Brooklyn-based Argentine singer/songwriter Federico Aubele has shared the third track “The Sacrifice,” from his forthcoming LP, The Holographic Moon, out on May 27th. The cinematic single, produced by Aubele himself, brings listeners to the center of a swelling storm, capturing the realization of a necessary sacrifice, the release of something that no longer serves you. Listen to it below and pre-order the album now HERE.
“The Sacrifice” is what Aubele calls “an overcast sky about to burst and waves in the sea trying to reach the full moon.” Diving into the background of the peaceful track, Aubele explains, “It’s easy to get tangled up in ideas and concepts that no longer serve us and stick to them, often without even knowing. Once we realize, through internal reflection or an external event, that it’s time for an update, I think we have to consciously let go of these old concepts. That’s what needs to be sacrificed.”
Aubele continues, “Often we identify strongly with these ideas because we had them with us for so long that they’ve become a part of who we think we are and getting rid of them feels like an intense sacrifice. Some of these concepts may have been passed down to us by our family, society, or friends, often even with good intentions. But that doesn’t mean that they will serve us and that we need to keep them with us for life. I believe that there is no way around a periodic sacrifice of old ideas. It’s a necessity. It’s part of the way life is organized, part of its engine. Otherwise, we’re just ghosts, repeating a moment over and over.”
The visual accompanying “The Sacrifice” is Aubele’s second-ever video that he has directed following the previous release, “Old Spanish Films.” Sprinkled between clips of the musician before a scenic pond and quiet forest are shots of paint strokes coating works of art by late 19th Century British artist John William Waterhouse from the Pre-Raphaelite movement who made art depicting rituals and sacrifices. In addition to the shots of paint over art, there are moments of glitchy computer codes. Aubele included these to represent the idea that new code needs to be written, and old code needs to be overwritten, symbolic of sacrifice, with very old paintings contrasted by new-age code.
Describing the video, Aubele states, “The Sacrifice” is about sacrificing the old and making space for the new. Since way back, forests have always had magical meaning in people’s imaginations and mythology, the place where rituals are made. The crow character is in such a magical forest with blue vegetation and looks at himself in the water, perhaps realizing that a sacrifice is due in order to move forward,” explains Aubele. “The Pre-Raphaelite paintings depict rituals and create a contrast with the new computer code being written, accentuating the idea of the sacrifice. Watching it, I realize that I dance a lot more on this video than any previous ones, so perhaps the shooting of the video has been a sacrifice of sorts for me.”