By Keith Walsh
I initially thought the new single “Whipping Girl” by Canadian singer/songwriter Eva X was a lyrical flip from her previous release, “Machine.” Both feature beat-heavy synth-pop, flirting with sweet melodies and sounds, but ultimately leaning towards the darker edge Eva X is known for. Lyrically, “Whipping Girl” finds her protagonist in full-on destructive mode, whereas with “Machine” she presented a more submissive role –or so it might seem. But that’s not it at all, according to Eva X, aka Gabrielle Gustafson.
“I don’t see it as much of a shift! Ultimately, the fawn and fight response are to me two sides of the same coin- they’re both responses to being faced with mistreatment,” she writes. “Or, maybe, ‘Machine’ is about fighting to fit into a bad place and ‘Whipping Girl’ is about leaving it?”
Eva X’s husband Erik Gustafson, whom she married this summer, occupies similar thematic territory, with his Gothic music project Adoration Destroyed and video work by his company EGCine . I asked Eva if he encourages her darker side? “Nah, this is all me,” she says. “I like to create creepy horror imagery. He supports it completely though- we have that in common!”
Indeed, while the tune “Whipping Girl,” with its misdirecting title, tells of the end of a relationship, the video, directed by Eva, goes even further, with a graphic portrayal of a coven of witches partaking in a ritual. I asked if the intention was to shock? “Maybe a bit, yeah,” writes Eva. “I reached out to Persephone Bleeds very early in the design process- we’ve done a lot of shows and modelling together, and she’s someone whose art I greatly admire. We both enjoy creating stuff that pushes boundaries a bit, and while we didn’t intentionally set out to make something graphic, I think that love came through in the final video.”
Eva X uses Massive X, Diva and RePro VSTs, in Ableton. “Whipping Girl” was written and produced by Gabrielle Gustafson, Shane Stephenson, and Adam Mah. The coven of witches in the video are Persephone Bleeds, Madness Kitten, and Shoomoo.
Eva X On Bandcamp
Eva X On YouTube
Eva X On Twitter
Eva X On Spotify
Persephone Bleeds
Erik Gustafson Cinematography
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