Folk-prog artist Dikajee has released an elegant new video for Lily Of The Valley, which is taken from her debut album Forget~Me~Nots, out on August 13. On it, the former Russia-based singer-songwriter teams up with guitarist João Filipe from Portuguese proggers Amber Foil.
"I wrote the first part of that song while just improvising with my piano, being home alone," she reveals. "I imagined a beautiful valley or a meadow and a lady laying on the grass surrounded by all that beauty I am describing in the first couplet. Birds passing by, clouds in the sky... and blooming Lily Of The Valley. So this is probably a bitter romantic song about overcoming feelings."
She adds, "I really felt like this song required a strong instrumental part and I asked my friend João if he wanted to join me there. He liked the song and in few months we were together in Sintra, Portugal, improvising together. and he worked on the middle part. We went to the mountains above the clouds (literally) for some moments of inspiration, so you can definitely say that this song was partly composed above the clouds.
"João is my beloved friend and most people know him as a videographer, collaborated with Kscope, Leprous, Moonspell, Rock in Rio, RTP, Magicshot; but he is also a very sensitive and gentle musician with a huge love to music and everything about (around) it."
The video for Lily Of The Valley also provides a showcase for neo-classical sculptor Archil Didishvili, who can be seen working on several pieces. Says Dikajee: "You can tell that the video has two meanings: the first now is showing the honour and glory of art coming from human hands, I imagine that every scene of that video is a picture, piece of art, mostly static, and I placed myself there.
"The middle part is showing the backward process of creating the sculpture. I wanted to both tribute the artists, years of hard work, and dedication that people give to create arts (paintings, sculptures, and music) (I think we live in a time when it might be an important gentle reminder); and to show that everything comes from nature. The sculpture is turning back into a stone and the stone is turning back into a mountain somewhere by the sea. Like a somewhat visual ritual of returning into something strong and pure, a rebirth may be."
Forget~Me~Nots tracklist:
1: Forest
2: Lily Of The Valley (João Filipe (Amber Foil))
3: Millions Of Flashes
4: River Rite
5: Dead Garden (feat. Guillaume Bernard (Klone))
6: Misery
7: Scriptwriter
8: Glorious Beautiful Magical
9: Gloomy Flowers Blooming (feat. Fiona Rüggeberg (Faun, Tvinna))
10: Something Mystique (feat. Andreas Ulvo)
