A crystal blue sea beckons you to step inside, its underwater world laced with delicate sunbeams, while above waves crash together hiding the stillness below – this is Novo Amor’s Birthplace. In reverence to documentaries on nature, on the planet and in particular the sea, Birthplace, directed by Sil van der Woerd and Jorik Dozy, takes us back to the origins of our life on earth, and to an essential essence we know so little of – and are yet destroying.
Starring Michael Board – a professional free diver, Novo Amor’s music guides him as he explores the coral-reefs of Komodo, and doing so while wearing jeans and a T-shirt. Why? I can only assume it’s to make him resonate more with the viewer, he’s representing us in our everyday lives (albeit not diving with sea creatures). As Board journeys along the seabed he’s met with fantastical sights that include a pair of Manta Rays. However it’s not going to last, the captivating cinematic scenes are about to be tarnished as he comes across a plastic bag – to then a collection of rubbish.
Overcome by the damage, Board closes his eyes and succumbs to the pressure of waste that surrounds and pollutes him, all the while sinking to the bottom. Encircled by so many discarded objects – many of which are everyday items we toss away e.g. plastic bottles – he finally swims away from it all. However, knowing it’s all there and that the earlier landscapes of beauty will come to look the same, his body slumps over, and his eyes look down in disgust. Until that is, he hears a deep sound vibrate through the ocean, and in looking up he sees a whale. Its silvery outline translucent and frail – for it’s made entirely from plastic waste – poignant when so many are now dying from plastic consumption.
Swimming alongside, Board marvels at the “plastic-whale”, and when floating in front it – in a moment of Jonah and the whale – Board (holding himself in a tight ball) is swallowed inside. Its striking imagery reminding us of our comparative size in the world, and it’s humbling, while in being swallowed by a creature of our own making (rubbish) we’re again reminded of our impact on the world and left to think upon it, especially as we’re consumed and buried within. The video is intensely symbolic and very moving, which isn’t new to Novo Amor’s work. His 2017 single Terraform, done in collaboration with Ed Tullett, and filmed by the same directors as Birthplace, highlights the appalling working conditions of sulphur miners, with a percentage of the tracks’ sales going to help them.
In conveying another message in Birthplace, it’s obvious the video’s crew put their heart and soul into the project, with Board doing over 250 dives to complete the video, while the 35-hours of filming wouldn’t have been possible without the help of a small village in Bali. The community coming together to construct the whale; its skeleton being made from bamboo, while the plastic-waste material for the body was collected by schoolchildren, who in connection with a locally-run initiative collect rubbish from the forest in return for books and pencils. In watching the making of Birthplace you’ll not only admire the skill and passion of everyone involved, but also be left feeling its impact – for as they state, by 2050 there’ll be more plastic in the sea than fish.
Novo Amor uses his voice as a musical instrument like no-one else, its insertion and layering so in tune with the graceful playing of guitar and violin strings, that they sync together to produce something otherworldly. A multi-instrumentalist, Novo Amor (stage name for Ali John Meredith-Lacey) has such a deep understanding of music, and of the world around him, that his songs pull you in, or more accurately call to you.
Other songs by Novo Amor we love:
- Haven (from Life is Strange) (2021 – single)
- Halloween (2020 – Cannot Be, Whatsoever)
- I Feel Better (2020 – Cannot Be, Whatsoever)
- Opaline (2020 – Cannot Be, Whatsoever)
- Emigrate (2018 – Birthplace)
- State Lines (2018 – Birthplace)
- Terraform (collaboration with Ed Tullett) (2017 – Heiress)
- Carry You (2017 – Bathing Beach [EP])
- Colourway (2017 – Bathing Beach [EP])
- From Gold (2014 – Woodgate, NY [EP])
Other artists you might like:
- Aquilo
- Dustin Tebbutt
- Vancouver Sleep Clinic
