Clementine Valentine, the New Zealand-based art-pop duo formerly known as Purple Pilgrims, today released another track off their recently announced their upcoming album, ‘The Coin that Broke the Fountain Floor’, out on 25 August via the prestigious Flying Nun Records.
According to the duo,
‘Selenelion’ is a type of lunar eclipse where both the sun and moon appear in the sky at the same time. As a story the song is based on aspects of countless old folk songs and fables. A star-crossed dynamic. The meeting of a myological creature and a mortal, always ending in tragedy. —- The video by Britt Walton follows the same doomed scenario, set in a place dear to us – Hong Kong, where we grew up.
‘Selenelion’ is a beautiful haunting track, with elements of folk and electro pop mixed together into something quite ethereal and mysterious. The video contrasts the enigmatic duo performing with elegance and allure while a character walks through the bustling metropolis of Hong Kong – contrasting a stillness with chaos, energy and movement:
‘Selenelion’ is out now and available to stream and download here.
The Coin That Broke the Fountain Floor’ can be pre-ordered here and through the link below.
Sisters Clementine and Valentine Nixon draw inspiration from their nomadic family heritage, creating music that evokes contrasting moods: ancient and modern, paradise and isolation, beauty and brokenness, ritual and the present moment.
Having grown up between New Zealand and Hong Kong, the sisters gained experience by performing in unconventional spaces and rogue music venues throughout Hong Kong’s abandoned industrial estates, captivating audiences with their blend of experimental noise and futuristic dream-pop as Purple Pilgrims.
The duo have since toured the world extensively alongside the likes of Ariel Pink, Aldous Harding, John Maus, and Weyes Blood. It’s a lifestyle embedded in their lineage; travelling musicians and performers go back hundreds of years on their maternal side (as documented on recordings such as The Travelling Stewarts, from 1968). As children, the sisters were taught to sing traditional balladry by their grandmother, daughter of revered Traveller musician Davie Stewart (later recorded by Alan Lomax).
Feature Photograph: Katya Brook
