Musician Arima Ederra on how to build a body of work

I’ve been thinking about the outro of your song “Gemini Eyes,” specifically the line, “I’m made of many.” I imagine the lyric is pointing to something else narratively, but it also made me think about how you’ve worked across so many mediums, from music video directing to zine-making, to express your creativity. Do you think of yourself as a multidisciplinary artist or is there another way you’d describe your creative practice?

I used to be really obsessed with feeling like I needed to be completely masterful at a craft before I could claim it. I think that’s why I have such a deep appreciation for artists who dedicate their lives to one thing. But I realized I mostly resonate with being multidisciplinary because different mediums feed my creativity. I think I’m a better musician and singer when I have other outlets that I can [pour] myself into.

When it is just music, it puts, in my opinion, a bit too much pressure on something that’s sacred and spiritual to me, so I feel like having my hands in different mediums allows me more grounding in what I want to say through music. It took me a long time to get here, and I think it’s really cool that you pointed that out with “Gemini Eyes,” because that’s exactly what the song is about.

For Black women especially, it’s easy for us to be boxed into one [form of] artistry or genre. I am happily a polymath. I like being able to express myself in different ways through different mediums. I can’t be contained to just one thing. And though I respect artists who are extremely masterful at one craft, I think I like being a master of none. It keeps me curious.

In past interviews, you’ve referenced the work of Black women artists and writers, including Octavia Butler, bell hooks, and Kathleen Collins, who directed Losing Ground, one of my favourite movies. All three have distinct perspectives but they’re very intentional in their approaches to world-building and storytelling. How have these influences or Black feminist thought shaped your art?

I turn to a lot of these women for inspiration because they were just so limitless in their thinking. They were so ahead of their time. There was always such a knowing and a confidence in the things that they were doing that inspired me a lot when I needed that in my life. Ultimately, I want to build worlds with whatever I’m working on. Turning to writers, musicians, and filmmakers helps me articulate those worlds and see what’s possible.

I’m very much a visual learner as well. I love mood boarding, collaging, and taking things apart. [The artist] Lorna Simpson is also a very big inspiration to me. For my last record, we directed a music video for “Portals,” with a reference to her work in there. I’m fascinated by all of these women and their ability to create something from nothing. That, to me, is magic and surrealism at its finest.

I’m glad we’re starting to touch on the visual language of your work because I’d love to hear more about your vision for this chapter of your artistic life. I read that you kept a collection of images and references to share with your collaborators, Jesse Crankson and Jake-Isaac Elwin of Obsolete. [Ederra pulls out a binder.] Oh my gosh, you have it with you? Tell me about this.

I made a little bible, basically. It’s a manual with concepts, hair inspiration, and visual language. I’m a tactile person. It helps me imagine the world. I’m also chronically online like everyone else [and] it helps me expand my imagination. I really love research and getting into the nitty-gritty of an artist.

I knew that I really wanted to take a step further in my visual architecture, if you will. I wanted to work with people who were going to be able to collaborate instead of me just saying, “Here’s a thing, can you make it?” I gave Jesse and Jake a digital version of the bible first, which isn’t as elaborate as the physical one. We worked a lot on it together. I completely trusted them to execute the vision and I’m really proud of it.

I feel like the concept of time is such a challenging thing to photograph, paint or turn into a song; it isn’t tangible. That’s also why I enjoyed this process, because I feel like everything is one big question mark where we’re like, “How do we turn this song into what it feels like when you’re questioning where you’re at in your life?” Or what it feels like to question a relationship or your evolution as a person. It required a lot of curiosity, and Jesse and Jake were perfect for that.

You must have Capricorn somewhere in your birth chart.

I’m a Capricorn rising. Well done [laughs].

One thing that really stood out to me was how the visualizers evoke this sense of liminality, of existing in these in-between spaces. How did you arrive at that visual language and what were you hoping it would communicate about the record?

Zora Neale Hurston says there are years that have questions and some years that answer. I felt like this record was a big question for me. I started to notice themes in what I was writing about before the concept for the album came to me. I was thinking about repetition and looping. I kept drawing these spirals all over my notebooks when I was writing because time, to me, feels non-linear. I [also] kept drawing this arrow that was double-sided and it felt like that’s how time moves in a way. Life gives us experiences until we’ve learned from them. I wanted to incorporate some of those ideas into the visual world, and that’s why in the visualizer for “In The Business of Feeling,” I’m drawing a circle because, in my head, we can put ourselves in cycles if we don’t break them. I wanted to be the one to sort of control this bubble that I was putting myself in.

