In her new single, East London’s Lucia Rivero reveals the many relationships that have shaped and informed her life – especially her upcoming album ‘Black Sun.’ In the music video for “Nowhere,” she creates an ode to a former long-term relationship, the heritage of the region where she was born, and her connection with the natural world and the mystical forces that have shaped it.
Stream: “Nowhere” – Lucia Rivero
Nothingness has maintained its thematic prevalence among artists ever since we first took chisel to stone and pigment to page.
Whether that nothing takes the form of a place, emotion, person or time – in a planet of abundant life and endless possibility the idea of total absence and negation becomes a stalling and chilling concept. There are some explorations into nothingness that inspire dread and hopelessness, and there are others that go with it, that accept for the current moment at least there is no light at the end of the tunnel, and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Lucia Rivero’s latest single “Nowhere” from her upcoming album Black Sun, takes that exact stance.
Nowhere, beloved, but with us
Won’t find your way but with us
My love, my friend, my only friend
Won’t understand until the end
I heard life belongs to us
The heavy sky will clear for us
I heard life belongs to us
Right here for us
Another song that comes from a similar angle is Taking Heads’ ‘85 hit “Road to Nowhere,” particularly the line – “We’re on the road to nowhere, come on inside, takin that ride to nowhere, we’ll take that ride.” These lyrics resonate with Lucia Rivero’s new single and music video, in terms of themes and art direction. Both songs gravitate around the realization that a previous relationship is going to end symbolized through a road, which while not in the lyrics of “Nowhere” is very prominent in the music video.
Roads have long been a symbol of a journey, but as we see in the video, the journey has ended before its destination was reached, signified by Rivero leaving the car. The spanning out of the camera opens up the dialogue to the possibility that one relationship has ended and another has begun. The beautiful shots of the mountains throughout the video evoke feelings of the sublime, of Rivero’s deep and rich relationship to it, which may or may not be exemplified in the crucifix she wears in the music video, a crucifix which was handed down to her by her grandmother, something which touches on another aspect that informs the video.
Nowhere, beloved, but with us
Won’t find your way but with us
You’ll see your fears disappear
I’ve heard happiness starts here
Nowhere, beloved, but with us
Won’t find our way but with us
My love, my friend, my only friend
Alone again until the end
Despite the outstretched hand of modernity hollowing ancient cliffs and laying tarmac on meadows, the Spanish region of Asturias in which the video is shot has a rich mythology and history of pilgrimage which time and cannot conceal. It is a land which Rivero is irrevocably undeniably drawn and bound to, a land that flows in her blood and through her soul and its magic and mystery has been informing and charging her practice her whole life.
“Nowhere” occupies a special place in Lucia Rivero’s catalogue – it’s a song where all the threads that weave her being together are unravelled and left to flutter in the wind.
The result is a song that feels conversational, like its reaching out to many hands, I doubt Rivero is waiting for a response though, the assured and confident nature of her as a person, artist and songwriter, point to someone who knows much and does not need any validation to affirm that awareness.
Black Sun is out on 17th of February. Watch the spellbinding video for “Nowhere” exclusively on Atwood Magazine!
I heard life belongs to us
The heavy sky will clear for us
I heard life belongs to us
Right here for us
Nowhere, beloved, but with us
Won’t find your way but with us
You’ll see your fears disappear
I’ve heard happiness starts here
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:: stream/purchase Nowhere here ::
:: connect with Lucia Rivero here ::
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Stream: “Nowhere” – Lucia Rivero
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© courtesy of the artist
© courtesy of the artist:: Stream Lucia Rivero ::
