Now Elena has returned with a
video for the title track of her new album
Unfamiliar Minds, out January 28th, directed by
Nagore Eceiza and
Koldo Al Mandóz.
Filmed in a historic estate in San Sebastian owned by relatives of Setién, the video captures a liminal moment just after the longtime residents had passed away.
Setién's family were in the process of moving their possessions out, deconstructing the rich life the couple had built together in the house over the course of many decades.
Seemingly innocuous and familiar objects, from cutlery sets to a toy car become artifacts and totems as physical connections to the past.
Setién's spectral vocals capture the ineffable feelings that such major life events and shifts inspire in radiant detail.
She elaborates:
"The idea of an old house becoming unfamiliar felt like a perfect reflection of the surrealistic lyrics for the song, where I tried to depict how our collective mind suddenly felt unfamiliar for the first time in decades during the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic.
"Everything we knew and took for granted was suddenly uncertain."
Setién ultimately finds hope and optimism in the difficult process of change and renewal, contemplating the world anew with "Recreation will not be our creed / We will be the new beginners / Of a futuristic language everyone can speak."
Elena Setién is an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, collaborator and improviser, having worked with artists like Mary Lattimore and Steve Gunn as well as composing for film and television.