The video for the DEBUT EP’s title track showcases the positive side of obsession—and features a cameo by Tarra Thiessen’s purpled-out alter-ego Mamajoe
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A wise woman (Irene Cara) once said (sang)…
TAKE YOUR PASSION / MAKE IT HAPPEN / I CAN HAVE IT ALL, NOW I’M DANCIN’ FOR MY LIIIIIIFE
OH WHAT A FEELIN’ / BEING’S BELIEVING / PICTURES COME ALIVE / YOU CAN DANCE RIGHT THROUGH YOUR LIIIIIFEE
Granted, I haven’t seen Flashdance, but the sentiment still hits. There’s power in passion… beauty in finding, and following, your purpose. And it’s a gift not just to yourself but to the world when you find, and grow into, your place in it. (Whether or not you’re working as a welder/exotic dancer to pay the bills while you do it.)
Within our community of creatives, this is an especially relevant, and a commonly understood, concept. Whether music, painting, photography, comedy… everyone, every day, is pouring their time—and themselves—into their projects. It’s not just a way of working or a way of living, but a way of being. It is, well, an obsession. And it’s a good thing.
One such artist that embodies this ideal is Tarra Thiessen, whose musical pursuits include playing peculiar percussion (coffee cans, rubber chickens) in Gustaf; praising the purple pope while celebrating strange holidays over stream as part of one half of MamajoeVramajoe; and singing/screaming about butter, Jack Nicholson and the DMV—among other things—as the frontperson of her newest project, Tea Eater. (Watch a studio session we filmed featuring those tracks here.)
Now, as an artist obsessed, she’s written a song praising creative preoccupation and celebrating the positive effects of being all-consumed—and I couldn’t be more stoked to premiere the music video here!
From Tea Eater, it’s “Obsession.”
Obsession, obsession, obsession / Make your passion bring joy and love
This video drops a day ahead of Tea Eater’s debut LP, also titled Obsession, which is described as an album that “captures the joys of release from captivity. The celebration of creativity. The reclamation of self. The freedom of expression. The return to irreverence in a new it’s-the-end-of-the-world-again society.”
Ahead of the release, Tarra sent over notes on the making of the video and, within it, the feelings she and her alter-ego attempt to ignite.
“The video for ‘Obsession’ was directed, filmed and edited by Emily Hughston at BKLYN CLAY in Tribeca. Emily’s obsession is pottery, so it was fun combining her passion with a song about the positive side of obsession. I never tried pottery before and she was a great teacher!
Mamajoe, my purple alter-ego of the project MamajoeVramajoe, guest-stars in the video and teaches me how to make a sigil. A sigil is a magick symbol made out of the scrambled letters of your intention. You then charge the symbol with energy. In this case, the charging was done by playing music at the pottery and it being fired. Our sigil’s intention in this video is to make passion bring joy and love.”
And, if you’re in the market for a music-video memento, you’re in luck…
“We’re going to be selling the cups, chalices and mugs that we made in the video on Bandcamp and at the merch table – each is one of a kind!”
Obsession is being released by A Diamond Heart Productions and La Fam Recordings and drops everywhere tomorrow (pre-order it here).
Tea Eater is about to head off on a European tour…
(Poster by Sophie Sputnik of Waltzer)
But mark your calendars to welcome them back as we celebrate the art of obsessing together at their NYC album-release show with Grim Streaker, ISTA and Romi O—November 20 at TV Eye!
(Poster by Dionna West)
Grab your tickets here!
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Follow Tea Eater at @teaeatertv, buy music on Bandcamp and add the songs to your Spotify playlists!
Feature image (provided by the artist): Michelle LoBianco