Today, Eyes of Others follow up ‘New Hair, New Me’ and ‘Big Companies, Large Tentacles’ with a brand new track and the third video in a trilogy, directed by Niall Trask titled ‘Once, Twice, Thrice.’
Talking about the track, John said:
“Once Twice Thrice is a series of skirmishes I had with a cheap and nasty deodorant, not once, not twice, but thrice. I thought I smelled good but I didn’t. I never learned and lost loves over it. Once, Twice, Thrice is a tale of love’s contempt for itself.”
Once again shot somewhere in Norway by Rob Jarvis, John said about the video which sees him immersed in an ice hole for the duration of the song:
“This video began as the mad and bad idea of our Norwegian host at The Betty Fjord Clinic – Simon. He had a mate who had an ice hole in one of the neighbouring lakes. Niall phoned me up in advance of the trip, asking if I’d be up for getting in the water for the duration of the video. I said yes, yes I do my own stunts. Niall was brief and to the point with his instructions. I repeated to myself my ‘don’t worry about it’ mantra and slipped into the water. It didn’t feel cold, it didn’t feel like water as I’d known it before. And in 4 and half minutes we were done.”
•••
Eyes of Others, is the studio alias of Edinburgh based John Bryden, a self-christened ‘post-pub couldn’t get in the club’ producer, the self-titled debut album, which will be released on Friday 19th May 2023.
To try and list all Eyes of Others’ musical touch points would be a thankless task but nestled playfully – and seductively – in his sonic palette are an abundance of carefree electronics, hypnotic dub, wry folk rock, twitchy psychedelia and buoyant acid techno. In other words, pure musical freedom. If it wasn’t for the fact that Eyes of Others began as a side hustle, you’d be praising the ambition of such a mesmerising pop art collage. But then maybe such creativity and experimentation is the result of approaching the music in a pressure-free environment. Bryden certainly thinks so.
“It’s almost like when I stopped trying to find success, it kind of…” he hesitates, not wanting to get ahead of himself. “I’m not saying there’s success, the album’s not even out yet, but it’s been a… I think it’s a slow burn. I’m not in a hurry.”
The release of the self-titled Eyes of Others debut album will soon cause Bryden to reassess his evaluation of success. Marrying the anything-goes, freestyle magpie tendencies of Beck and The Beta Band to the electronic stylings of primetime 80s New Order by way of the spacious moods conjured by King Tubby, its whimsical demeanour is the perfect sonic balm to the utter confusion of the outside world. As is that sense of almost Balearic musical freedom. Such a mindset is fundamental to the music according to Bryden.
Coming in at a brisk 41 minutes, the album reveals its manifold charms immediately, but also does so in a meandering, nuanced and irreverent fashion.
READ MORE ABOUT THE ALBUM HERE
Eyes of Others will be playing live at The Social, Sounds From The Other City, Kite Festival and Sea Change Weekender this summer.
Follow Eyes of Others ↓