“In This Life” is one of my favorite songs on the album because it’s most on theme. It’s a song about what it feels like to move in a world that is constantly rushing. It can feel like you’re falling behind. It can feel like everyone around you is moving so quickly. Sometimes, in music, we’re ready to move on to the next thing. And I wanted to capture what it feels like when you’re the only one slowing down and everything around you is constantly moving. Those are just a couple of examples but I wanted to incorporate themes of repetition in the visuals.

**Against the backdrop of the music discovery landscape that we’re in, it’s really refreshing to stumble upon an album, like A Rush to Nowhere, that makes such a strong argument for why the form of the album is so important. For you, what’s the benefit of assembling a cohesive body of work rather than just individual songs?
**
I’m a bit old-fashioned in that I don’t really listen to singles. I listen to records from top to bottom. I think an album is an opportunity to tell a story from start to finish. I love TV, but it’s the same reason why I don’t really watch it. I love films because I feel like it’s an opportunity for the director to tell you about something that they were working through. I still listen to playlists, but, for me, I’m a writer before anything, so I love to hear what someone has to say through a body of work.

I can’t say that it’s always going to be this way, but for A Rush to Nowhere, I wanted you to hit play and go on the journey of the whole record. As a fan, that’s also how I like to experience music. When you listen to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, you’re not just listening to one song, you’re putting the whole thing on because of the skits and conversation she’s having; moments of solitude, moments of joy and disruption, and at the end of it, there’s something that you take away and that’s what I hoped to do with this record.

**I’m struck by how collaborative the process was from the stories that you’ve shared. Was there a particular moment where someone else helped unlock something creatively for you?
**
I really learned the power of collaboration [while making this record]. For the most part, it’s usually me and my best friend, Teo Halm, who’s the executive producer, but then I met this incredible producer who became a dear friend named Rahm Silverglade. Rahm came into the fold and added a whole new energy and perspective that I think was really good for Teo and me, so that was a key moment for me in this process.

I also rented a cabin in the mountains, had people come with me, and we lived in this house together. It was my first time doing that. It was beautiful to sleep, wake up, make music, sleep, wake up, make music. That’s what made this process so beautiful: working with people that you love.

I’m curious, for the kind of work that you do, what are the most valuable resources?

It’s really valuable to cultivate real community in the process of making music. I think that is something that was very integral to this album for me, having people around that you trust and can have conversations about the things that you’re working through.

Having access to mediums outside of music. I spend a lot of time in libraries, bookstores, galleries, and museums. There’s a bookstore in LA that I love called Arcana. I spend hours there. It’s important to get out and experience the world. Anything that is going to take you outside and place you into someone else’s world is valuable.

**How do you approach digital spaces? What’s your relationship like with social media and other things?
**
It’s gotten better. I am a Tumblr girl at heart, and I will always be, so I love the internet. I hate what it’s done to our attention spans, but that’s not necessarily my beef with it. It’s brought so many great things and people to me. I love The Creative Independent. There’s a really cool platform I love called Locally Grown. I spend a lot of time there, on Are.na, Tumblr, Reddit, Pinterest, and Substack.

My relationship to it in that sense is always from a place of curiosity; there’s so many cool people that you get to experience and learn about through the internet, but sometimes it can feel like an echo chamber, and it’s good for me to break from that and go into the world.

**Hit up the library.
**
Take a train.

**Take the long way home [both laugh]. What is something you wish someone told you when you began to make art?
**
There’s no one like you, and there never will be, so lean into the things that make you, you. Lean into all your idiosyncrasies, the things that make you weird, and the things that you’re afraid of because no one is like you. No one’s fingerprints are the same and that’s what makes you amazing.

Arima Ederra recommends:

The Lovers Rock album by Sade

Getting inspired by Duane Michels’ photography

C-Studios channel on locallygrown.tv (and also anything on locally grown)

Poeta, a film by Simón Mesa Soto

Playing Skyjo on my phone (when I’m not with my friends)

This content originally appeared on The Creative Independent and was authored by Jessica Kasiama.

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