I have two distinct memories of my high school art teacher. The first one is him giving a lecture on line weight with a giant glob of mayonnaise sliding down his chin. And the other, slightly more estimable one is a bit of advice that he dished out to us in regard to the hazy peripheries of sex, nudity, and art: He said, and I quote, “Boys and girls, if it’s nudity, it’s art…if it’s sex, it’s porno. Please don’t do porno in my class.”
I probably never would’ve remembered this, had it not been for an oddly-suggestive music video that I just watched from underground Italian producer Erio. The video, titled “Limerence,” featured several 30-somethings engaging in what could only be described as openly libertine behavior; the pillow-fighting and cigarette smoking weren’t bad in themselves, but the fact that they were doing them stark-ass naked with a weird tar-like oil dripping down from above was potential cause for concern — enough even to question the otherwise distinct margins of human sensuality.
It turns out that the word “limerence” refers to “an involuntary personal state that involves intrusive, obsessive, compulsive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that are contingent upon perceived emotional reciprocation from the object of interest.” In other words: sex without the sex. I suppose the video did a fair enough job of interpreting that licentious motif, but damn. I didn’t think human nether-regions were viewable on YouTube.
“I surrounded myself with naked men and women to help interpret the romanticism and obsession expressed in the song in a series of sensual — and at times — unsettling scenes,” the Italian producer explains. “Each subplot shows a different side to the anguish and paranoia caused by obsessive love, the darkest side of which is represented as a black thick liquid trickling on the characters throughout the song.”
Okey-dokey! Visuals aside, the song — which is the first single from Erio’s forthcoming full-length record Inesse — is a killer avant-pop jam that’s got the producer’s trademarked “warped vocal soundscapes” written all over it; light enough to get your hips moving, yet arcane enough to start viewing the world through a subversive periscope.
The album is due April 20 on London-based Kowloon Records — you can keep an eye out for the vinyl pre-order link here, and be sure to check out the one-of-a-kind video for “Limerence” down below. Just make sure there aren’t any innocent young kids or anything peeking over your shoulder.
Inesse tracklisting:
01. The Biggest of Hearts
02. Limerence
03. Becalmed
04. The Glorious Advance of the Self – Pitying Queen
05. A Glowing Gash
06. Brief History of Se’ and Fa’
07. Se’ I’m Hungry. Those twelve days Still Longer On
08. Toe the Warehouse
09. Kill it! Kill it!
10. Attic
12. The Church
More about: Erio
