Reawaken - Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres x Claudia Naen
Official music video by Claudia Naen for Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres new single Reawaken (feat. Kezia Tomsett). A film presenting a visual journey through a young woman's exploration of the overpowering stimulation of nature.
Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres is a film composer and classical electronic artist. Her most recent film work includes BAFTA and BIFA nominated Douglas King’s dark comedy Do No Harm and indie feature THE LOST. In 2019 she scored Divided We Scroll for The Barbican with director Klaas Diersmann and choreographer Pepe Ubera. She scored Prana for dance group Fiya House at Sadlers Wells Breakin’ Convention 19 and was selected for BAFTA Crew x BFI Network.
As a solo artist, Alexandra’s passions lie in the duality between the classical and electronica worlds, moving picture and her love for the piano. Her music was described by The White Room Magazine as “majestic, at times monumental…the force and vastness of nature”. She has performed alongside artists such as Talvin Singh, Melissa Parmenter, Gabríel Ólafs, Mara Simpson, Throwing Snow and TSHA at venues and festivals such as Union Chapel, Butley Priory, Cheltenham International Music Festival and Brudenell Social Club.
How did you and Claudia meet?
The song came from a darker place healing and reflecting on loss of life and Catholicism in my childhood. The initial imagery going through my head was stained glass windows, cold hard stone and warming sunlight which was why I used the photograph of the window with sunlight bursting through, reflecting on spiritual spaces. I guess the idea of transcendence and spirituality has remained with the piece all the way through. Then when we were locked down, I started to think about how nice it was to see handwritten things after everybody had seemingly turned to the internet so I wanted to get some of my own positive words in the visuals thinking about how I had been signing letters and cards.What was the inspiration behind the song? What initial imagery did you see for the song?
It was really fun. Both Claudia and I have very different styles so it was really great that we could combine my hard edges and strong graphics with a more bright organic and textural work of Claudia’s Style. I also love monochrome and Claudia loves colour. Knowing Claudia had a very strong aesthetic, I could really trust her to deliver in her style which makes me very happy, as it is a true artist response to my music.How was the process of making collaborative imagery?
Absolutely and I hope to work with Claudia again very soon! I think that we grow so much as artists through exploration and collaborating allows me to explore another person’s language and finding new ways of expression that I might not have thought of before In this case both with music collaborating with a musical artist such as Kezia Tomsett or with Claudia as a visual artist. It has been fantastic to inject some colour into my work over this project!What are your thoughts on collaborative work and if you will be continuing to do it in the future with your music?
