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Mar 10, 2021 By Mark Redfern

Sarah Neufeld, violinist for Arcade Fire and Bell Orchestre, is releasing a new solo album Detritus, on May 14 via Paper Bag. Now she has shared another song from it, “With Love and Blindness.” It was shared via a Jason Last-directed video, which was filmed on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. Watch it below.

Neufeld had this to say about the video and song in a press release: “I knew that Jason and I would work together again on some visual aspect for my third solo release, and it so happened that before I even began recording the album, we were presented with the opportunity to do a mini residence on Corsica with Providenza; an amazing collective with a farm, cultural laboratory, festival and residency program. I was doing a short solo tour in Europe in the summer of 2019 in order to re-work some of the pieces from the dance collaboration to begin to find a shape for the album that was to be recorded in the fall. In the middle of that tour, Jason and I travelled to Corsica for several days (graced once again with a suitcase containing Esteban Cortazar’s unique and beautiful creations). Besides performing in Providenza’s outdoor amphitheater, we were immersed in nature, literally staying in a treehouse perched on the side of a mountain, overlooking the dramatic coastline. I found that the pulse of the landscape resonated with the essence of the music, especially With ‘Love and Blindness’; a sense of rawness, of sensuality, of a strange gravity intensified by the hypnotic summer heat and the general otherworldliness of the place.”

Director Jason Last adds: “My ongoing creative collaboration with Sarah has always been an instinctive process. Because we know each other so well, and have worked together for so long, there is a lot of knowledge and trust that goes into the inspiration. The video is an exploration of our time there, surrounded by the rugged nature of this Mediterranean island that lends so well to the energy behind her music. Somewhere between documentation and fantasy, we captured Sarah in these environments, which later came together to visualize this powerful song from her new record.”

Previously Neufeld shared the album’s lead single “Stories.”

Neufeld had this to say about the album in a previous press release: “I was inspired by both a sense of interior aloneness, and a sense of deep intimacy. Within both, a profound questioning of identity and intention, and ultimately, a grieving over one’s former sense of self. The stories we’ve told ourselves that we can no longer believe. Nestled within deep layers of comfort, familiarity, and solace, I’m able to repeat myself again and again, never learning, never looking back. Simultaneously becoming wiser and more ignorant as the years wind on, beauty and grace exist even here, in this rift.”

The album was created to accompany live dance performances by choreographer/dancer Peggy Baker’s company. It features collaborations with bandmates Jeremy Gara of Arcade Fire and Pietro Amato of Bell Orchestre.

Neufeld’s most recent solo album was The Ridge, released in 2016 on Paper Bag. Her upcoming album with Bell Orchestre, House Music, is due out on March 12 via Erased Tapes.

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