicted violence and killing of the other; in some, EstĆØre saw herself as a boy or a man. The imagery and meaning in these dreams have been incorporated into the archetypes that are featured on the album.Ā Commenting on her interpretation of Jungian theory, EstĆØre says, "Iāve been heavily influenced by post-Jungian literature which disregards some of the archaic Jungian concepts - particularly the work of esteemed African American psychologist Fanny Brewster."ArchetypesĀ is a departure from the bedroom beats of EstĆØreās previous two albums. Co-produced with Massive Attack producer, Stew Jackson, each track on the album comes alive through the Wellington-based artistās deft production. Defying categorisation, her music is a mixture of folk, R&B and electronica, blended in a unique fashion, easily identified as āEstĆØreā. ArchetypesĀ is the sound of an artist who entirely commits to creative instinct.Ā Album opener āInto the Belly of Capricornā sets the scene, inviting the listener to close their eyes and be absorbed into EstĆØreās enchanted narrative. The track is based around the archetype of youth, where EstĆØre meets her own inner child as a separate mythical entity, reminding her of the freedom she felt in early life. Written in the filtered light of the nikau forest on Waiheke Island, where EstĆØre was born, the song captures the essence of those surroundings. āThe forest is primeval - when you enter it, your sense of self, time and space are lost and you become absorbed inside its majesty,āĀ explains EstĆØre.Ā Lead single āCalculated Riskā is based around the archetype of suppressing desire. EstĆØre says, "There are age-old myths and archetypes about how women taking risks and being curious about things can literally ruin the world.Ā Calculated Risk explores how I can be freed from the chains of judgement and failure, opening- up about my feelings, deep desires, and dreamsā.Ā Second single āMad About Your Seaā depicts the addiction archetype, in this case, the idea of feeling addicted to a person, wanting to āsaveā them, despite them hurting you. āAnimal Pleasureā tackles the archetype of female sexuality, exploring EstĆØreās journey towards recognising her own sexual instinct as a woman and acting upon it without fear or shame.Ā āMish-mashing folkloric storytelling styles with more personal dialogues enabled me to really dig my teeth into each archetypal theme I wanted to exploreā.Ā Ā Breathing life into narratives that marry the acutely human to the achingly mythic, EstĆØreās highly-anticipated third...