Smitten was my debut EP as a music producer, released in 2015. I am always keen to create new visual campaigns and experiment with new ways of producing imagery that supports the feel of the music. The campaign included photography, video and visual design and was released on Phone Home Records.
The release was partly conceptual; the EP acting as an “audio journal“. The concept was to produce photographic personifications for each of the individual tracks on the record. In the photographic series; masked effigies, swathed in rain coats, are aided by unseen gloved crewmen, and appear to perform almost ritualistic poses. The line between eerie and playful is blurred, and the whole vibe is swamped in a DIY aesthetic that is intended to be both hilarious, yet unsettling.
‘Glistening and starbound, Smitten pulses with kicks and rollicking snares, plasma synths taking hold with columning sub-bass for an expansive, voidsome feel; soft arpeggios introduce us to new dynamics with stuttering chords and a horizon-melting synth solo, all of it ornamented with a vocal snip played with as if it were putty.’
Dummy
‘Basically a prerequisite to pouring a glass of freshly squeezed juice over your head and getting right back on it again the morning after.’
Noisey
‘The six-track Smitten is characterised by its bright and curious magpie-like nature. A Pop hybrid situated halfway between the bedroom and the club, it’s also a highly personal work for Hislop, who describes it as ‘an optimistic ode to the recovery of separation’. Every track of the record is laced with field recordings from Mexico, USA and Europe that he created whilst travelling as a session musician with Tropics. Hislop also designed the accompanying artwork, a series of surreal juxtapositions caught between figure and object.’
